I would have thought that, a lady, in your position, would get to know many things..."
 |
| Bond and Lisl in Kristatos' Rolls Royce Silver Shadow |
 |
| The Rolls Royce coastal road |
Bond and Lisl are traveling down the coastal road in Benitses, in the eastern part of Corfu. The road runs just below the Achilleion Palace, at Gastouri, which housed the Corfu Casino in the film. This part of the road is possible to identify thanks to a ruin that is visible in the background. This is the ruin of 'Kaiser's Bridge', a bridge that connected a path from the Achilleion Palace with the sea and that once run over the road. This is a very appropriate location for the Rolls Royce to drive past, since this is the normal way one would take, driving back to Corfu Town from the casino.
Coming from the south on 'Epar. Od. Vrionis-Agiou Nikolaou', you can either take road 25 to your left in order to reach the Achilleion Palace, or continue down the coastal road in order to reach the Kaiser's Bridge after a few minutes. This road forms the island's main artery to the south.
It was the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, who built the bridge (called "Kaiser's Bridge" by the locals) to access the nearby beach and the pier, without crossing the road. The Kaiser, who was fond of holidaying in Corfu, had purchased the Achilleion Palace in 1907 from the heirs of Sissi, the empress of Austria, who had built the palace in the 1890's.
The casino was actually housed in the Achilleion Palace until the early 1990's. Hence, the interior scenes of the casino could very well have been filmed on location instead of one of Peter Lamont's sets.
The bridge, arching over the road, spanned the distance between the lower gardens of Achilleion and the beach. The bridge's central section was, ironically, demolished by the Wehrmacht during the German occupation of Corfu in World War II, to allow for the free movement of its vehicles. The bridge’s remains can still be found on each side of the road.
Pictures courtesy of KolmQvist
I danced in the ballroom of the Achelleion last year with my girl , that was where the casio was set as you can tell from the wall lights if i remember correctly . Also as this is i hope my first successful attempt of commenting here on your page i want to say how much i enjoy it and look forward to checking out new locations you post every few weeks , its really top notch , there nothing else out there like this .
ReplyDeleteThank you
Karol Collins .