James Bond Movie: Skyfall

Turkish Airlines Magazine Skylife November issue mentions about last James Bond Movie Skyfall

James Bond/David Craig in Istanbul.

The James Bond films are 50 years old this year, and Turkey is 007’s travel venue for the third time.

In 1962 when part of the first Bond film, Dr. No, was shot in Jamaica. Not a single tour operator at the time ever think that the small English island would be swamped by tourists on the 007 trail. But the whole world would love watching the James Bond films, and the places where their scenes were shot soon became into touristic magnets. The same thing is going to happen again this fall with the new James Bond film, Skyfall, most of which was shot in Turkey.

From March to May of this year, an approximately 500-member team was in Adana, on Fethiye beach, in Istanbul and on the Baghdad Express that passes close to Vardar Bridge on the Adana border for the film, which is chock full of exciting scenes. They staged a fight scene on a moving train, and car and motorcycle chase scenes across rooftops and in the narrow lanes of the Grand Bazaar. Not only that but Kiremit (Tile) Street in the Istanbul district of Balat is also the backdrop for a scene in the film.

Daniel Craig must have felt quite contented in Istanbul because he brought his actor wife Rachel Weisz over to spend a free weekend with him in the city. Whether or not the couple will take part in the Turkey premiere in Istanbul remains an unknown. But when the tours that are currently in the preparatory stage get under way, visitors will be able travel to Turkey in the footsteps of 007.

Other James Bond movies that scened Istanbul:

The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Although Pierce Brosnan and Sophie Marceau
act as if they are in Istanbul in this 1999 Bond film, the scenes were actually
created from footage shot by a small camera crew on the Bosphorus without the
stars being there.

From RussIa WIth Love (1963)
When Sean Connery finds out he is going to Istanbul, he starts humming “Moonlight on the Bosphorus” to his boss M’s secretary, Miss Moneypenny. His mission takes him to the Grand Bazaar, to the Hagia Sophia, where his adversary dies without a peep, on a ferryboat ride on the Bosphorus, and to Pendik, where he is pursued by motorboats.

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Deutsche Orientbank in Sirkeci, Istanbul today.

In Skyfall. Bond makes his first appearance coming out of the old Deutsche Orientbank building in Eminönü, not far from the Spice Market.  Deutsche Orientbank was founded in 1906 to built the railways in the Ottoman empire and also to help the German inverstors for their inverstments in the Ottoman Empire. The Germania han, also known as Deutsche Orient Bank building was built by German architect August Jachmund, who also built the nearby Sirkeci Train Station, for the prime bank of German interest in Ottoman Turkey. It is a magnificent example of Art Nouveau in Istanbul. Unfortunately the building is abondoned after WW2. Today it is an empty but a marvelous looking building from the time of Orient Express like Pera Palace Hotel.

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Deutsche Orient Bank as scened in Skyfall

During your visit to Istanbul, if you would like to walk through and visit the sites that are scened in James Bond Movies contact us today for your private walking tour of Istanbul.