18 Sept 2016

Tracy's death - Arrábida Natural Park, part 1

For the final scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the director Peter Hunt searched Portugal for the perfect location to shoot Tracy's inevitable and tragic death. It is not an understatement to say that he found it. The road where Bond pulls over to remove the wedding flowers from the car, after a short drive from Draco's estate, is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Bond locations I have visited.



Through the windscreen of the Aston, a view point is visible to the left. This view point is still there and is a perfect place to stop the car and have a picnic lunch. You should really take your time at this location. There is not very much traffic on these roads, at least not in early May which was the time of our visit, although you have a few people stopping occasionally for photos. But if you stay long enough you will spend some time all alone at this location. 



Bond and Tracy are driving along the mountainside roads that lead from Setúbal through the Parque Natural da Arrábida (Arrábida natural park). This location is located in the Setúbal municipality approximately an hour drive south of Lisbon. This is a beautiful area and both the coastal road and the mountain roads are well worth a drive.




The easiest way to get to Setúbal is to drive across the bridge Ponte 25 de Abril and continue down the A2 highway out of Lisbon. In Setúbal, you should follow the N10-4 road going west. The spot where Bond pulls over is located along the road N379-1, a few kilometers from where the road intersects with N10-4. 



Bond and Tracy are overtaken by an Oldsmobile with some youngsters, right before stopping at the spot where Tracy will meet her faith. The road is quite narrow and stopping your car at the exact spot as Bond did in the film is not recommended and really not possible, especially as there is right right-hand traffic in Portugal, since 1928. Bond himself is driving as if it was left-hand traffic in 1969.

Say it with flowers! 




As Bond removes the flowers from the car, a Mercedes 600 Grosser approaches in the distance...


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