If you've ever seen From Russia With Love, then you've already had a glimpse of Turkey. Here's why...
Where: The Orient Express.
Film: From Russia With Love.
What happens: After doing a runner from Istanbul with the super secret coding machine, Bond (Sean Connery), his simpering Russian turncoat lover, and his faithful Turkish cannon fodder leap on the world’s most famous train. However, the Soviets are determined to stop them getting beyond the Iron Curtain, and send an assassin aboard. He’s found dead in the cabin with the hapless Turk, murdered by SPECTRE agent Grant. The hulking bleach-blonde man-robot then traps Bond in his cabin, has him kneeling for mercy but shows traditional idiocy by letting the trapped spy have a last cigarette. Opening the briefcase, Grant is sprayed with Q’s nerve gas, they have a big punch up, and Bond eventually makes it to Italy unharmed.
How to get there: Despite being largely famous for a string of fictional murders aboard, we’re assured that a trip on the Orient Express is a much safer, and more luxurious, alternative to a fortnight in Afghanistan. The nine-day journey from Istanbul to Venice, stopping off Bucharest, Budapest and Vienna is an epic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Go to www.orient-express.com or call +44 845 077 2222 to get on board and wallow in a sea of truffles.
Where: The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
The film: From Russia With Love
What happens: Despite smelling a rat the size of a small horse, Bond agrees to meet with Russian totty Tatiana Romanova, who has supposedly fallen in love with his picture and wants to give him a vital decoding machine.
They decide to meet up in the church of Saint Sophia, an extremely fancy building teeming with tourists. Predictably enough, both a Russian spy and a shadowy figure from Blofeld’s evil organization are there watching and waiting.
How to get there: The Hagia Sophia is often regarded as the 8th wonder of the world by the people who like to get into arguments about these things. It has served time as both an Eastern Orthodox church and an Islamic mosque, but it’s now a museum. And as a place to store musty old things goes, it’s almost unnecessarily intricate and decorative. It is one of Istanbul’s premier tourist attractions, and for good reason.
More James Bond travel locations: Africa, Turkey
