The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, known as the famed ”Orient Express”, which inspired Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock in their novels and movies, departed from Paris on Sept. 2, 2011 arrived in Istanbul at Wednesday.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which inspired Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock and many others, departed from Paris on Sept. 2, 2011, and has arrived in Istanbul today, after a journey through Budapest, Bucharest and Varna. The “Orient Express” train, was famously described in Agatha Christie’s novel “Murder on the Orient Express”.

Famed Orient Express arrive in Istanbul first time since 1977

The legendary train arrived in the Balkan country with 97 passengers onboard. The passengers, coming from 31 different countries across the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, US, France and Italy, paid at least 6780 EUR for their trip in the legendary and luxury Orient Express.

Çırağan Palace Istanbul has just completed a decade of catering Ottoman food onboard the world-renowned Venice Simplon-Orient-Express for its arrival to Istanbul and it has became a tradition every year, the Çırağan Palace Istanbul team meets the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in Kapıkule, on the Bulgarian border with Turkey, to prepare an exclusive lunch on board with the chefs of the train, as the train heads to Istanbul. Venice Simplon-Orient-Express passengers have been enjoying the “Palace food,” with carefully prepared traditional Turkish dishes, for a decade. The hotel also hosts the majority of Venice Simplon-Orient-Express passengers during their stay in Istanbul, taking them on a scenic boat trip on the Bosphorus from the historic Sirkeci Train Station to the hotel on the shores of Bosphorus strait..

Cıragan Kempinski Istanbul, Bosphorus staff welcomes Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

The first and most famous European intercontinental train, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express left its station, where it was built, for the first time on Oct. 4, 1883, departing from Paris. The famed “Orient Express,” took its first trip from Paris on October 4, 1883. It was then named “Express d’Orien,” until 1891 when it was given the now famous “Orient Express.” At the time it traveled twice a week from Paris trough Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, and Budapest to Istanbul. The original route had Istanbul as the last stop, reached by ferry from Varna, in Bulgaria. In 1885, the route changed, and travelers on borad reached Istanbul via rail, from Vienna-Belgrade. During the years that followed, the route continued to change, and today, this luxurious and romantic five-day journey takes its passengers to the most beautiful and iconic cities in Europe, such as Budapest, Venice and Istanbul. In 1889, the train’s eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Istanbul. On June 1, 1889, the first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l’Est). Istanbul remained its easternmost station until May 19, 1977. The eastern terminus was the Sirkeci Terminal by the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across the Bosphorus strait to Haydarpasa Terminal, the terminus of the Asian lines of the Ottoman Railways.

The luxury ‘Orient Express ‘train, often described as a five-star hotel on tracks, travels with a speed of 100 km/hour and provides its passengers an out-of-this-world travel experience between Paris and Istanbul. Each passenger must pay an additional fee of EUR 3 360 if they wish to have the entire compartment for themselves in a legendary journey throughout Europe, the Balkans and Thracian until Istanbul.

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