Wednesday 8 June 2016

Around the World In: Films

Ever watched a film and thought "I wish I could go there"? Yeah, so have I. And since I'm in the middle of having a final re-watch of the epic Lord of the Rings, I thought I'd pull together some of my favourite films for sparking travel daydreams.

1. The Lord of the Rings

OK, so we all know Middle-earth isn't a real place, but the locations used in Peter Jackson's films are a glorious showcase of New Zealand's natural beauty. Mount Doom, the Shire, Rohan and Gondor all exist in New Zealand and when I get back over there at the end of the year I intend to visit as many of them as possible. And grab myself another pint of cider in the Green Dragon...

Pint of cider in the Green Dragon, Hobbiton (Matamata, New Zealand)


2. Up

One of Pixar's greatest creations, Up is full of amazing scenery, mostly based on beautiful places in South America. The plateaux? Venezuela's tepui, including Mount Roraima. The forests? How can you not see the Amazon in that? And the waterfall plunging off the top of the plateau? Angel Falls, also in Venezuela.

3. Madagascar

The clue's in the name. So yes, it's full of talking animals and there's never that much made of the surroundings, but wouldn't you just love to visit that forest and see lemurs in the wild?

4. Harry Potter

All right, so few of the places in the HP films actually exist (or do they...?), but courtesy of them being set in Britain, you can still get your geekery on. Fancy hunting down Platform 9 & 3/4 at Kings Cross Station? Go ahead. You can also visit Hogwarts at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland and further afield in Ireland, you can see where Dumbledore took Harry to retrieve the locket horcrux. Conveniently located at the Cliffs of Moher, by the way.

Or, you know, you could just check out the studio tour just outside London.

5. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

This film was probably the first time I saw Petra. An ancient city in Jordan carved out of the rock, Petra features as the final home of the fabled Holy Grail. The rock has an oddly pink hue and it just looks beautiful. You can see why it's such a big tourist draw.

Have you ever watched a film and wanted to visit the settings? Let me know in the comments!

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