More commonly known as just the Orient Express, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is a luxurious train which most of us know best through movies and books, especially mystery and suspense novels by Graham Greene and Agatha Christie. These and other works have given the Orient Express a prominent place in our imagination and although most of these images are from a bygone era, the Orient Express remains a luxurious means of European travel.
The tradition of luxury train travel goes back to the mid-1800s, with George Mortimer Pullman creating a train that was the first of its kind in providing riders with every convenience and luxury of the nineteenth century. Ten years later, the first train cars with sleeping space and parlour space were available. It was around this time that Georges Nagelmackers started to create luxury trains that were intended for continental travel.
The Orient Express first run was from Paris to Giurgiu, Romania, stopping in Strasbourg, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest along the way. The train quickly acquired a reputation as a luxurious means of reaching the then-exotic (for travellers from Western Europe) destinations of Hungary and Romania. By 1900, the Orient Express was running an extended route travelling all the way to Istanbul via the Simplon Tunnel.
Other than an interruption in service caused by the First World War, the early part of the 20th century was a good time for the Orient Express, which thrived up until WWII. After the war, the Orient Express resumed its route, but air travel soon made rail travel an anachronism and the Orient Express made its final Paris-Istanbul journey in 1977.
However, the Orient Express is now back in operation. Two of the train?s carriages were purchased at an auction at Sotheby?s and 16 million dollars of restoration and further investment in buying the remaining 35 cars of the train later, the Orient Express is in business again.
It runs today and taking a trip in this historic train is for many one of the most romantic and historic trips that they will ever take. You can enjoy a truly international experience as you take the train to all of the cities that the train once travelled to. While the cities have changed, the loving recreation of the train allows you to step back in time.
Your personal steward will greet you and direct you to your compartment as you board. While you ride the Orient Express, you will dine like royalty. Expert French chefs are in the kitchen crafting exquisite meals from the finest ingredients obtained in each city where the train stops. There are three dining cars, which offer an atmospheric setting for each meal.
You?ll be able to select a single compartment, a double compartment or even combine two cabins into your own cabin suite complete with private lounge, sleeping compartment and sofa!
Why simply dream about the romantic luxury of the Orient Express when you could be living it and experiencing it yourself?
Author Resource:-
Jeff Paulett is a partner of Luxury Trains.co.uk. Visit their site for further information on the Orient Express or luxury trains in general.
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