"I stepped into the corridor as the train curved around a lake that gleamed like a pool of pink metal as first light fell upon its surface. Around me, passengers were now zipping up bags, brushing their teeth and locking berths into place, pausing to look out of the windows as a pair of minarets rose into view like sharpened pencils. Istanbul's skyline was coming into focus."
"Five days earlier, I'd set off from London St Pancras hoping to retrace the original route of the Orient Express via Paris, Vienna and Bucharest, with the final leg passing through Sofia. Journeying 2,450 miles by rail, I now felt a deep satisfaction as the doors banged open and the sound of the second call to prayer greeted me on the platform. But I felt something else too: a rekindling of my love affair with night trains."
"It all began in 2010, when I spent four months riding around on the trains of Indian Railways. At first the rail network represented little more than a mode of transport, a means to an end. But I soon realised that the trains possessed spirit and personality, each a character in its own right. As much as I enjoyed journeys by day hot chai in one hand, fresh samosa in the other and constant commotion around me, I relished the nights."
I woke as the train slowed, peered through the blind at brake lights and a D-shaped moon, and watched houses light like fireflies. The corridor revealed a lake gleaming like pink metal and passengers preparing for arrival as minarets and Istanbul's skyline appeared. Five days earlier I had departed London St Pancras to retrace the Orient Express route through Paris, Vienna, Bucharest and Sofia, covering 2,450 miles. Arrival brought satisfaction and a rekindled love of night trains. Four months on Indian Railways in 2010 taught that trains have distinct spirit and personality; daytime bustle contrasted with peaceful nights spent in open doorways, talking to hawkers and inspectors.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]