Jean Claude: Bryan, you cannot just run around, tearing down Paris.
Bryan: Jean Claude, I will tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to.
-- Taken
It starts in Paris, it ends in Istanbul,
it has a time table to keep to: 72 hours in Paris (before the daughter vanish in the vice trade), and much less in Istanbul (before the blood goes to the head of the wife and has nowhere else to go.
It is east meet west; and if anything,
it is relentless.
Bryan: Welcome to Istanbul
Kim: Mom, look at this.
Lenore: Oh, it's beautiful.
Kim: Dad's the best, huh?
Lenore: Yes, he is. -- Taken 2
A little modifications and the above statements could very well be about the Orient Express.
Just think about it, until some changes were made to keep up with the times, the first Orient Express went from Paris to Istanbul. London was a new addition almost half a century after the first Paris-Istanbul run in 1883.
It is east meet west. Before the rise of the Iron Curtain during the cold war, that means the Christain west meeting the Islamic east. In Istanbul, the Bhosporous split the city down between its European and Asian halves. The city was the seat of the Ottoman Empire, while to her west, christain empire. Vienna was once a fortress of sort, the last line of defence of the western world against the Ottoman Empire.
When the Cold War came along, the iron curtain against split the cities on the Orient Express network. The 3 B's (Budapest, Bucharest and Belgrade) and Sofia went under the wings of the soviet.
It does have a time table to keep, if you are in a hurry. Supposedly, one could ride out early from London, travel all the way by trains, and reached Istanbul in about 3 days.
Most who writes about the Orient Express take it upon themselves to remind readers that the Orient Express (OEx) does not really exist. In keeping up with this tradition (obligation?), I will also say that the OEx does not exist, not in the sense that you could go up to a ticket counter and ask for a Orient Express ticket. The counter personnel will probably wave you away. The OEx is really just a train route going from western europe and heading east. "East" could be either Istanbul or Athens. Well, in its latest incarnation, in this age of air travel and later budget airlines, east could be as near as Venice, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
In this sense, no one railway company currently offer a OEx train that will take you from London to Istanbul (or Athen) while you stay on the same carriage throughout the journey. If that's what you are out for, try the Trans-Siberia Express.
So, it is basically up to you to mix-n-match your way to the east.
How relentless you want the trip to be is really up to you. I could imagine pushing it all the way just for the kicks. Starting from St Pancreas Station in London, and not stepping out of any stations on the way until one reaches Istanbul. Spend the days on train seats, and nights on sleeper bed. And at the end of 3 or 4 days, step out of Istanbul station, with the stench on you to prove how hard you have been pushing it.
Or you could take the foot off the gas and take thing easy. Especially after you appreciate that the Orient Express is a neckless; and the stations, the nodes on this rail network are the pearls. These stations are in some of the greatest cities in Europe. Take the trip east as an excuse to sample these cities.
Several of these cities were seats of great empire that came and went over time. Athens, cradle of western civilization and democracy. When it comes to the relentless push east, no one could match the tenacity of Alexander of Macedonia: all the way Greece, all to way to India before turning his army home.
Possibly the greatest empire of all, the Roman empire, is not represented. Modern day Rome is not visited by the Orient Express. But bear in mind, Constantine the Great, a Roman emperor, moved the capital of his empire from Rome eastward to Constantinapole. That remain the seat of the Byzantine Empire, until the Islamic Ottoman Empire came along and took over. They renamed Constantinapole, Istanbul.
What goes around, comes around. An Orient Express, having moved to Constantinapole, have to come westward again. The pendulum of empires swing westward as the Germanic people grew in strenght. With the demise of the Merovingian kings, Charlemagne rose to lead the Franks and Germanic people.
He was to later be crowned by the pope in Rome as the first emporer of Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.
Then in 1273, Rudollf the knight from the Habsburg castle in Switzerland were made king of the Germans. He rode out to fight the Bohemian and seized lands in Austria.
These were bestowed on his sons. And the family grew in strenght until their Austria-Hungary empire broke up after World War I.
In Austria and Hungary, east would meet west. Or rather, east would crash with the west. Genghis Khan and his mounted warriors came first. Storming through Hungary on their way to Poland. Centuries later, it would be the sultan of the Turkish Ottoman empire. His army match through Hungary on their way to Austria.
Fast forward to the 19th century, the Austria empire saw the birth of a republic turned into another empire at their doorstep. Napoleon Bonaparte started out as a soldier of the French republic, and ended up proclaiming himself Emperor of the French.
By now, almost all the pearls have fallen into place to be strung together by the Orient Express: Athen and Istanbul; Budapest and Vienna; Venice and Milan; Paris, Munich and Zurich.
All it takes now is the steam engines to pull the trains. In 1769, Scotsman James Watt patented the steam enginne. In 1825, the first railway line was up and running in UK. So to the OEX, we add London, seat of the British Empire, where the sun doesn't set.
Having decided to "do" the Orient Express, I have been staring at the map.
Which cities would I include in the mixing and matching. Paris, Milan, Munich and Venice should be in. I would likely pass through Switzerland, that would take in Zurich or Lausanne. How far east should I go? All the way to Athen? Having just made it to the Baltic sea in the north, should go all the way down south to Athen on the Mediterrainean sea?
From the land of the Norse gods to that of the Greek gods?
From the land that inspire Thor, to Greece that inspired Namor the Sub-mariner,
the Incredible Hercules and Wonder Woman (Diana, Amazonian princess)?
And do I take in Romania? Home to Dracula, the Transylvania legend that inspired another creature of the dark night.
Or should I use one of the "prefab" classic routes as a guide.
The first, simply the "Orient-Express", got its start in 1883, about 60 years after the first railway line in the UK. It goes all the way to Istanbul. Will I push so far east? Past the euro zone?
The second, Simplon-Orient-Express, started its run after the first world war. It also ended in Istanbul, but avoided Germany.
The third, Alberg-Orient-Express, started in 1930. It also avoided Germany, but ended in Athen. This looks good, but at the time of planning, the Greece election ended with no winner with a clear majority in their parliament. A coalition may be found resulting in a government that wants out of the EU. Not the best of time to visit.
All three routes were disrupted during either the first or second world
war, or both. All three were discontinued in 1962. When Napoleon pushed
east, he was stopped by the armies of the Russian tzar. In 1961, the
Soviets put up a wall in Berlin. That probably caused the demise of the
OEX.
The last two incanation of the OEX were definitely scaled down. No kick.
Even as I step into Paris, there were no concrete plan which route I will be taking. What I have in the head was a vey rough plan: head south-east to Athen, through Italy; then double back to Paris via Budapest.
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