Travel through movies?

Bruges
Bruges

Have you ever seen a movie that made such an impression on you that afterwards when you visited the city it was filmed in you wanted to find the locations from that movie?That happened to me a few times. When my friend and I visited Vienna for the first time we wanted to find a café that we saw in the movie Before Sunrise, which takes place entirely in Vienna, Austria. When we found Kleines Cafe from that movie we were so happy. We had a drink there. The same thing happened when I travelled to  London for the first time with my BFF. I wanted to find the bookstore from the Notting Hill movie. Alas, it was closed when we came so we couldn’t get in but we had a lovely walk around Portobello Hill market and I bought a set of three London souvenir t-shirts for just 10£. What a bargain!

On another visit to London I wanted to see the Somerset house because I had seen it in another movie (Last chance Harvey). Of course, when I went to Oxford I had to visit the dining hall from the Harry Potter movies aka the Christ Church college’s Great hall. The sole reason for visiting Bruges last year during our weekend trip to Brussels was the movie In Bruges 🙂 However, some movies hit that wanderlust nerve that we’ve all got (at least us that write about our travels as if other people are interested in what we have to say 😉 ).

And thus through certain movies we got to see beautiful far away places that also might inspire us to visit them or they might inspire us to travel: full stop. So, one day when I visit New York City I’d like to see some of the locations from the Sex and the City series and from the Gossip Girls series (such guilty pleasures I know 🙂 ). Undoubtedly my fascination with England was also probably fuelled by certain movies too not just books (Richard Curtis you’ve got a lot to answer to!) 🙂

Kleines Cafe, Vienna, Austria
Kleines Cafe, Vienna, Austria

Oxford
Great Hall, Christ Church college, Oxford
London:the bookstore from the movie Notting Hill, 2006
London:the bookstore from the movie Notting Hill, 2006

So here’s my list of my favourite travel movies (not necessarily travel by genre but because they show or are filmed in some beautiful places):

  1. James Bond movies: all 007 movies are set in exotic locations
  2. Under the Tuscan Sun: beautiful Tuscan countryside
  3. My life in ruins: gorgeous Greece
  4. The Spanish Apartment trilogy: Barcelona, London, St. Petersburg, New York (French movies)
  5. Before Sunrise trilogy: Vienna, Paris, Greece
  6. Midnight in Paris: Paris obviously
  7. One Day: Edinburgh, London, France
  8. Amelie: Paris
  9. Paddington: London (my beloved London features in so, so many movies) 🙂
  10. Leap Year: Ireland
  11. P.S. I love you: New York, Ireland
  12. Chasing Liberty:Prague, Venice, Berlin,London
  13. A good year:Provence (and Gherkin!)
  14. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Iceland among other places
  15. L’Arnacoeur: Monaco (French movie)
  16. The Lord of the Rings movies :New Zealand
  17. The Hobbit:New Zealand
  18. Narnia: filmed in some very real places around the world
  19. The Golden Compass movie: Oxford, Norway, etc.
  20. Eat, Pray, Love: Rome, Bali
  21. Seven Years in Tibet: isn’t filmed in Tibet but in Argentina, Austria, Chile etc.
  22. In Bruges: Bruges have actually visited this town because of the movie 🙂

The list is randomly ordered

So, if it’s cold&damp outside why don’t you make yourself comfortable at your sofa with a cup of tea in one hand and a remote in another and watch one of these movies? Tell me later which one you saw 🙂

xoxox

Tanja

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38 thoughts on “Travel through movies?”

  6. Whoa! I had no idea you can go to the great hall from Harry Potter! Now I would HAVE to do that!! I think the only movie sets I’ve gone to were just accidents. In Chinatown in Los Angeles, my mom and I randomly went into a restaurant because we were hungry, and apparently it was the restaurant that Rush Hour (the first one) was filmed in, haha!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I definitely understand what you are saying! Usually it happens with tv shows. I was so so so happy when I went to Philadelphia (random I know) because my favourite tv show Cold Case was filmed there!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I totally agree with you. I spent seevral hours in search of the blue door and bookstore in the Notting Hill Movie the last time I was in London. When I finally found it….the trek was worth it.

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  16. 1. “Before Sunrise” (1995): the way Linklater lingered on a lot of the exterior shots in Vienna provided great motivation. Years later, I’d move to Germany and I had a research collaboration in Munich and Vienna. I had the great fortune of being able to visit Vienna a number of times and see the city in all four seasons.

    2. “Lord of the Rings”, but actually, it goes back to Xena and Hercules. Oh yes. Those lovely exteriors which always made me wonder what it would be like to visit New Zealand. Years later, when I moved to Chile, I made the “South Pacific commute” among Chile, New Zealand, and Australia a couple of times. There was little surprise seeing a lot of Aussies and Kiwis in South America, as there were plenty of Chileans in Sydney.

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  17. I have always wanted to go to New Zealand after I saw the Lord of the Rings movies and The Hobbit movies. I seriously want to go into a Hobbit hole! Haha great list of movies and love your pictures!

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  18. I’m with you on Under the Tuscan Sun. I still haven’t been, but Tuscany wasn’t even on my radar until I saw that movie. I find Hawaii is often used as many locations on tv and in movies and I’m always tempted to return there after seeing it on film. I have seen the Christ Church dining hall, but before Harry Potter was ever published so I can’t say that one was inspired by film. LotR first made me interested in New Zealand, but since I’ve learned more about NZ I am more interested in the South Island than in the Hobbiton. Great idea for a post!

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