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Hell is other people while traveling coach, what with their seat yanking and terrible hygiene and dumbass luggage fuckery. At least we get to see the world. Back in “simpler” times travel was such an ordeal most people never went beyond a short distance from their home. It was usually only the very rich who went anywhere. And in 1883, the wealthy finally got to see Europe in real style with the opening of the Orient Express.
--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: October 4, 1883--
The first leg of the route opened in June beginning in Paris, but the terminus was Vienna. Nice place. Lots of history. But not the Orient. It was October 4, 1883, when the rest of the route opened so people could travel from la Ville Lumière all the way to Constantinople, which wouldn’t be called Istanbul for another half-century.
It wasn’t just one train, or even one route. The original trip required passengers to disembark in Romania to be ferried across the Danube to Bulgaria where they would catch another train to the Bulgarian city of Varna, followed by a 150-mile ferry ride to Constantinople. The final leg of the train ride to Constantinople wasn’t finished until 1885. Other routes were added through Switzerland and Italy in later years. Of course, all routes were shut down during the two World Wars, because people were rather busy killing each other across most of the continent.
The train was an inspired vision by a Belgian son of a banker named George Nagelmackers, who wanted to give (rich) people the opportunity to cross the continent in posh comfort, introducing luxurious sleeper cars for travelers. It took almost two decades and several false starts to bring the dream to fruition, but the inaugural voyage to Istanbul was a media event. Attendees marveled at how entering the train was like walking into one of the finest hotels in Europe. It contained intricate wood paneling and opulent leather furniture. During the 80-hour trip from Paris to Istanbul, travelers slept on silk sheets.
Royalty traveled on and even drove it; the king of Bulgaria fancied himself an engineer and demanded he be permitted to drive the train through his country, which he did at a dangerous velocity. James Bond battled villains and bedded beauties on the Orient Express, but in the nonfiction realm the train was popular with spies, because it made country-hopping both easier and more luxurious. It even gained the nickname the “Spies’ Express.”
On November 11, 1918, one of the train cars was used for Germany to sign its surrender in World War I, and that car was proudly exhibited by the French until World War II. Petty douche that he was, Hitler had the French sign their 1940 surrender in the same car. As the war turned against Germany, Hitler had the car blown up because he didn’t want the Allies to have it as a trophy yet again.
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