In the 1880s, the fastest and most fashionable way to travel to Istanbul was via the Orient Express railway. You could board a train in Paris, and three days later you would arrive at Istanbul's Sirkeci Train Station. The northern route took you through Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest. The southern route took you through Milan, Belgrade, and Sofia.
The Orient Express operated almost continuously for nearly a hundred years. (It was interrupted occasionally during both World Wars.) Agatha Christie immortalized it in her novel "Murder on the Orient Express".
The station is still in use, mainly for suburban trains and a few international trains.
