| Sirkeci Train Station |
 This is a surprisingly low-profile train station for having once been the terminal of the much-vaunted Orient Express. An old locomotive decorates the corner of the station, honoring this footnote in history. Pass the locomotive and turn left, finding your way to the station's main entrance (along the modern wall with the white doors, under the sign for Istanbul Gar). Once inside the door, a TI and well-signed ticket windows are to your left—and a statue of Atatürk is staring down at you from the head of the tracks.Wander deeper into the station, past the ticket windows, and go left to find evidence of a more genteel, earlier age. Consider poking into the humble little Railway Museum, with its old photos and equipment (free, Tue-Sat 9:00-12:30 & 13:00-17:00, closed Sun-Mon). To the right of the museum is the old passenger waiting room, with wooden benches and stained-glass windows that recall the station's former glory. The Orient Express train line began in the 1880s. You could board a train in Paris, and step off into this very station three days later (after passing through Munich, Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest). Traversing the mysterious East, and headed for the even more mysterious "Orient," passengers were advised to carry a gun. The train service was re-routed to avoid Germany during the Nazi years, and was temporarily disrupted during both World Wars, but otherwise ran until May of 1977. While this is the most famous route, almost all eastbound trains from Western Europe could be called an "Orient Express." The train line has been immortalized in literature and film—most famously by Agatha Christie, whose Murder on the Orient Express takes place on the Simplon Orient Express (Paris' Gare de Lyon station to Milan, Belgrade, Sofia, and Istanbul). Though the Orient Express is history, today the Sirkeci station still serves trains bound for Europe, as well as suburban trains (it can get crowded at rush hour). Most of the travelers are blue-collar and white-collar workers, but you occasionally spot vagabonds or peasants fresh from the countryside, eyes wide as they first set foot in the big city. (s3) |