Hot on the trail of the grail

Cosmica Oosting

Fancy a holiday taking in some of the most fascinating places in London, Paris, Rome and Scotland? Don't rush for the Lonely Planet bookshelf. Get a copy of Dan Brown's bestselling thriller The Da Vinci Code instead - if you haven't read it already.

It seems popular books and films are the new tourist guides.

The Lord of the Rings and The Last Samurai have inspired tourists to flock to New Zealand.

But, according to Flight Centre, New Zealand's largest travel retailer, other stories are inspiring New Zealanders to head overseas.

Area leader Carlee McCaw says movies such as The Bourne Supremacy (India and Europe), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (the Greek island of Cephallonia) and The Beach (Thailand) have all prompted surges of travel.

"We've even had a few clients inspired to do some kind of adventure travel after seeing the mountaineering movie Touching the Void."

The Da Vinci Code - 20 million copies sold so far - has created the latest burst of enthusiasm and led to a number of trip inquiries.

"Some want to go to specific sites to unravel the mysteries," McCaw says, "and for others reading it has sparked interest in places like Rome and Paris that they hadn't originally planned to visit".

That interest is expected to increase when Ron Howard's film version starring Tom Hanks is released later this year.

Many readers appear to have swallowed whole the book's rehashing of the legend that Mary Magdalene bore the child of Jesus, fled to France and founded a royal line.

Add to that rumours of hidden treasures, the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant, a mysterious society descended from the Knights Templar, secret codes in Da Vinci paintings, on gravestones and in ancient churches, and the result is a fascinating, controversial and potentially explosive mixture.

Tourists have been flocking to the places mentioned in the book, and other places associated with the grail legend - not just to see for themselves but in hope of solving the mystery and finding treasure.

The cemetery in the village of Rennes-le-Chateau in southeastern France, which has long been a focus of such tales, has been closed to the public after thousands of tourists swamped it in search of clues.

Villagers have even felt obliged to dig up and rebury, in a concrete mausoleum, the body of the mysterious Abbe Berenger Sauniere - whose name will be familiar to readers of Brown's book.

"The world has gone mad," village mayor Jean-Francois L'Huilier told Britain's Sunday Telegraph. "It's a well-written book but it's a novel not a historical document. It astonishes me that some readers get to the end and think it's true.

"It's a Philistine minority but they come here and stomp all over the place with no respect for anything or anyone.

"Last year they even tried to tunnel into the church. It was like something out of a prison-escape film. They began digging in the night, put the soil in bags and put the bags in a hole which they covered with a layer of earth so nobody would see during the day.

"It was only when someone noticed the flower beds were moving that we discovered what they were up to."

It's not the first time the village has been ravaged by treasure hunters.

"At the height of the previous madness in the 1970s - and it was complete madness - grail enthusiasts were using explosives to blow holes all over the place," L'Huilier says. "They got into the sewers, dug into burial areas and smashed through stone walls.

"It had calmed down a bit. Then The Da Vinci Code came out and put Rennes-le-Chateau back on the map again."

The villagers are not the only people alarmed at the impact of The Da Vinci Code.

The Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris, one of the key sites in the book, has been deluged with tourists hot on the trail of the grail legend.

The church's pastor, Father Paul Roumanet, became so frustrated with questions about Brown's story that he posted a sign declaring, "Contrary to the fantastical allegations in a recent bestseller ... "

Roumanet is highly critical of the book, saying, "It's very unpleasant, everything that Brown scooped out of the trash cans of history."

By contrast Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, another crucial location, is rather pleased at the extra attention. Stuart Beattie, project manager for the chapel trust, says, "We do welcome the extra income which helps us fund our restoration project."

Beattie's only concern is that the sheer number of visitors could damage the already fragile chapel. "There is a danger that so many people brushing against the sandstone features repeatedly could have a damaging effect."

So for the first time in its 559-year history, access to the chapel is being restricted to official guided tours.

Among the many New Zealanders to be gripped by the story is Auckland businesswoman Cosmica Oosting who set off last week to check out most of its key sites with a view to taking New Zealand tour groups there later in the year.

"When I read the book it really made me curious," she says. "I realised how little I knew about the places, events and ideas he was talking about. The more you read the more you realise you just have to go to these places to see for yourself.

But Oosting was unable to find tours from this part of the world. "I talked to a lot of people who were also interested in going and I spoke to a lot of people in the travel industry.

"They in effect said, 'Good idea - why don't you organise a tour? Go forth and make us money'."

So, in conjunction with Travel Smart in Remuera and Cavalier Travel, that is what she is doing.

Her Da Vinci Code itinerary embraces:

* Vatican City, including St Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the art of Leonardo da Vinci.

* Milan, including seeing Leonardo's The Last Supper, in Santa Marie Delle Grazie Church, plus an exhibition on the work of Leonardo in the National Museum of Science and technology.

* Paris, including the Louvre, where Leonardo's Mona Lisa, St John the Baptist and the Virgin of the Rocks are displayed, Saint Sulpice and The Ritz.

* London, including the Temple Church and Leonardo's second version of the Virgin of the Rocks.

* Scotland, including Rosslyn Chapel.

At each of the sites the tour will link up with local experts in art, architecture and history.

Oosting has travelled a great deal herself but says her exploratory trip round those sites is going to be interesting. "They're all amazing places to visit but what the book does is provide a theme that holds it all together and gives a purpose to the trip.

"Obviously the Da Vinci Code really struck a chord right throughout the world.

"It's a ripping yarn. But it also links into myth and legend. And it shows that we still need myth and legend just as much as we used to do hundreds of years ago. "It made me want to examine what I believe in and I suspect it's had that effect on a lot of other people."

Oosting's tours are scheduled for June and September. "We haven't promoted it much yet; just listed on a website, but there's already been a lot of interest from the US. New Zealand is so far a bit of an unknown quantity but I know from people I've talked to there's certainly a lot of interest.

"All travel is wonderful but I think this particular tour will be for people who are looking for something just a bit deeper."

www.davincicodetours.co.nz