Sirkeci Station

The terminus of the Orient Express, built in 1890 to a design by the Prussian architect August Jasmund. The building was conceived as the ceremonial gateway of the Ottoman Empire for those arriving from Europe, and the style was chosen to match - orientalism in European execution: pointed windows with coloured glass, alternating light and red stone, rosettes and turrets. From here passengers transferred to a ferry across the Bosphorus to continue their journey on the Asian shore from Haydarpasa station. Long-distance trains left here in 2013, when the Marmaray tunnel was driven under the strait, and now suburban metro lines run beneath the vaults of the platform. The building houses a small railway museum with models, uniforms and tickets from different eras, and a restaurant in the former first-class waiting room. The station stands right by the water, a couple of steps from the Spice Bazaar and the Galata Bridge.

On the map