VSOE Returning To Central Europe
All Aboard for Adventure! The train now departing is the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express – en route to Dresden. This magnificent, culture-rich destination joins Prague, Krakow, Budapest and other great central European cities on new itineraries for 2010.
This year sees the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express relive its 1920s heyday, extending its network of destinations within regions once cut off from the west. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, all are bursting afresh with verve, culture and style.
Agatha Christie and Assassins
In its most glorious era - the roaring twenties - the Orient-Express carried an intoxicating brew of passengers. Kings and queens, emperors and presidents, writers and artists, brigadiers and spies, mistresses and assassins – they were all aboard, clinking crystal in the dining car, applauding the gypsy bands that played under the Lalique chandeliers, and sashaying down the swaying corridors late at night in silken dressing gowns.
To and Fro in Central Europe
During this golden era, the appetite for luxury trains spawned many Orient-Express routes in central Europe: the trains became arteries of style, bringing sophisticated and wealthy customers to the new luxury hotels that sprang up to receive them. But then came World War II, swiftly followed by communism. The train was routed and re-routed to become a pale shadow of its former self. Meanwhile the cities it had touched were variously bombed, concreted, or fell into disrepair.
Now the pendulum is swinging back in style. For the last couple of decades the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express has run on its core route between London, Paris and Venice, with a once-yearly odyssey down memory lane all the way to Istanbul. But today, with an additional set of new itineraries, the train is returning to the once-familiar areas of central Europe, rediscovering the former stamping ground of its most glorious years.
Itineraries include cities such as Prague, Krakow, Budapest and now - new for 2010 - Dresden, some of which have been miraculously preserved, and some of which have had to be painstakingly rebuilt – rather like the VSOE itself.
Josh Friedman is a travel agent specializing in luxury travel for small groups and individuals – particularly ultra-luxury cruises, customized vacations and food & wine inspired journeys. Based in San Francisco, and with clients throughout the USA and abroad, his business is focused on 24/7 personalized service to the sophisticated leisure and business traveler and management of study abroad groups. Business services include high-touch reservations, exclusive hotel and airline offers. His relationships with the world's top hotels, cruise lines and local agencies will ensure your successful business or leisure trip.
If you'd like to learn more about Silversea, other luxury cruises, or anything else about luxury travel, please contact me in San Francisco's Financial District via phone at 415.248.5079 or email: josh [at] joshfriedmantravel [dot] com.