April 3, 2008
Top 10 Bond locations
Lucy Fleming on how Jamaica inspired her uncle, Bond author Ian Fleming + 9 more hotspots
Bond fans have much to thank Jamaica for.
“It was a naked girl, with her back to him. She was not quite naked. She wore a broad leather belt round her waist with a hunting knife in a leather sheath at her right hip. The belt made her nakedness extraordinarily erotic…
"The whole scene, the empty beach, the green and blue sea, the naked girl with the strands of fair hair, reminded Bond of something. He searched his mind. Yes, she was Botticelli’s Venus, seen from behind.” (Dr No).
This is where the iconic film scene when Honechile Rider emerges from the sea and morphs from Ursula to Halle to Daniel, started. Ian Fleming spent two months a year writing in Jamaica. He wrote at his desk in Goldeneye and produced a book a year for the last fourteen years of his life. Hard work.
He closed the jalousies so as not to be distracted but, “out of my left eye I can see waves crashing quietly on the reef, and out of my right a pair of doctor humming-birds going the rounds of a small jungle of hibiscus.” Ian found the island an escape, “a refreshment for all the senses.”
James Bond’s name came from Ian’s bible of Jamaican birds. One of his heroines was named after an elusive Jamaican bird called the Blue Solitaire and, from his beach at Goldeneye, Ian swam past the reef where the sights of the undersea world inevitably crept into his writing.
Of a stingray he wrote: “When it rose up from the pale golden sand and swam a little distance it was if a black towel was being waved through the water.” (For Your Eyes Only). Baracudas feature in lethal underwater battles and Octopussy was what he named his local eight-armed friend who lived in the rocks below his house.
Ian found the peace and relaxation to write in Jamaica and he set three of his books there. As he says of Bond in Live and Let Die: “he had grown to love the great green island and its staunch humorous people.”
Gareth Scurlock's top five locations
Jamaica: Dr No
Where better to start than in Bond author Ian Fleming's back garden. Jamaica, the Caribbean island the author made his home, is celebrating the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth with plenty of events, details can be found on the Jamaica Tourist Board website.
You can stay in Goldeneye, Fleming's former home, now a luxury hotel and resort in Oracabessa, Ocho Rios. The resort is expanding this year to 170 rooms spread over 100 acres.
There's even a James Bond Beach on the island, though the iconic scene from the first Bond film, Dr No, was filmed elsewhere. Ursula Andress emerges from the sea, singing Underneath the Mango Tree, in that famous white bikini, Sean Connery's Bond is waiting to surprise her. You'll find that idyllic location at Crab Key.
Luxor, Egypt: The Spy Who Loved Me
One of my earliest memories of Bond is the remarkable temple columns at Karnak just north Luxor.
The scale of the place and the long shadows cast by bright sunshine as Bond weaved in and out of the dramatic structures, trying to avoid the gun and biceps of big bad Jaws, is enough to foster a fascination in Ancient Egypt.
Luxor is the perfect base if you only have a week to explore the best of Egypt's historical sites. It's own temple dominates the city, while there are plenty of good deals to be had in hotels with views across the Nile to the Valley of the Kings.
It takes minutes to cross the Nile on a Felucca, before catching a lift up into the Valley of the Kings, where you can visit a number of famous tombs on the site where famous kings such as Tutankhamun were discovered.
Karnak is the most impressive of the great monuments around Luxor. Construction commenced ni the 16th century BC and the highlight is undoubtedly that roofless hall with rows of 25 metre-tall tall columns that Bond hid behind.
From Luxor you can take the train north to Cairo for the Great Pyramids, or south to Aswan.
Check the offical Egytian Tourism website for destinations and information.
New Orleans, USA: Live & Let Die
When Bond, played by Roger Moore for the first time, gets on the trail of a heroin baron, the pursuit takes him to grand old New Orleans. The film gives a real sense of the carnival atmosphere of a city that is well and truly back on the tourist trail following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
There's also the backdrop and involvement of voodoo and the occult. It may be stereotyping, but there's no doubting the impact of painted voodoo man Baron Samedi and Solitaire's tarot card reading, especially on younger Bond fans.
Supplement this with intriguing traditions such as slow marching brass band funerals, and you have an air of a place that you can't help but want to explore.
There's voodoo tours available to spook visitors, but the real highlight of a visit has to be delving into the historic jazz and blues music scenes.
The sense of the Deep South is increased by Bond's incarceration on an island in Louisiana's swamps, before the bad guys try to feed him to alligators. His escape is made in a dramatic high-speed speedboat chase. You can re-enact it at a docile pace on a Louisiana swamp tour.
Belgrade and Zagreb, Yugoslavia: From Russia With Love
When From Russia with Love was filmed, Yugoslavia was seen as a shady communist destination. Now, post-independence, both of the locations are tourism hotspots - Belgrade, the resurgent capital of Serbia, has become famous for its nightlife, and Zagreb, Croatia's capital, is accessible on no-frills flghts.
The Exit Festival, held in a fort in the city of Novi Sad near Belgrade, is a great excuse to explore the country. It is one of the best in Europe, hosting many of the same big-name bands that trawl the Continent during the summer months. Combine this with some time in the capital to get an idea of why the young people of Serbia had a repuation for partying while the bombs fell outside.
Croatia's many tourist hotspots are well-documented - ancient Zadar, the national parks epitomised by the waterfalls of Plitvice, history and villa culture in Istria and the wonderful islands that pepper the Dalmation coast between Split and Dubrovnik.
The Cold War and post-Cold War terrorism theme has also taken Bond to Russia and potential rogue states from the former USSR such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, both featured in The World Is Not Enough. Central Asia is enjoying growing interest from tourists keen to explore the Islamic architecture of Uzbekistan and the dramatic landscapes of Krygyzstan and Kazakhstan, despite (or thanks to) the efforts of Borat.
Outer space: Moonraker
Even more unbelievable than the usual Bond, especially when the sets were pretty ropey, was the space location in Moonraker. Only Bond could get himself into an extra-terrestrial scrape way back in the early-seventies. To go where not many men have gone before, and see the world from space, is the ultimate adventure. And now, bookings are being taken to follow in the footsteps of the astronauts and Roger Moore.
American businessman Dennis Tito was the first civilian to enjoy space tourism, enjoying his own space odyssey in 2001 - a mere snip at a reported 20 million dollars. Space Adventures organised that trip on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and the company is still offering trips to the space station - but limited availability and the price tag assure exclusivity - only five men have enjoyed the experience commercially to date.
Trips into space on commercial flights are the long term aims of companies like Space Adventures and Virgin Galactic. The latter, Richard Branson's project, has started taking bookings and reckons the $200,000 flights couple be operational as early as 2009.
It remains to be seen how long it will take, and which company makes it there first, but Virgin's 6-minute flight price is still prohibitive. One day we could all be jetting to the stars - until then we are stuck with sci-fi and telescopes.
Ginny McGrath's top five locations
London, England: The World is Not Enough
London has featured in many Bond movies, but never so spectacularly as a backdrop in “The World is Not Enough”. There’s an explosion at M16 and Pierce Brosnan as Bond bursts out of the MI6 building in a speed boat and starts a high speed chase down the River Thames.
It’s not the only Bond role that London’s had – Bond fanatics will also know that the city also has masqueraded as Hamburg and St Petersburg among other destinations for various Bond films.
Many of these examples of location trickery have taken place at Pinewood Studios, which is on the outskirts of London near Uxbridge and has had a long-standing relationship with Bond going back to Dr No in the 1960s. It is closed to the public but events are occasionally organised there by Bondstars.com, which include tours and a chance to meet “special guests”.
One of the many companies that offer Bond tours of London is London Taxi Tour, which offers a three and a half hour tour of sights including MI6, the Millennium Dome, and Buckingham Palace. It costs £190 for the taxi with up to five adults
Cadiz, Spain: Die Another Day
When Halle Berry emerges from the sea in an orange bikini as Jinx, the love interest in "Die Another Day", it’s a beach in Spain, and not Cuba, as we’re led to believe.
The scene seeks to recreate that classic Ursula Andress moment, when she strolls out of the Caribbean sea in a white bikini.
The Jinx beach is La Playa de La Caleta, the most popular in Cadiz, but it’s not the only Cadiz location that stars. Balneario de La Palma is the Havana hotel where Bond invites Jinx back to his room, and Castillo de San Sebastián, a 16th century castle, and now a museum, can be seen in the backdrop when Jinx flirts with Bond over a mojito.
All three locations are in close proximity and the castle is free to enter. There’s also the covered market, which doubles as a tobacco factory in “Die Another Day”, and is a good place for a cheap pavement-side lunch.
Monte Carlo, Monaco: Goldeneye
Monte Carlo’s port, which glistens with flashy yachts and powerboats, is an obvious Bond setting – its inhabitants already look like Bond characters in their over-sized sunglasses and flashy swimwear.
It was in this harbour that Pierce Brosnan’s Bond sees the Admiral and possibly one of the most cheekily-named Bond girls, Xenia Onatopp, board the Manticore yacht. His high viewpoint is from Fort Antoine, an 18th century fortress in the old town above the harbour. It is now an outdoor theatre and is free to enter, except when it is hosts performances during the summer.
The Riviera roads to the west of Monaco around Nice are perfect Bond car chase territory – winding narrow roads with a dramatic coastal or mountain backdrop. It’s on the road leading to Gréolières that the scene is filmed where Bond races with Xenia.
Phuket, Thailand: The Man with the Golden Gun
Such was the Bond hysteria in Thailand after “The Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed in Phuket, that Ko Tapu island was renamed James Bond Island. It is in Phang Nga Bay and was the hideaway of three-nippled villain Scaramanga, played by Christopher Lee.
Bond was Roger Moore, who together with Lee formed one of the most celebrated Bond/villain partnerships.
There are countless day trips on offer to the island, mostly aboard Thailand’s charismatic long-tail boats. Tours don’t spend long on the island because it is so small and gets very busy, but nearby there’s plenty of beaches with more space and opportunities for swimming, snorkelling and watersports.
Other Thai locations that starred in the film include Ko Khao Phing Island, Ko Tapi Island and various Bangkok sites, including a kick boxing stadium and some of the city’s canals.
Udaipur, India: Octopussy
The Lake Palace Hotel on Lake Pichola was the stunning island home of Octopussy in the eponymous Bond film. The palace looks like a vast white ship because it covers the island and its walls drop to the water. It was built by Maharana Jagat Singh II in 1754 and was once the royal summer palace.
The hotel is owned by Taj Hotels and is best visited when the lake is full, so visit at the end of the rainy season in late September/October time.
En route to Udaipur Moore’s Bond visits India’s most iconic site, the Taj Mahal.
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