Osuna – Searching for Khaleesi

I admit I can get a little obsessive at times. I am a creature of habit and once I find something I like, I stick to it loyally. The TV series Game of Thrones (and book series A Song of Ice and Fire) is one of those things that I happily admit to being a “Friki” (Spanish term for person obsessed with something, generally of pop culture) for. I mean, what’s not to love? Sex, violence, strong female characters, intriguing storylines, dragons and, last but not least, Jon Snow…

So when I heard that parts of Season 5 were going to be filmed in Spain during September and October, I couldn’t resist. I had to have a shot of getting close to the action. I decided to head to Osuna, a small town east of Sevilla, in search of the Mother of Dragons herself.

First of all, the internet is a wonderful thing. It’s so hard to imagine life now without it. Facebook put me in touch with a wonderful couple also doing the Auxiliares Program, who kindly offered up their spare room for me to stay. It certainly eased some apprehension about the trip, considering I would be travelling “sola” to a town I had no knowledge of (and a quick google search didn’t bring up much either). It turned out that Liz and Jake were also fans of the books and series, so it worked out quite well to be able to discuss storylines and go celebrity hunting together, whilst being shown around the picturesque Osuna.

Also, thanks to the internet, getting to Osuna turned out to be easier than expected, thanks to the great initiative, blablacar (see more here). Essentially, it’s like hitchhiking for the technological age. Thanks to blablacar, I was able to bypass a semi-lengthy journey, involving changing trains and waiting for connections, and go straight to Osuna from Córdoba. And not only that, my driver was actually working on the set of Game of Thrones!!!! [Cue in a choir of angles sound effect here]. We got talking about the series, to which he hadn’t actually seen prior (to my shock), the actors and his job. It took about a quarter of the trip to realise that he wasn’t working for Catherine (who, at the time, I thought was some bigwig on set), but Catering! Hahaha That ol’ Spanish ‘th’ chestnut (which is often pronounced as a t, hence my confusion)! It was a pleasant 1+ hour ride and when we reached Osuna, I was so excited to be there and have my adventure.

I met my newfound friends and hosts, Liz and Jake, soon after arriving and taking the obligatory selfies in front of the beautiful Colegiata de Santa María de la Asunción and university on the hill and getting lost in the pretty-but-steep cobblestone streets.

After dumping my bags and getting a tour of their lovely place, our first official stop of the weekend was Casa Curro. Not one to miss a great marketing opportunity, this bar-restaurant quickly jumped on the Game of Thrones bandwagon and created a quirky tapas menu named after key characters of the series. We tried the Khaleesi (a delicious salad fit for a queen of spinach, pomegranate, avocado and cherry tomatoes), Joffrey (bacon trout served with poached pears and hot wine sauce) and the Baratheon (wild boar fillet with spinach and pine nuts). The Khaleesi salad was my favourite. The place was packed with people and also a news team, trying to soak up any of the action and possibly spot a star or two. Sadly, the only Khaleesi we saw there was the one on the menu.

After lunch, we explored the town. Osuna is a very pretty town with a small population of approximately 18,000 people (number of dragon inhabitants weren’t listed at the time of this post). Many of the 16^th and 18^th century Baroque buildings are still left standing, making the town a picturesque place to visit, with or without dragons and unsullied in hand. Unesco has declared Osuna as a Historic-Artistic site, and even named Calle San Pedro as the second-most beautiful street in Europe, to which I would concur.

As we headed towards the church, we had our first and [spoiler alert] only star spotting! Sir Jorah Mormont riding his bike through town! It was quite amusing to see actor Iain Glen casually, and quickly I might add, riding his bike like a local. My blablacar driver had mentioned that he loved to stay fit and would ride during his downtime, but even so, it was cool to see it first hand. We continued our Game of Thrones themed weekend by eating specialty Game of Thrones themed cakes and then, in an attempt to walk off all the sugar, find our way to the hotel where all the crew were camped up in.

The Palacio Marques de Gomera is a stunning 18^th century palace, now accommodating those who come to visit Osuna. During filming, the hotel was fully booked, however now that filming has wrapped up, anyone can stay there. Just be prepared to fork out €800 per night! Fans of the show were all hanging around, along with the same news crew we spotted in the bar. We hung around for a bit, before deciding that it was unlikely we would see anyone.

That evening, we met up with another Auxiliar couple, Alyssa and James, who had also decided to visit Osuna in the hopes of seeing some stars. They turned out to be a lot luckier than us, and actually (due to a case of mistaken identity) got to party with the whole crew the night before! If you want to read about that adventure, see Alyssa’s blog here. Well, I was elated and crushed at the same time. So excited to hear about their adventure and kicking myself for not arriving a day earlier! Oh well, así es la vida (that’s life). We ate tapas that night and all shared stories about our experiences in Spain so far, still hoping to spot the odd star. We did happen to be eating at the same place the SFX crew were, but sadly the stars had turned in for an early night due to a long day of filming ahead (involving fight battles and dragons!).

Whilst I may not have seen the Mother of Dragons herself, the weekend was so much fun and making new friends certainly made up for it! In fact, we all had such an enjoyable weekend together we are planning another getaway in the future. And now that the Season 5 Trailer is out, I cannot wait for 12th April to arrive and see the places I’ve visited in Osuna and Sevilla as backdrops for all of the action.

Moral of the story: If you want to go somewhere, do it! You will be richer for the experiences along the way!