007 Travel story: Cádiz (SPAIN) 2018 / Welcome to Cuba :)

007 Travelers on the road again, doing some Bond location hunting!
This time we were touring in Spain from 27 July to 4 August 2018.

Airline: Finnair
From: Helsinki, Finland (at 20.40 local time)
To: Málaga, Spain (at 00.15 local time)
Price: 1018,53 euros + flight points 10063 (2 adults, 1 child)
Duration: 4 hours 30 minutes

Accommodation during 27-28 July 2018

Hotel: Cortijo Chico Malaga Airport **** (10-minute drive from Málaga Airport and is the closest hotel to its north entrance.)
Address: Avenida de las Américas, s/n, 29130 Alhaurín de la Torre, Spain
Booked: Via Booking.com
Price: 114,30 EUR / 1 night
Breakfast: Included (7€/person)
Wi-Fi: Free
Parking: Free
Check-in: From 14.00
Check-out: Until 12.00
Room type: Double or Twin Room, 25m2, with Extra Bed

Our evening flight’s departure time was at 8.40 PM, but it was already about half an hour late before we took off. During the flight a beautiful full moon followed us all the way to Spain and we landed about one o’clock local time. We had pre-booked a taxi for us (cost was 20 euros) and our taxi driver was waiting us at Málaga airport and we headed directly to our hotel Cortijo Chico Málaga Airport and went to sleep.

Next morning it was an early wake up, because we had to pick up our rental car from Málaga railway station. It felt like no sleeping at all when the phone woke us up at 6 AM. We were the first ones in the breakfast room, the kitchen was not fully open yet, but the staff was kind enough to let us enter the breakfast room before it officially opened.

We got a taxi and it took us to the Málaga train station where our rental car was. Taxi to Málaga´s railway station cost 25 euros. After some searching we found Europcar’s office inside the railway station where we noticed that our initial car was too small and we had to upgrade it to a bigger one. Cost for this upgrade was 105 euros. We got keys to Nissan Qashqai and it was in a parking hall near the railway station.

Traveling by car

From: Málaga (Spain)
To: Cádiz (Spain)

About 9.30 we started driving towards Cádiz via Ronda. After about two hours we reached Ronda and it is mentioned Raymond Benson‘s “DoubleShot” (2000), but Bond never goes Ronda in that novel. However, in Ronda, there was a villainess Margareta Piel, who killed famous matador Roberto Rojo. Later in that novel Bond confronts Margareta in Gibraltar.

Ronda was high on the hill and we took some photos, bought some snacks from supermarket and continued to our first major Bond location Cádiz.

We found our hotel Senator Cádiz Spa Hotel quite nicely, but there was some challenges first to find hotel’s lobby where we got instructions where to park our car. Finding entrance to the parking lot was easy, but getting there was quite hard. We had to drive into very narrow lift, where we had to turn first your our car before it fitted in. But it was very nice that a man from the lobby came to give instructions when to turn and when to reverse the car. Finally everything went well. Parking cost was 19 euros / day, so the total cost was 38 euros.

Travel tip: Finding a space for a car in Cádiz is very hard, so we recommend using a taxi or you can always walk.

Accommodation during 28-30 July 2018

Hotel: Senator Cádiz Spa Hotel **** (400 m from centre)
Address: Rubio y Díaz, 1, 11004 Cádiz, Spain
Booked: Via Booking.com
Price: 440,11 EUR / 2 nights 
Breakfast: Included (12€/person/day)
Wi-Fi: Free
Parking: 38€/ 2 days
Check-in: From 14.00
Check-out: Until 12.00
Room type: Family room, 24m2, equipped with 2 double beds

This hotel is 12 minutes walk from the beach and it is located in Cádiz’s old town, close to shopping centres. The hotel offers a seasonal outdoor pool, which we enjoyed during our stay.

It was time to go to search the first Bond location of this trip. We took a taxi and rode to Mercado Central de Abastos, where Raoul’s Cigar Factory was located in “Die Another Day” (2002). Of course, in the film we are in Cuba, but in reality it was filmed here in Cádiz. This is an outdoor market, where people sell fish, food and other merchandise.

Also the small “tunnel”, where Bond comes out is in the corner of this market place.

We had lunch in a small Cafeteria Andalucia: Pirita and daughter ate tonno pizza half and half (8,50 euros) and Mika took Canelones Carne (8 euros) and we drank still water (2 euros).

Later we walked along Cádiz shoreline, which can be seen in the movie when the location title tells the audience that we are in Havana.

The view here is really beautiful and we felt the breathe of the sea and the sun looked fantastic in the sky. The evening was truly amazing!

We went back to our hotel and relaxed and swam in the pool, which was located on the roof of the hotel. Later we went out to have dinner and found an Argentinian restaurant (Grill House Elfrides Restaurante Argentino) quite close to our hotel. Food was ok there, Pirita ate De Pollo Hamburger, daughter took Grandmother’s scrambled eggs with creole sausage, and Mika’s choice was Breast chicken and lemon sauce. We hoped that the service of this place could have been faster. The day had turned into an evening already when we came back to our hotel and the first full day of our trip was completed.

The next day we planned to swim in the same location where Jinx (Halle Berry) emerges from the sea to the beach and meets 007 in “Die Another Day“. Click here to read what happened next…