SPAIN – Mercado Central, Parroquia de Santa Cruz & Avenida Campo del Sur, Cadiz // Die Another Day (2002)
“Die Another Day” turns the beautiful Cadiz into buzzling Havanna – and it works! Beach? Cigar Factory? Church Roof? This is, how the locations around the city are linked to each other.
Why Bond was here
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) travels to Cuba to investigate Isla de Los Organos, where dubious people buy fictitious DNA replacement therapies. Villainous Zao (Rick Yune) is just of them. So Bond is about to meet his Havanna contact Raoul (Emilio Echevarría), a sleeper agent, who provides Bond with intel on Zao and the island. Raoul owns a cigar factory and Bond makes his way along the Havanna promenade to get to the factory – and then talks to Raoul on a roof terrace.
How you gonna get there
The promenade is not in Havanna, but the Avenida Campo del Sur in Cadiz. It is a long harbour road with a broad sidewalk along the southern coast of the beautiful harbour town. It connects the famous La Caleta beach with the Cadiz’ Cathedral. The scene with Bond was filmed along Campo del Sur directly in front of the church.
Doing a little location jump, Bond then walks from Calle Garaicoechea into the Plaza de la Libertad, the town square that is home to the Mercado Central – the towns main food market. In the movie it doubles as the cigar factory. Bond asks for the manager and is giuded onto the roof terrace to meet Raoul. The interior is a location in London, the terrace though is back again in Cadiz. It is the roof of little Parroquia de Santa Cruz, a small church right next to the big Catedral de Cadiz.
Good to know
Unfortunately it is not possible to visit the church roof. We asked for permission, but due to the old structure of the tower visitors are no longer allowed up. You can recognize some of the exterior scenes from below though – and you might want to visit the neighboring cathedrals roof for a better view.
Luckily the cigar factory exteriors – the Mercado Central – is visible and still active. In the early morning hours the place feels like Cadiz’ throbbing heart for fruit mongers, vendors and fishermen. Freshly caught fish gets prepped for the day, crabs still moving their legs on the tables. Pallets and baskets with oranges, bananas, apples are on display. The first coffee makers open their stalls.
Between Sea and Sun: Sauntering through Cadiz in Pictures
Around noon it feels as if the whole of Cadiz is coming to the market place. Food shacks open up, serving cervezas, burritos, hamburgers and fries. Many Gaditanos, as the people of Cadiz are called, enjoy their lunch break or start into the Siesta right here.
Though the food is great, the Mercado Central lacks good ice cream. But we found the best heladeria in town, check out “Verde Pistacchio” in Calle Ancha some meters up north. Built inside an old garage, the store is easily recognizable with its green VW van parked in front. Grab your ice cream or a drink and head back down to Campo del Sur for a nice evening stroll. Another great time to visit the promenade is early during sunrise. The streets are empty, just some fishermen and seagulls hunt for fish. When the sun comes up behind the cathedral, the whole Campo del Sur is bathed in a golden morning light.
© 2023 Huntingbond (1,4,5,6), © 2002 Danjaq LLC. & Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (2,3)