From Switzerland to İstanbul by train, Orient Express Style

In today’s trip, we will see how to travel by train from mainland Europe to Istanbul in Turkey, by following the Simplon Orient Express as close as possible. Total travel time: within 5 days, we travelled 2697 km in 60 hours (ø 45 km/h) Trains taken in this video: Day 1: SBB EC47: Lausanne - Venezia Day 2: ÖBB Railjet: Venezia - Villach Hbf Day 2 to 4: Optima Express: Villach - Edirne Day 5: TCDD Trakya Ekspresi: Edirne - İstanbul (Halkalı) 00:00 Introduction, History of the Orient Express and travel plan 02:04 SBB EC47 from Lausanne to Venice 07:41 Day 2, ÖBB Railjet “Gondoliere“ from Venice to Villach 11:00 Quick visit by the Wörthersee 11:47 Optima Express, start in Austria 14:10 Day 3, Optima Express, Croatia to Bulgaria 15:55 Tour of the ex CWL Sleeper compartments 16:37 Optima Express, Crossing Serbia 20:30 Day 4, Optima Express, Bulgaria to Edirne, Türkiye 24:37 Entering Tü