https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9ygq13c9Os
Proving once again that all the coolest locations in the world used to be inhabited by reclusive religious devotees (see: former Christian monastery and current hideout of Luke Skywalker, Skellig Michael in Ireland), the islet of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe off the northern coast of Spain has been inundated by Game of Thrones fans walking the 241 steps leading to the real-world Dragonstone.
According to El País, Targaryen devotees have visited the monastery 75,000 times in July alone, roughly a 22 percent increase from 2016, and a unique burden on the narrow stairway leading to the thousand-year-old monastery and its bell, which is traditionally rung three times by every visitor. Currently, long lines have clogged the normally smooth operation of climbing the stairs and ringing the bell, but now thousands hope to bend the knee at the peak that holds the (CGI) seat of the Targaryen household.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BY4HIuFhwIg/?tagged=dragonstone
https://www.instagram.com/p/BY3_GRvD47C/?tagged=dragonstone
https://www.instagram.com/p/BY39sRyhs3n/?tagged=dragonstone
https://www.instagram.com/p/BY3yQsxhk5h/?tagged=dragonstone
It’s become such an issue that organizing the tourists has become a major point of contention for the Bermeo Tourism Office and the Environment Department, who are considering charging to get in line or capping the amount of tourists that visit each day in order to conserve the historic monument. A spokesman for the Bermeo Tourism Office told El País that they need to organize: “We all want to go up at midday and get down in time for lunch, or else go up at 5 pm and come down at 7 pm, and that’s just madness.”
Madness indeed. Especially considering Jon Snow is about to slide into Dany’s ancestral house with a greater claim to the throne.