Christmas in Turkey - Seven Hills Hotel

In The World is Not Enough 1999, Bond and Christmas Jones take a well deserved break after saving Istanbul from being destroyed in a nuclear meltdown. In one of the last scenes they are celebrating what appears to be new years eve on a rooftop in Istanbul overlooking the Bosporus. Later that evening they retire to Bond's hotel suite. This has probably been one of the least known locations in Istanbul until now.

As Bond and Christmas literally go undercover in Bond's hotel suite, Mi6 tracks down Bond with one of their satellites. The satellite pans over Istanbul in search of 007. The Hagia Sophia and the small park between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque can be seen on the wall screen at Mi6 as it searches for Bond. The satellite finds Bond's car and zooms in on a house nearby.

M and the staff soon realises, thanks to the satellite's thermal image, that Bond has gotten to bed with Dr Jones and Q loyally shuts off the computer, claiming it must be a premature form of the millennium bug before M can get anymore details. The house where Mi6 finds Bond is actually a hotel in the oldest part of Istanbul.

"-It picks up body heat so humans come out orange.
           -It's getting redder..."

Bond's hotel can namely be found at the intersection of Tevfikhane Sokak and Utangaç Sokak. This is the Seven Hills Hotel, a high class, four star hotel in the middle of the Sulthanamet district, close by the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque located at Tevfikhane Sokak No 8. The distinctive shape of the building is easily recognizable.

Which room Bond is staying in, will probably be possible to determine if you would stay at the hotel. Until then, we have to settle for the fact that it probably is on a high floor.

Bosporus view

The hotel has a rooftop restaurant that probably modeled for the place where Bond and Dr Jones have their champagne, as seen in the top picture in this post, even though that scene in all likelihood were shot somewhere in studio, probably not even in Istanbul. If Bond and Christmas had been on the real rooftop of the Seven Hills Restaurant, the director Michael Apted could have chosen to picture the magnificent Hagia Sophia instead. From the rooftop you actually see both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia.

You find the hotel's website at www.sevenhillshotel.com.
If you do not intend to stay at the hotel, at least to have dinner at the restaurant is highly recommended.