Stalking The Orient Express By Maria Hudgins

I love Murder on the Orient Express. 

I have read the book more than once, seen the 1974 movie starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, seen the 2017 movie starring Kenneth Branagh as the same character, and in my own travels I have stalked the train (or what's left of it) itself. In the early 20th century the Orient Express carried the well-heeled of Europe from Paris to Istanbul in high style. Today, the Venice Simplon-Orient Express now owned by Belmond, takes well-heeled tourists from London to Venice in nostalgic Art Deco luxury.

I treated myself to a one-day Christmas trip on the Belmond British Pullman train in an actual refurbished car from the original Orient Express. Sheer luxury. The train only went from London's Victoria Station  east to Canterbury and back, but we had champagne, live music, and guinea fowl baked in a sort-of papery crust.

I was a bit confused at my first reading of the book, because I couldn't figure out how the train got from Aleppo, Syria to Sirkeci Station in the western section of Istanbul. There is the Sea of Marmara in the way and trains can't go through water. I had to read that part again. It was actually the Taurus Express train that carried Poirot to Haydarpasa Station on the Asian side of Istanbul, then a ferry ride across the Sea of Marmara and Sirkeci Station on the European side of town.

I was lucky to visit the Victorian Haydarpasa Station a few months before it burned. In the Sirkeci Station, I had lunch at the Orient Express Restaurant. (no kidding) While I was in Istanbul I couldn't leave without taking a tram across the water to the Pera Palace Hotel where Dame Agatha often stayed, usually in room 411.

The Pera Palace was also noted, during World War II, as a gathering place for spies. It is said that they sometimes sang a song in the bar called "Boo, boo, baby, I'm a spy."

Remind me to tell you sometime about my trip to Agatha Christie's summer home, Greenway, in the south of England. It was there that I explored the boathouse that was important in Dead Man's Folly and didn't notice the sign that said " Bat License required to enter" until I left.