Game Of Thrones Sweeps Through Spanish Town, Boosting Economy And Drawing Fans

Photo: Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images

Even if they're not aware, the hordes of fans of HBO's Game of Thrones will be enjoying some particularly fine examples of Spanish baroque architecture during the fifth season of the popular series.

However, for residents of the small, historic, hillside town of Osuna, where the show is currently being filmed, the experience has changed lives and will be remembered for years to come.

Located in the southern province of Andalucia, some 50 miles from Seville and surrounded by olive groves, Osuna boasts historic plazas, palazzos, mansions, churches, monasteries dating from the 16^th and 17^th centuries, Roman remains, Moorish masterpieces that will be featured as the kingdom of Dome, home to Prince Oberyn (who, I've been reliably told, died last season).

Then there is the bullring, where one of the most epic battles in A Dance with Dragons featuring hundreds of extras, many of them among the town's 18,000 residents, was filmed. Also making an appearance is the Canteras,an archeaological treasure and former quarry that has provided most of the golden sandstone incorporated in the region’s buildings since pre-Roman times and now a splendid natural auditorium used for special events.

Film crews moved to Osuna after several days shooting at the Real Alcazar palace, a lavish 15^th century masterpiece of Islamic architecture in Seville, that will appear in the series as the House Martell.

Soon the crew will leave Osuna but many residents hope its effects will linger for a long time.

“For Osuna, the arrival of Game of Thrones has meant a tourism bonanza,” according to The Local.

The town's tourist information center has been running extended hours in order to deal with the influx of visitors and hotels in town have been fully booked, as have those in the surrounding area. Restaurants have been jammed every night, and new menus created to honor the protagonists of the hit show. A new museum is in the government’s plans.

The series has provided similar shots-in-the-tourism-arm for location shooting in Iceland, Northern Ireland, Malta, and Croatia.

Then there are the more general economic effects that come with the creation of temporary jobs in a region severely punished by Spain's recession and that reportedly has a 35% unemployment rate, one of the highest in the country. Proof: There were 86,000 applications for 600 positions as extras, each paid €50 a day to don medieval costumes and act in a crowd scene in the battle at the bullring.

Even some criminals have seized the opportunity. Newspapers reported the case of a scheme out of Ibiza that bilked people for more than €100,000 in one week by running a fake casting website for extras.

But mainly, the hope is that the boost for the town will endure.

“To attract fans of the series after film crews have left, Osuna's business association plans to offer special location tours while one restaurant will redecorate in a 'Game of Thrones' theme,” AFP reported.

The town is considering opening a museum dedicated to the series' shooting, according to Mayor Rosario Andujar. And officials are updating the town’s tourism web page to highlight the sites featured in the series, as they hope that many of the show’s more ardent fans will want to visit “where the actors stayed, and to sit and eat where the actors did.”

So far, the knock-on effects are encouraging: The number of visitors to Osuna has risen 30% compared to the same period last year.