GALACTIC BACKPACKING: VISITING REAL-WORLD HOTH: PART I
Source: http://www.starwars.com/news/galactic-backpacking-visiting-real-world-hoth
Ever since the first movie came out in 1977, fans have always been dreaming about living in that galaxy far far away. While that may be difficult in some cases, there are still a lot of places existing in the real world where the movies have been filmed and that can be visited. In this blog series we explore these locations by country with an extra focus on the country’s backgrounds and what else is worth your time before or after visiting the locations.
In this first part we start with the small town of Finse in Norway that was the site of the Battle of Hoth and where Luke met the Force spectre of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
General information
The Kingdom of Norway (Norge or Noreg in Norwegian) is a Nordic country occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Norway is one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe with a population of about 4.8 million spread around a total area of 385,252 square kilometers (148,747 sq mi).
The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; and Denmark lies south of its southern tip across the Skagerrak Strait. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Also belonging to Norway are hundreds of small islands near the coast and the bigger islands of Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic Ocean.
Norway is well known for its amazing and varied scenery. The fjords in the west of the country have been a major tourist attraction for years. Fjords are long narrow inlets flanked on either side by tall mountains where the sea penetrates far inland. Besides the beautiful nature, which is ideal for hiking trips, Norway has become quite a popular winter sport destination. Various places like Finse, Trysil, Hafjell and Hemsedal are ideal places for skiing and snowboarding.
Quick facts
Capital: Oslo
Official languages: Norwegian, but most speak English
Government: Parliamentary democracy under constitutional monarchy
Currency: Norwegian krone (NOK) subdivided in 100 ore
Time zone CET (UTC+1) in summer CEST (UTC+2)
Roads: Drive on the right / some toll roads
Climate: South/Middle: Oceanic
North: Polar
Coastal area: Lot of rainfall in the spring time, less in the summer months.
Best time to visit the shooting locations: December to April/May, when there is snow.
How to get there & other useful links
Norway: Scandinavian Airlines flies regularly from Europe to Norway and has many domestic flights as well. Oslo Gardermoen Airport is the main connection hub for larger airlines.
Finse: Traveling to Finse is only possible by train from Oslo or Bergen on the Oslo-Bergen track. It takes four to five hours and during this you will experience the amazing scenery of Norway.
Domestic destinations: Many of the major cities like Bergen and Trondheim also have an airport.
Norway Travel Office: http://www.visitnorway.com/us
Fjord Norway: http://www.fjordnorway.com/en
Scandinavian Airlines: http://www.flysas.com/
Finse: www.finse.no
Hotel website: http://www.finse1222.no/en
Finse
Finse is a small village consisting of little more than a railway station, a nearby hotel and a few surrounding buildings. The railway station is located on the highland plateau named Hardangervidda / Hardanger Jokulen Glacier at 1222 meter above sea level.
Despite it being a small village, Finse offers possibilities for cross-skiing, sail skiing (due to its location on the edge of a frozen lake) and expedition training in the winter. There is one small drag-lift which allows for downhill skiing on one slope back into town. Hiking is another great activity that can be done in both the winter and the summer.
In March 1979, Finse was the location for the exterior scenes of the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. The cast and crew slept in the Finse 1222 Hotel, which still shows its connection to the movie with a guestbook and a wall with behind-the-scenes pictures. Also on display in the lobby is a prop of a Rebel trooper hat used by one of the many local extras.
Outside the hotel are the first two locations you will visit. Due to snowstorms, director Irvin Kershner and the crew shot the scenes with Luke escaping from the wampa (the wampa cave was an interior shot in England) and reaching out to the spirit of Ben Kenobi from the back door of the hotel.
A bit further to the left (when facing the back of the hotel) is the location where Han cut up the tauntaun to keep Luke warm.
To visit the other locations it is advised to hire a guide who can bring you to the locations and who can tell all about the scenes filmed there with interesting background information. You can book a guide trough the website of the hotel. Please note that the route you take depends on the weather and conditions on the glacier. The best time to visit would be March or April so you have clear skies and plenty of snow.
When going on the hike it is best to pack warm clothing, thermal underwear and good hiking shoes. Also advisable is to prepare yourself by brining lots of food and warm drinks with you. To counter the effects of snow blindness you also should pack tinted sunglasses. Snowshoes and hiking sticks can be provided by the guide.
Location #1 – Lake – GPS location 60°35’16.57″N, 7°28’25.98″O
This is the place where Luke attacks an AT-AT by hanging underneath it and dropping a thermal detonator inside. During filming Colin Skeaping, stuntman standing in for Mark Hamill, was hanging on a cable from a helicopter. Also shot here are troopers rushing forward and snowspeeder backgrounds. Close by is Norman’s Folley where the production team had a tent with food and drinks set up. This is generally the place for a longer break during the hike.
Location #2 – Crevasses & Shooting Area – GPS location 60°34’53.99″N, 7°28’19.94″O
This is the probot landing site and when you turn around some you see the background for the Imperial Walkers on the Northern Ridge scene.
Location #3 – Plateau Area Shooting Location – GPS location 60°34’6.52″N, 7°28’30.03″O
Quite a few scenes were filmed upon the glacier, the most important of them being the main Hoth battlefield. As with most of the mountains and surrounding area that you see, it was also used a reference for matte paintings.
Location #4 – Red Cross Hut – GPS location 60°34’12.73″N, 7°29’10.15″O
This is not really a shooting location, but you can see a hut here that the Red Cross uses. This wooden hut can be seen in some of the behind the scenes photos of the Snow Tracks on their way to the glacier. This is another spot used to rest during hikes.
Location #5 – Blue Ice – 60°34’39.76″N, 7°30’5.46″O
One of the matte paintings of the Echo Base entrance was superimposed with live action of the turret and a trooper that was filmed here.
Location #6 – Near Blue Ice
The rock from which Han Solo destroys the probot is around here. Where exactly is not really known, as the rock is completely covered in snow and due to the process of natural erosion it has lost some of the way to be recognized. However, for most of the locations it is still possible to line up your shots to what you see in the movies. And even if you miss some shots to line up, which can be difficult, you still get a great feeling and sense of being on Hoth.
What else to do in Norway?
Norway is first and foremost famous for the fjords. Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. The best-visited fjords are Hardangerfjord, Sognefjord and Geirangerfjord (which is part of the Storfjord).
Hardangerfjord is almost 900 meter deep and with a length of 179 km (111 miles) the second largest fjord of Norway and third largest in the world. If offers a spectacular view and beautiful nature. This fjord is best visited from the nearby city of Bergen.
Sogneford is 1300 meter deep and with a length of 200 meters, it’s the longest and deepest fjord in Norway. The surrounding area offers skiing possibilities in the summer. Also worth mentioning is the possibility to take a cruise from here to the Nigard Glacier.
Geirangerfjord is one of the most impressive fjords of Norway due to its completely vertical fjord walls and waterfalls. A bit further up north is Trondheim, the third city of Norway.
Other places worth to visit are: the North Cape, which is the most northern part of Europe and is reachable by regular busses from the nearby town of Honningsvåg. This is also a stop for cruise ships. A small airport connects trough Tromsø to Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. Most tourists also visit the town of Spitsbergen in combination with a trip to the North Cape.
The 3 major cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim are cultural and nice shopping cities to go to.
Join us next time for a trip to Italy to meet Padmé’s family and enjoy a lake retreat!
The author would like to thank Stefan Pfister for his contributions to this article. And to Kim and Cris Knight for their panorama pictures of Finse.
Picture of the Hardangerfjord courtesy of Fjord Norway.
Sander de Lange (Exar Xan) from the Netherlands does research for the Rogues Gallery feature in Star Wars Insider under the supervision of Leland Chee. He is an editor for TeeKay-421, the Belgian Star Wars Fanclub, he’s an administrator for the Star Wars Sourcebooks page on Facebook and has written the backstory for Niai Fieso through “What’s the Story?”. Recently he finished his Tourism Management study and he cannot wait to work in the tourism industry.
GALACTIC BACKPACKING: VISITING REAL-WORLD NABOO: PART II
Source: http://www.starwars.com/news/galactic-backpacking-part-2-visiting-real-world-naboo
Ever since the original Star Wars was released in 1977, fans have always been dreaming about living in that galaxy far, far away. While that may be just a little difficult, there are still the real-world locations that served as various worlds during filming, and they can be visited. In Galactic Backpacking, we explore these locations by country, looking at their histories and current attractions.
In this second installment of Galactic Backpacking, we take a look at Italy, one of the two countries that were used to portray Naboo in the prequel trilogy. It was in Italy where the real Theed Royal Palace stands, and where Padmé relaxed with Anakin at the Lake Retreat after visiting her family home in Theed.
General information
Italy (Italia in Italian) is a southern European country, forming a peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea, covering an area of 301,338 km2 (116,347 square miles). It is the 5th most populous country in Europe with 61 million inhabitants. And ever since the Roman Empire, Italy has been an important and influential figure in not only Europe’s, but even the world’s politics.
While the majority of the country is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the country shares borders in the north with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. These borders are roughly formed by the mountains of the Alps. Also belonging to Italy are the islands of Sicily (the toe-part of the country’s boot-shape) and Sardinia, to the west and below Corsica. Other islands include Ischia (wellness resort with natural springs) and Capri (famous for the Blue Grotto), both near Naples and Elba, well-known as the first place of exile of the French Emperor Napoleon I after his forced abdication.
Italy is a very popular tourist destination; in 2010 it was the highest tourism earner in the world, and it’s the fifth most visited country in the world. The 40+ million visitors that come each year enjoy the country for its rich art, cuisine, history, fashion, and culture, but also the beautiful landscape, with beaches, rolling hills, and mountains. Italy also contains more World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world.
Quick facts
Capital: Rome
Official languages: Italian, but many speak English
Government: Unitary parliamentary republic
Currency: Euro
Time zone CET (UTC+1) in summer CEST (UTC+2)
Roads: Drive on the right / with toll roads
Climate:
Inland northern / central regions: Ranging from humid subtropical to humid continental and oceanic.
Coastal area / South: Mediterranean climate.
Best time to visit the shooting locations: April/June, weather is good and nature is in bloom while the tourism season begins in July, so it is less busy at the locations.
How to get there & other useful links
Italy: The best way to reach the country is by air. There are a number of prominent international airports in all the major cities. Rome has three airports, but only two for commercial flights. Out of these the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (IATA prefix FCO) serves as the main hub for visitors from the United States and other intercontinental destinations. The other major international airport is Milano Malpensa Airport (IATA prefix MXP), located near the city of Milan.
Caserta: Many roads lead to Rome they say, so goes for Caserta and the royal palace. If you come from Rome, take the Autostrada A1 to Milan-Naples (Milano Napoli) exit Caserta nord. If you come from Naples take the Autostrada A1. By train you want to get out at the Caserta Central Station, which stops directly in front of the palace.
Lake Como/Tremezzo: Travel by plane to Milan and from there to Tremezzo by car (A9 Motorway – hour and a half trip) or train (one hour trip from Milan Central Station to Como S. Giovanni station and then a half hour more by bus for Colico (or Menaggio), and then stop in Cadenabbia).
Domestic destinations: While there are many domestic airports, it is advisable to travel by rental car or train.
Italian Travel Office
Milano Malpensa Airport
Leonardo da Vinci International Airport
Italian train operator: While the site is viewable in English, the destinations stay Italian, so use Roma (Rome), Napoli (Naples) and Milano (Milan) to find your stations.
Caserta Palace, official Facebook page
The Grand Hotel Tremezzo
Star Wars on Location Tour (Lake Como)
Villa del Balbianello at the website of the Italian National Trust
Caserta, Royal Palace
41°04′12″N, 14°19′33″E
When construction started in 1752, the Royal Palace of Caserta became the largest palace, and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century. With its size of 45, 000 s.q.m. (484,376 sq.ft. or approx. 11 acres) and height of 36 meters (118 feet or 5 floors), it takes some time to explore. The building’s highlights include Sala del Trono (literally “throne room”, a large area used for reception and accommodation for important guests), the royal staircase, the Palatine Library, and the garden. The garden at the back of the palace is modeled after the park of Versailles and features many impressive fountains like the ones featuring Venus and Adonis, from Shakespeare’s poem. Due to the size of the park it can be advisable to take the shuttle bus to the back of the park to see the waterfall.
The Royal Palace in Caserta was chosen by George Lucas to be the interior for the Theed Royal Palace because he was looking for an Italian Renaissance appearance for the planet Naboo.
Various costume reference pictures that have been made against the palace walls have been since published in various guides like Dressing a Galaxy and online. The palace has also been used in various other movies like Mission Impossible III and Angels and Demons to double for the Vatican.
You enter the palace at an arcade that was also used in a promotional shot of Natalie Portman in her Queen Amidala costume. This arcade leads you to the most scenic part of the palace: the Royal Staircase. It is here where we see Queen Amidala walking down after she is captured by Nute Gunray and Rune Haako. Thanks to clever editing and camera work, the lion statues at the end of stairs cannot be seen in the movie.
When you walk up the stairs you reach the next location: The passageway that featured the hologram conversation between Darth Sidious and the Neimoidians, who are told that Darth Maul will join them on the planet. You know you have found the right spot when you line up the two statues that can be seen in the background.
When you turn around you can see that you have arrived in the throne room as seen in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. While the desks and chairs were set dressing, the ornate floor decal and the large window mark this location. The large window is a great spot to channel your inner Padmé and watch outside to see the Trade Federation troops arriving on the doorstep.
Lake Como & surrounding area
Near the church of Tremezzo is the Tremezzo Public Garden. Here, at the edge of Lake Como, they filmed a scene that would end up being cut from the movie: The departure of Anakin and Padmé, who step into a gondola speeder driven by Paddy Accu, the caretaker of Varykino to go to the Lake Retreat. Nearby this location also stands the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, where cast and crew stayed for the duration of the shoot.
In between Tremezzo and Griante is the meadow used for the picnic scene. This was also where the Vanity Fair shoot took place. This site is a bit difficult to find considering that not much of the scene is actually real. Roughly said, the grass they sit on is real, and nothing else.
The Via San Martino, taking you from Rogaro to Griante, is the road that lies next to the meadow. The meadow itself is privately owned, and is best recognized by a small building with a caved-in roof and a lone tree in front. The GPS coordinates to the field are: 45°59’28.97″N, 9°13’41.01″O.
A hundred meters to the north is the other meadow used for the Shaak riding scene. Spot the mountain in the previous photo and you have found the right spot.
Villa del Balbianello, build in 1787, is a villa overlooking Lake Como and was originally built for the Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini, before it was bought by the explorer Guido Monzino who used it to store his collections acquired in his expeditions. When he died, he left the building to the Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano, the National Trust of Italy. Besides Attack of the Clones, the villa was also used in Casino Royal with Daniel Craig.
Visitors of the villa arrive by boat — with stunning views of the lake as an extra treat — but at a different dock than the one used by Anakin and Padmé. The dock seen in the film is an old docking area, protected with walls at the other side of the main building. Nowadays this docking area can still be seen, but is off-limits for those wanting to stand in the exact same spot as they stood at in the movie. The balcony of the first kiss between Anakin and Padmé, as well as were they get married at the end, is nearby and easily recognized since the only thing they changed in the movie was the removal of the background villages.
Villa del Balbianello is most often recognized as the Lake Retreat, but it was also the location where they filmed the deleted scenes of Anakin meeting Padmé’s family, including an exterior shot.
The scene in Padmé’s bedroom where Anakin watches the holograms of her youth, as well as the later scene with Anakin’s morning meditation, was filmed in the loggia that stands in the garden of the villa. However, the bedroom was a set, and the room has since been restored to its previous state. For example, the fireplace that you can see in the scene was built in front of a bookcase. What is still amazing and unchanged, though, is the balcony where Anakin meditates in the morning — this is a smaller balcony, not to be confused with the wedding balcony.
Another impressive feature of the villa is the garden, which can also be glimpsed in the deleted scene, when Padmé looks outside the kitchen window and sees her father Ruwee talking to Anakin.
What else to do in Italy?
When in Italy the following are must-see locations:
Rome – Many Roman-era buildings are here like the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Pantheon. Vatican City, while an independent country, is located within the city of Rome.
Milan – Famous for shopping and the Milan Fashion Week, it also has many museums filled with work from Leonardo da Vinci.
Venice – In the north of the country, this city consists of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. The Church of San Barnaba was used in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Pisa and the famous Leaning Tower.
Naples and nearby Mount Vesuvius with the ruins of Pompeii.
Florence – For its architecture.
Mount Etna – Located on the east coast of Sicily, is more or less a Star Warslocation, considering the erupting volcano was filmed, in 2002-2003, and used to create the eruptions at Mustafar in Episode III.
Join us next time for a trip to Guatemala to try and find the hidden Rebel base!
Map courtesy of Eric Gaba from Wikimedia, adapted by Stefan Pfister.
Caserta Palace, exterior image by Tango7174
Honour Grand Staircase image courtesy of the official Facebook site of the Caserta Royal Palace.
Villa del Balbianello image by Aloa
Sander de Lange (Exar Xan) from the Netherlands does research for the Rogues Gallery feature in Star Wars Insider under the supervision of Leland Chee. He is an editor for TeeKay-421, the Belgian Star Wars Fanclub, he’s an administrator for the Star Wars Sourcebooks page on Facebook and has written the backstory for Niai Fieso through “What’s the Story?”. Recently he finished his Tourism Management study and he cannot wait to work in the tourism industry.
GALACTIC BACKPACKING: VISITING REAL-WORLD YAVIN 4: PART III
Source: http://www.starwars.com/news/galactic-backpacking-part-3-visiting-real-world-yavin-4
Ever since the release of Star Wars in 1977, fans have been dreaming about living in that galaxy far, far away. While that may be just a little difficult, there are still the real-world locations that served as various worlds during filming, and they can be visited. In Galactic Backpacking, we explore these locations by country, looking at their histories and current attractions.
In this installment of Galactic Backpacking, we take a look at Guatemala, the country that was used in A New Hope for the scenes of Yavin 4, as well as for Kashyyyk in the infamous Holiday Special.
General information
Guatemala (República de Guatemala in Spanish) is a Central American country spanning an area of 108,890 km2 (42,043 square miles) and is the most populous state in that region, with an estimated population of 15,806,675. Most live in the capital of Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City.
Guatemala shares its borders Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, Honduras to the east and El Salvador to the southeast. A country with a rocky past, it is still a relatively unexplored country that offers a lot to the traveler who visits thanks to a fascinating nature with lush jungles, big lakes, high mountains and spectacular volcanoes. The jungles still can be very impenetrable, causing the descendants of the Maya people to still live in isolation and by their ancient traditions. There are still undiscovered and mostly unexplored temples left to be found.
Quick facts
Capital: Guatemala City
Official languages: Spanish, outside the main tourist spots few people speak English
Government: Unitary presidential constitutional republic
Currency: Quetzal, divided into 100 centavos
Time zone: CST (UTC-6) in summer CST (UTC-5)
Roads: Drive on the right
Climate: Much of the country maintains a warm climate year round, though it is largely determined by altitude, and there are regional variations. The rainy season runs roughly from May to October, with the worst of the rain falling in September and October.
Visas and immigration: A valid passport is required for citizens of all Western European countries, USA, Canada, Mexico, all Central American countries, Australia, Israel, Japan and New Zealand. The majority of visitors get 90 days on arrival.
Safety: While the vast majority of the tourists who come every year experience no problems at all, general crime levels are high, and it’s not unknown for criminals to target visitors, including tourist shuttle buses. So it is important to try to minimize the chance of becoming a victim by keeping your money hidden and to avoid wearing flashy jewellery.
Best time to visit the shooting locations: November – April is the best time to visit the country. Shooting took place in March.
How to get there and other useful links
Guatemala: Most people will arrive by plane, landing in the capital, Guatemala City, at La Aurora International Airport (IATA: GUA). For visitors from the US and Canada most flights to Guatemala are routed through a few US hub cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. For European visitors it is only possible to fly directly to Guatemala from Madrid, in a flight that stops also in Miami.
Tikal: You could fly from Guatemala City to the Mundo Maya international airport in Flores, but while this is much quicker than a drive from the capital, it also more expensive. For those deciding to drive from Guatemala City, it will take between seven to eight hours to reach Tikal, but you drive through a stunning scenery. From Flores to Tikal is a distance of 60 km, so Flores would make a good alternative to the three hotels and camping site that the Tikal National Park offers. Especially considering that there is no electricity in the park, nor ATMs or banks.
Guatemala tourism board
Tikal
Tikal lodging
Tikal canopy tour
Flores
Maya Expeditions – For guided expeditions in the Petén
Antigua
Tikal – Temple IV
41°04′12″N, 14°19′33″E
Tikal is a large archaeological site and was the largest of Maya cities during the “Classic Era” over 1000 years ago. Today it’s one of the most fascinating and enjoyable of the Mayan sites to visit, largely due to its remoteness, but also its jungle setting. While many tourists come each year to visit the many temples, it never feels crowded.
Make sure you have the time for a full hike around the park. This could take three to four hours, or 10 km (six miles), but brings you to all the sites that are must-sees like the Twin Complexes Q & R, Complex P, Temple IV (also called Temple of the Two-Headed Serpent), the Great Plaza & Mundo Perdido (The Lost World).
If you come early in the morning (the park opens at 6.00 a.m. and closes at 6.00 p.m.), you can watch the spider monkeys disperse into the jungle from their sleeping places inside the park. Other animals like howler monkeys or coatimundi can be seen or heard as well. The park also holds a well-deserved reputation for exotic bird watching like toucans.
Adult tickets for foreigners are Q150 ($20 US dollars ) and children under 12 are free. There are various tours available like a sunrise tour or a canopy tour in which you soar along zip lines above the jungle.
In March 1977, Richard Edlund, Richard Alexander, and Pepi Lenzi set out to find a jungle in Guatemala where they could shoot the plates they needed to create in Yavin 4. They found what they were looking for in Tikal, and spend five days of shooting at Temple IV, filming from the entranceway of the comb structure looking eastward back towards the Tikal Plaza.
In the first shot of Yavin 4 you see the Millennium Falcon coming toward the camera and you can spot Temple II and III sticking out of the jungle canopy. Funny enough, the next shot has the Falcon flying from left to right, but in the same location. They only altered the angle slightly so that you can now see a Rebel guard scanning the ship next to a piece of wall from Temple IV. The Millennium Falcon turns and lowers itself above Temple III.
While the top of the Great Temple on Yavin 4 has not always been consistent within various sources, Temple IV, the temple that they filmed from, seemed to have been the inspiration for Al Williamson when he had to draw the Great Temple for Classic Star Wars #8.
The next shot of Yavin 4 that we see is that of the heroes standing in front of the entrance of the Great Temple. However, this was not filmed in Guatemala. The background is a matte painting and the live-action part was filmed in front of a hangar at a Royal Air Force base: Cardington Air Establishment in Bedfordshire, England.
Visual effects artist Lorne Peterson joined the crew on the third day of shooting, and they immediately coaxed the model maker into donning Rebel fatigues and entering the lookout nest. The previous day the crew had found chinks in the stones to put the poles of the lookout nest in, stabilizing it for a person to get in the glued-on trashcans. Yet due to the height and the peril of being on the border of the summit, it was scary to climb in. So when Lorne Peterson arrived to join the crew on the next day, they immediately coaxed him into the lookout nest, and he became the Rebel we see in these shots.
The misty jungle shot that follows after the first time we see the lookout nest, was filmed early in the morning from Temple IV on the second day of filming.
The above image may come from A New Hope, but this very same shot was re-used in the Holiday Special to depict the Millennium Falcon flying over Chewbacca’s house on Kashyyyk. Thanks to pan and scan, a technique used to adjust widescreen images from movies to fit on a TV screen, the image loses Temple II as seen on the left of the image.
What else to do in Guatemala?
Besides Tikal it is well worth it to visit:
Guatemala City: The National Archeological Museum features a rich collection of Maya related items from the Petén region.
Flores: A beautiful colonial-style lake town in the Petén region. The region is littered with Maya ruins, both discovered and undiscovered.
Antigua: Former capital city with a large legacy of colonial architecture.
Atitlan Lake: This lake is surrounded with three volcanoes and little Maya villages.
Chichicastenango: A traditional K’iche’ Maya culture town with a twice weekly market (on Thursdays and Sundays) that is ideal for souvenir shopping and emerging yourself in the local daily life.
Volcán de Pacaya: This active volcano erupts on a regular basis, offering a very spectacular view of the lava and ash clouds.
Copán & Quiriguá: If you like the Maya ruins of Tikal, you will find more here.
Join us next time for a trip to Tatooine — which is closer to a bright center of your universe than you may expect!
Map courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, adapted by Stefan Pfister.
Temple IV image courtesy from CyArk
Sander de Lange (Exar Xan) from the Netherlands does research for the Rogues Gallery feature in Star Wars Insider under the supervision of Leland Chee. He is an editor for TeeKay-421, the Belgian Star Wars Fanclub, he’s an administrator for the Star Wars Sourcebooks page on Facebook and has written the backstory for Niai Fieso through “What’s the Story?”. Recently he finished his Tourism Management study and he cannot wait to work in the tourism industry.
The post Galactic Backpacking – Visit the Sets appeared first on The Florida Garrison.