Venice Simplon Orient-Express
Catching the train from London’s Victoria station takes on a whole new meaning when the train you are boarding is the Orient Express. Forget jostling for space on the platform with hundreds of other passengers and finding your train has been delayed or cancelled. Here you are greeted by liveried staff who will relieve you of your baggage and escort you right to your carriage.
Except that this train, smart though it is, does not quite look like the Orient Express. That’s because it isn’t really. The train you are boarding is more like the old Brighton Belle, the Pullman carriages on board which late-night revellers used to eat dinner after visiting a show in London. The real Orient Express, the one you will have seen in the glossy brochures, waits the other side of the English Channel in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Purists may argue that this train is not the real one, either. The Orient Express of Agatha Cristie novels, international spies and heads of state no longer exists. Today’s version, the Venice Simplon-Orient Express, is nothing more than a creation of Sea Containers’ chief, James Sherwood. That may be technically true but it is no less glitzy for that.
It was back in 1977 that Sherwood acquired two sleeping carriages at a Sotheby auction in Monte Carlo and began the process of recreating the great train. Since then the company has found another 35 carriages, a mixture of restaurant cars, sleepers and Pullmans, all of which have been beautifully restored at workshops in England, Belgium and Germany.
In May 1982 the revamped brown and cream carriages of the UK Pullman left London for the south coast where, after a Channel crossing, passengers boarded the blue-and-gold Wagons-Lit carriages for the VSOE’s inaugural trip to Venice.
They were no doubt impressed with the opulence of the 1920s decor, the Tiffany-style lamps, the gilded mirrors, Lalique glass and the wood panelling which lines the cabins, they no doubt enjoyed lunch on the UK-based train, dinner and breakfast on the Continent.
They may have been slightly less impressed when they saw the size of the cabins, however. Even in the doubles, which provide a sofa during the day and two bunk beds at night, you can stretch out your arms and your fingertips will probably touch both walls, or bulkheads.
But let us not nitpick, there is a limit to the amount of space it is possible to create on a train and what it lacks in square metres it more than makes up for in the style of a bygone era.
It is worth bearing in mind, nevertheless, that if two of you are travelling together you will not only soon find out that there is very little space to stow your belongings (take only what you need to the cabin with you, big suitcases can go in the guard’s van), you will be very good friends by the end of the trip, even if you are not when you set out.
If you do follow the guidelines for passengers and change for dinner (many people like to get themselves up in period dress or at least black tie and posh frocks), one of you will probably have to take a walk along the swaying corridors to the bar car to provide enough space for the other to dress.
The lack of showers and a lavatory in the cabins may come as something of a nasty surprise, too, though they do come fitted with a washbasin. You would be well advised to travel with a dressing gown for those late-night trips along the corridor to use the loo.
Perhaps there is an opportunity here for Orient Express to improve its on-board service further and provide bathrobes for guests’ use, just like many five-star hotels do, including those, such as the Cipriani in Venice and the Splendido in the beautiful Italian resort of Portofino, the company itself operates.
And while they are about it, they may like to consider fitting the train with some showers, even though this may mean it loses some of its authenticity. But most people could live with that. Whether James Sherwood can is, of course, another matter.
It is, however, perhaps unfair to try and compare the Venice Simplon-Orient Express with a five-star hotel, it is, after all, a train, even if it is travelling on one of the most romantic routes in the world through the French countryside, through the stunning mountain scenery of Switzerland and Austria (there’s a brief stop at the ski resort of St Anton where you can disembark and sniff the clear mountain air) and on to Italy.
Given the conditions under which they have to operate, the train’s staff do a remarkable job of preparing very good food and providing the best service standards they can. No matter how much the train sways and lurches its way along the tracks, you will still get your Continental breakfast, delivered to your cabin by your steward.
Full marks must go to the chefs. It cannot be easy for them to produce international-standard lunches and dinners for up to 212 passengers when the kitchen they are working in is smaller than those you would expect to find in the tiniest city studio flat, even if they are fitted out with state-of-the-art equipment.
Similarly the stewards in the restaurant cars and the bar car, where most passengers seem to congregate for a nightcap or two after dinner, have to run the gauntlet of chairs and coffee tables, seated passengers’ legs, even a baby-grand piano complete with pianist, as they deliver drinks to thirsty revellers -- and all while the train is trundling along at a steady 50mph on the journey to Verona and then on to Venice.
The main thing to remember when you take a trip on the Venice Simplon Orient-Express is that you are buying nostalgia. It may not the most luxurious journey you have ever taken, unless of course you hardly ever travel, but it will be different, something of an occasion, the kind of adventure, which will fuel dinner-party conversations for months to come.
About half the passengers use a trip on the train to celebrate a special event such as a birthday or anniversary, even as part of a honeymoon, according to VSOE; a further 32% are on holiday, some people even use it for business. The train provides an excellent venue for small conferences or groups of colleagues on team-building exercises, for example.
Whatever reason you choose, the journey from London to Verona or Venice is simply one of those trips you really should take, at least once in your lifetime – just for the fun of it. There can be few more romantic ways to arrive in what must be two of the most romantic cities in Europe.
It ranks alongside other great journeys, such as crossing the Atlantic on board one of the great liners, flying in an old Dakota, driving a vintage car to the south of France or sailing round the Mediterranean or the Caribbean on a square-rigger.
Not because they are necessarily the most comfortable ways to go – and certainly not the fast means of travel -- but because, in this day of high-speed everything, they are among the few remaining ways to be a real traveller, rather than simply another tourist. And you do not have to sacrifice very many home comforts in the process.
The VSOE operates from London’s Victoria Station to Verona and Venice up to twice a week between March and November each year. The sector from London to the south coast, during which you are served lunch, is by Pullman cars. You join the train proper, after a Channel crossing. New routes from London or Paris to Prague, Istanbul, Rome and Lucerne have also been introduced during the past few years.
The train normally leaves London’s Victoria station late morning and arrives in Verona and then Venice during the afternoon the following day.
Useful links
Hotel Cipriani
Hotel Splendido
The Orient Express website
Added 2008/05/17 @ 23:04:03
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