Bond and Tracy in Lisbon - Palácio Fronteira

As it is Christmas, I'd thought it appropriate to share one of the locations from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the only Bond film where Christmas is celebrated and features rather prominently, even with Blofeld wishing 007 a merry Christmas. The film also features a Christmas song, especially written for the film by the composer John Barry.

In the film, Bond falls in love with Teresa di Vicenzo, the daughter of an Italian gangster. They share a few romantic moments together in Lisbon early in the film. A few scenes were filmed in what appears to be a park, first with Bond wearing a black tie, and later, with him in a double breasted blazer. Both these scenes were filmed in the same location, namely in the 5.5 hectare large garden of Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira, just outside central Lisbon.

During these scenes Tracy falls in love with Bond and ultimately marries him, which would prove to be fatal. The scene with Bond and Tracy petting the cat by the fountain was filmed in the smaller garden which is located on the back of the palace (south of the building) and the next scene with Bond and Tracy walking by another fountain, this time in different clothes, was filmed in the lower main garden. These scenes will be covered next year.

Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira and the main garden

The palace is still the private residence of the Marquesses of Fronteira but is sometimes open to the public. Check dates and time before going there.

The main garden - located east of the palace building

The Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira was built between 1671 and 1672 as a hunting pavilion to Dom João de Mascarenhas, 1st Marquis of Fronteira, who had received his title from King Afonso VI of Portugal.

This is the smaller garden where the first scenes were filmed. Bond and Tracy are coming towards the fountain (from the house) and are heading east (to the right) before Tracy sits down by the fountain.

Some steps lead down to the large lower main garden from this smaller garden where the scene with Bond and Tracy were filmed.

The palace garden is magnificent and a location that must be visited. It has not changed notably since 1969 and the spots are very recognizable. In addition to the the two scenes with Bond and Tracy, a few publicity stills were also shot at this location, primarily the picture below, featuring George Lazenby standing on a stone staircase surrounding a pond. 

As the year is coming to an end, we note that it has indeed been a sad year for the Bond series as we lost Sir Roger Moore on 23 May and we also note the passing of Karin Dor, who played the Spectre villain Helga Brandt in You only live twice on 6 November.

One can only wish that Draco's words from On Her Majesty's Secret Service will be true for 2018.

"The best years are still to come, let's hope"  

I wish you all a very 

Merry Christmas, 

and a happy new 2018!

Ta ta,
J

Entrance to the Grand Bazaar - Gate 1

In From Russia With Love, when Bond arrives in Istanbul he is driven to the office of Ali Kerim, the head of the British Secret Service's "Station T" Turkey. Kerim's office is located inside the famous Grand Bazaar, a location that Bond would visit again in Skyfall. Bond's Rolls Royce arriving at at the Grand Bazaar in front of the Nuruosmanyie Mosque has been covered here earlier. Bond and the chauffeur is seen entering the Grand Bazaar through the main entrance gate.

In a very brief sequence, one of the streets just outside of Gate 1 is seen. This street is called Ç. Nuruosmaniye Cadessi. In the background you can also spot the crowd watching the filming. Crowd control was a huge problem during the filming of From Russia With Love, which is apparent in several scenes.

Bond and the chauffeur enter the Bazaar through the main entrance, Gate 1.

Later, after the meeting with Kerim Bey, Bond leaves in the Rolls Royce again and the stalking Bulgar watches as Donald Grant drives off in the Citroën. The main entrance gate, Gate 1 where Bond and the chauffeur have entered earlier, is seen again through the wall behind the Bulgar, in the picture above.

Noble House: Man Mo temple - Hong Kong

In the second episode of Noble House, the renowned Bond actor Burt Kwok (appearing in both Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice) plays Philip Chen, compradore to the Tai Pan. After the kidnapping of his son, Philip is delivering the ransom money to the kidnappers for the return of his son. They have instructed him that the handover shall take place at the Man Mo temple at nine o'clock.

The mentioning of the Man Mo temple is accurate, since this is the location where Philip Chen actually is dropped off by the taxi in the episode. Philip walks across the street and down the steps as instructed by the kidnappers. The Man Mo temple can be found in the middle of Hong Kong, namely at 124-126 Hollywood Road in Tai Ping Shan, west of Soho.

Why the Man Mo temple would be chosen by the kidnappers for the handing over of the ransom money is a bit unclear since this is a very central location with the police headquarters close by. Even though there are a lot of people for the kidnappers to blend in with, one would think that a more remote location would have been more appropriate.

Coral Harbour Hotel - Nassau, Bahamas

In Thunderball, Bond is staying at a the Coral Harbour Hotel in Nassau. After escaping Largo's men and swimming ashore Bond is picked up on the road back to Nassau by Fiona Volpe in her light blue Ford Mustang, not knowing that she is a Spectre agent working for Largo. After a high speed drive on the Nassau roads, Bond and Fiona Volpe end up at his hotel, where she, coincidentally, also is staying. The Coral Harbour was a real hotel that was located on the southern part of Nassau in 1965.

The Coral Harbour Hotel has been out of business for decades. However, the original building still exist on location. It is now the only rest of this, probably once quite famous, hotel. The southern part of Nassau was probably a regularly visited tourist location in the 1950's and 60's but has since the 1970's fallen out of favour with tourists as Paradise Island on the northern part were more and more developed. Both the Ocean Club and the Atlantis complex are located on Paradise Island.




The lobby of the hotel was probably re-created in the studio at Pinewood, but a brief glimpse can be seen in the film through the entrance door behind Bond and Fiona Volpe. The stone wall seen behind Bond can sill be found inside the house.

The lonely hotel building is today part of the Royal Bahamian Defence Force Base and is used as a training facility and class room. The entire area have undergone vast renovations and the old pool area in the back of the hotel, where Bond and Domino are having lunch in the film, is gone forever. Hopefully, the original hotel building will be left untouched during the future renovations. Sadly, the entrance is the only recognisable part from the film today.

The entrance to the hotel is seen again later in the film when Bond is dropped off by Pinder after escaping the sharks in Largo's pool.

"- You look pale Mr Bond, I hope I didn't frighten you? 
                - You see I've always been a nervous passenger. 
  - Some men just doesn't like to be driven. 
                - No, some men don't like to be taken for a ride..."
                           
                               - Fiona Volpe and Bond - 

As the building is located inside the military base it is not accessible for tourists and special admittance is necessary. The most interesting fact about this location is that the unfinished hotel structure used for the parkour chase in Casino Royale also is located on this military base!

Splitting the gondola

During the Gondola chase in Moonraker, Bond speeds past another gondola, followed by two baddies in a speed boat. As Bond manages to speed past the gondola, the speedboat cuts the gondola in half.

Rio di Santa Caterina

The entire gondola chase was filmed on several different locations throughout Venice. This small action scene was filmed in the Cannaregio district, very close to the place where Bond meets with Dr Goodhead, covered in the last post. The gondola that gets split in half is coming out from the Rio di Santa Caterina as Bond and the two henchmen are coming in from the north on the canal.

Bond speeds up as he watches the gondola coming out from Rio di Santa Caterina 

This location can be found near the north margin of the city, at the intersections of Rio della Sensa and the confluence of Rio di Noale and Rio di San Falice. Another small part was filmed by the Squero di San Trovaso boat yard located in the opposite part of town.

As the gondola gets split in half, the front drifts away across the canal, towards Rio della Sensa, with the loving couple still kissing in the gondola.

Scuola vecchia della Misericordia

In the background you can see the Scuola vecchia della Misericordia prominently in the middle and a small white church to the right. The white church is the Chiesa dell'Abbazia della Misericordia, founded in the 10th century. The Scoula is a former charity building erected in 1310.