SLOVAKIA – Bratislava // The Living Daylights (1987)
From the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Soviet era – Bratislava is packed with history. And now some hideouts in the city are more hip than your Brooklyn coffee dealer.
Why Bond was here
James Bond (Timothy Dalton) is about to help the renegade general Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) leave the Soviet Union. Both meet at the opera in Bratislava – then they escape via a smuggling sledge to Vienna underneath the border.
Before, Bond is supposed to take out a young Soviet sniper – in fact the cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo) who played at the Bratislava opera right before.
Karas neighborhood in Bratislava – filmed in Vienna
How you gonna get there
Bratislava is the capital of the Eastern European state Slovakia. But Timothy Dalton was never there. Back in the 1980s, Slovakia was still part of the Soviet Union and therefore the British production crew couldn’t film on location.
Instead they filmed in Vienna, prepping streets and places to look like a worn-down Soviet state.
These are the fake Bratislava spots in Vienna:
- The exterior scenes from the Bratislava opera had been filmed at the Volksoper and a shop nearby. (We visited the Volksoper here)
- The interior of the Bratislava opera is in fact the Sofiensaal in downtown Vienna. (We visited the Sofiensaal here)
- And Karas neighborhood is in reality Viennas 18th district Währingen in the northwest of the city. (We visited the locations here)
Good to know
The Post-Communist Bratislava breathes fresh air and is ready for the 21th century – but still lives its rich history. In the old city center underneath the Bratislavský hrad, the old castle, you will discover traces of Medieval history, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Gründerzeit epoch as well as the Soviet era. Some buildings are carefully renovated, others still remain derelict.
Check out the presidential Palais Grassalkovich and its artsy neighboring park for a relaxing afternoon or see the Fontána Družba, the “Union Fountain” across the street for an idea of how the Soviet times wrecked havoc in Slovakia.
Your best address will be the area between Primaciálny palác and Michalská Brána and the banks of the Danube. This is the old city center and the main spot for shopping and eating. The Slovenské národné divadlo, the Bratislava opera that Bond never visited, is right in the middle of it all.
Be careful not to walk the tourist trail, as the city can get crowded in the summer. And many restaurants try to lure in tourists and offer expensive food. A place for good food is the Stará tržnica, the “Old Market”, a community center for music events, exhibitions – and local food markets!
While in Bratislava we liked to hang out at the small Danube park in front of Starý Most bridge or walk the narrow alleys around Rolandova fontána. There, we discovered a small, but beautiful coffee shop, cramped with young locals. Its called “caffe4u” and is hidden in a backyard next to famous Obchodná street. This café tops every Brooklyn hipster joint!
© 2015 Huntingbond (1,3), © 1987 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation (2)