To Madrid for a small week, we obviously took advantage of our stay in the Spanish capital to plan a day on the traces of James Bond in Castilla-La Mancha.
After renting a car, we went through the «countries of Don Quixote» under a beautiful sun. After two hours' drive, we arrived at Cuenca, last big city before our destination.
Los Callejones of las Majadas – Cuenca (Castilla-La-Mancha)
Loyalty: ★★★★ – Access: ★☆☆
To join the «King Industries pipeline site», we must borrow ever narrower roads, which must be particularly pleasant to climb by bike, the panorama is sublime. Moreover, the climb up to Las Majadas is listed on the reference site Climbfinder: since Villalba de la Sierra11 km at 4.5%... It really made you want to.
However, we have opted for four wheels, and after 30 minutes of driving, we arrived at the site.
Los Callejones de Las Majadas is part of the nature park Serranía de Cuencaestablished in July 2007. Nestled in the heart of limestone cliffsit offers a succession of narrow throats and rocks carved by erosion, absolutely amazing. It is this singularity that led the production to build there the village of Zelve and its Orthodox chapelsupposed to be in Azerbaijan.
The shooting of The World Is Not Enough spread over several days, preceded by two weeks of intensive preparation. ReconstitutionOil pipeline, installed in the middle of the Pines and Land which extend to mountains, required the delivery of many trucks, cranes and helicopters, temporarily transforming this peaceful place into a real oilworks. Every morning, several buses climbed from Cuenca to Las Majadas, carrying the Local who were to populate the key scenes of the film: near 500 inhabitants participated in the realization of this sequence.
We arrive by the only possible path and we park on the small parking lot, starting point to visit the site or for one of the suggested hikes. It is also on this axis that Bond arrives aboard his Z8. On the parking lot and in the adjacent space, many plans were turned, including those showing the mobile home of King and the final discussion between Electra and Bond.
By borrowing a hiking path on the right, we get to the place where was filmed Landing of the Electra helicopter, probably on Most successful plan the sequence. Below, I realized some pictures with drone, including Large planes showing the scenery before Bond arrived.
One night in the same hotel as Pierce Brosnan.
Then we borrow a small trail to the north to find the place of the chapel, or at least both Coils which served as support for the false entry built by production. The staging is so successful that it appears Imperceptible on screen. On site, a small ten plans are possible, but still difficult to identify so much the vegetation has evolved... it must be said that the film dates from 1999. After an hour to explore all the angles in a 50 m radius, I finally find the last plan: the one where one sees the construction of pipeline.
Back to the parking lot, we have canceled our little hike for lack of time to give priority to visit of Cuenca. The Old Town is beautiful and it can, if it is not vertigo, borrow the Puente de San Pablo, which leads toHotel Parador, the Pierce Brosnan and the rest of the artistic team. They say that Brosnan was used to walking in the old town for Have a coffee on the Plaza Mayor terraces, facing the magnificent cathedral... and we understand it perfectly: we did the same before returning to Madrid.
Thanks to Jaume Palau.
• The James Bond Archives – Paul Duncan
• Googlemaps
• www.latribunadetoledo.es/noticia/z637e7915-a861-99e1-dfdf195d76979e0a/201211/cuenca-fue-suficiente-para-007
This blog shares my travel experiences, from unavoidable destinations to the most original and exclusive places. Each article is the result of careful work and a real time investment. If you use this information elsewhere or for your own adventures, consider citing your sources and thanking – that's what I do myself, and it's always fun.
Julien Abauzit (JaBoz)
