The Oriental Express was the name of a railway route that originally transported European passengers between Paris and Istanbul.
The route was founded in 1883 by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits , which wanted to offer the elite a journey characterized by luxury and comfort.
As a result, The Oriental Express quickly became synonymous with luxury travel.
After 1883, the train’s route was changed, it was extended many times, and other companies started using the name to attract customers.
The original route, which was first traveled on October 4, 1883, ran from Paris to the Romanian port city of Giurgiu, with a stopover in Munich.
In Romania, the passengers took a ferry across the Danube to Bulgaria and then continued by train to the city of Varna.
Then we went back with a ferry that sailed the last leg to Istanbul. It was the first time in 1889 that there was a single continuous train journey from Paris to Istanbul.
The last real luxury train with this famous name left the Paris station for Istanbul on May 19, 1977.
After that, the route was shortened one after another, until the last Eastern Express went from Strasbourg to Vienna in December 2009.
