Cities to be Thrilled in Part 2 - Ian fleming's offbeat trip through Europe

The 1960 Journey

In this the second of two articles about Ian Fleming's publication I wish to delve into -although not too deeply after all this is a brief introduction to these two travelogues- the places he visited on his second journey

The initial series having been considered a success, Fleming was commissioned to make this sequel journey, this time using an automobile to tour Europe. Fleming toured and wrote essays on the following cities:
Hamburg
Berlin
Vienna
Geneva
Naples
Monte Carlo

Of course as in Part one of Thrilling Cities Fleming tended to visit those places off the beaten track as it were. Places that a conventional tourist was not likely to visit. Yet again his journey's provided inspiration for his writing of the James Bond novels

Thrilling Cities part two starts off in typical Fleming fashion with an opener that draws you in.

"She was a big girl with a good figure. She wore nothing but a frilly white bathing -cap and short black bathing-trunks. During the fight in the pool of peat mud she had become streaked with the stuff, one wondered how she would ever get clean again. With a shout of 'Huzza!!' she put her head down and charged the smaller girl with ferocity."

Only Fleming could begin a travel guide of Europe with something as exotic as female mud wrestling!

Setting off in his Thunderbird he first wrote about Hamburg where he had arrived via Ostend, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Wilhlmshaven and Bremen and with his opening lines you see he soon delves into the sensational and seedier side of life - including topless ladies trotting round on horseback in a nightclub! But, although Fleming introduces his readers  to various adult persuits and fills his books with sex and titilation - Thrilling Cities is  as much about style, and includes some things we associate with 007 such as dining well.

Fleming calls Hamburg one of his "favourite cities in the world" and mentions one of the few remainig really great hotels in Europe - The Vier Jahreszeiten

Even today this hotel still highly regarded. Fleming states how,

"The Chef even makes his own smoked Salmon, but this is of course the region for sea fish and eel (eel soup is the speciality of Hamburg). I particularly recommend the crayfish tails with dill sauce and butterred rice, and the saddle venison with smitane sauce and cranberries. But what makes the Vier Jahreszeiten outstanding is, as in all great hotels, the quality of service."

Enough to make one hungry don't you think?

Fleming moves on to Berlin next and you have to give a wry smile at his opening of his next chapter. Very much a man of his times with strong opinions this opening is quite typical although today such writing could possibly offend if taken out of context.

"Every capital has its own smell. London smells of fried fish and Player's, Paris of coffee, onions and Caporals, Moscow of cheap eau-de-Cologne and sweat.

Berlin smells of cigars and boiled cabbage, and BEA dropped me into the middle of the smell on the kind of day I associate with this lugubrious city. The Sky was asphalt colour above the asphalt-coloured town, and the Prussian wind, as sharp as a knife, blew the rubble dust into one's eyes and mouth."

Fleming writes about the rebuilding of Berlin and talks about the destruction it received during the Second World War a period he remembers well. He also briefly mentions museums and where lost artifacts that went missing during the war were now being found and displayed. He also covers the difference between East and West Berlin and then of course moves on to its nightlife -where he says "there is still an emphasis on transvestism -men dressing up as women, and vice versa -which used to be such a feature of pre-war Berlin" but more interestingly to the James Bond fan he goes on to say

"Espionage is one of the main industries of Berlin - East and West- and I spent most of one day exploring the fringes -the centre is far too well protected -of the great spy battle of which Berlin has been the battlefield since the end of the war."

He goes on to a conversation he has with a "notorious middle-man who sells his 'informations' for whatever sum whichever of the secret services will pay."

This conversation  with the character Fleming calls "O" is intrigueing and fills the head of the reader with thoughts that perhaps Mr Fleming's role in intelligence is perhaps greater than we ourselves will ever know.

From Berlin Ian Fleming visited Vienna. It is here that the reader gets to read some autobiographical material about Fleming. Firstly he dicusses the merits of his Thunderbird car and how one of his greatest pleasures is driving abroad and then upon arriving in Vienna he mentions how he had not been to Vienna, "seriously, for thirty years" and continues to talk about where he learned German in the "Tyrol from Mr Ernan Forbes Denis." and how he "learned far more about life from Ernan than from all [his] schooling put together"

One of the places he visited in Vienna was the famed Spanish Riding School:

Fleming didn't particularly like horses very much but to him, "the Spanish Riding School is something different. it is the most graceful exhibition of sheer style in beautiful surroundings to be seen anywhere in the world." He was that impressed that he researches the background of the place and the horses themselves.

From Vienna Fleming visits Geneva -a seemingly strange destination that is clean and devoid of "beggars, pimps or gangsters." He  briefly looks at the financial reoccupation of the Swiss and says"The thirst for money is, the chief economic strength of a country that is poor in natural resources and that has, broadly speaking, only services to sell."

from Geneva he enters Italy and more importantly Naples where he gets to meet the exiled Chicago gangster Lucky Luciano and has a discussion about drug trafficking and The Mafia.

Finally Ian Fleming goes to Monte Carlo a place where he provides information that is quintessential 007 information- how to gamble in a Casino. He also writes about Jacques -Yves Cousteau a man of great invention and a great oceanographer and hero of Fleming's and was in the process of "reorganizing and rebuilding" the royal Palace of monaco to make it into the greatest aquarium in the world.

Conclusion

Thrilling Cities is a must for any fan of the literary Bond simply because it takes you to exotic destinations worthy of a 007 tale and also helps you get closer to the mind of his creator. Each city is thrilling as we see places you wouldn't necessarily dare visit. Also, the cast of characters in this series of essays is equally as colourful as any James Bond story from attractive ladies to spies, criminals and so on to exquisite cuisine, driving in the open air and generally living the James Bond lifestyle.

On the back cover of the Pan edition are these critics reviews.

"Admirally good reading"

SUNDAY TIMES

"Has the James Bond touch"

ABERDEEN PRESS AND JOURNAL

"sets a cracking pace"

YORKSHIRE POST

It has to be said -usually on the back of travel guide you do not read these sort of reviews as they are more associated with thrillers -and all I can say is that 100 years after you were born Mr Fleming - I sir have been thrilled!

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