The ‘Dogu Express’ pulls in slowly from the west, pulled by an old and slightly brutal looking TCDD diesel locomotive. Aerodynamics are clearly unimportant at the speed we will be travelling at over the next 24 hours. The train is made up of seated wagons, couchettes, a restaurant car and sleeper carriages towards the rear.

The modern style of carriage is called a V2000, and they are simply great. I’m in carriage number 8, and there to greet me is Michael, my carriage attendant. I’m on board after a cursory ticket inspection, and I unpack in the sleeper compartment.

It’s a little older than the one I had coming from Sofia, but every bit as comfortable. I have packed my luggage so that I don’t need to open my big bag; I have everything I need in my daypack and camera bag. My first priority is to unpack my shopping and stock the fridge. Getting provisions was easy, however getting beer was very hard. But I haven’t got to where I am today without learning a few tricks, and I have some ready chilled beer and a bag of ice from my hotel.

I should mention that it can be quite hard to get a ticket for a sleeper on this train. Tickets go on sale 30 days before departure and are usually sold out within a day. You can buy them online, but not wishing to miss the moment, I paid a really helpful Turkish travel agent to get this for me. They are called Amber Travel, and recommended over at Seat 61. I must say I found them excellent to deal with, and e-tickets were sent to me well in advance.

The carriage fills up mostly with Turkish families that I’m guessing are headed to their homes in the country. I’m the only European in this carriage. I discover quite a few of the people on board are actually just seeing other people off, and they are eventually shepherded off by Michael. A man tries to join me in my compartment, but I’m having none of it as I have paid the rather good value 20TL supplement to have the place to myself. Much to my embarrassment it turns out that he is my next door neighbour and he is trying simply to give me one of my bags that I have forgotten that I have left in the corridor. I spend the next few minutes apologising profusely.

We set off on time at 17.55 with a jolt. This is uncharted territory for me, and I remind myself that ahead of me Turkey has borders with Syria to the south and Iran to the south east. Places that normally feel very remote, but are now becoming just a bus ride away.

Not quite settled, I decide to complete a close target recce of the restaurant carriage. It’s the only disappointing thing that I can find about the train. It sells just snacks, no hot food and no beer. I’m pleased that I have come prepared. The carriage itself is really nice, but the service has been stripped back to a basic catering franchise. One of the things I love about sleeper trains is being able to linger in the restaurant and chat to people, but with no reason to hang about, this one is devoid of customers and atmosphere.

My feast is Turkish bread, cheese and ham washed down by icy Efes beer, and it’s a nice way spend a few hours watching the sun set over the hilltops. With the night comes a fresh surprise. There is a new moon tonight and it is pretty black outside. So dark in fact that I can see the Milky Way from the train. This is my first ever experience of train-based astronomy, and as we swing around, the stars re-orientate above me – quite amazing.

I turn in at midnight, my bed has already been made up by Michael, all I have to do it lower it, which takes five seconds. Sleep doesn’t come as easy as I had hoped. I eventually drop off and then wake with a start at around 05.00 am – we are in a tightening curve and the carriage is shaking, the brakes are squealing and everything not in a bag is now on the floor.

Unable to get back to sleep I tidy up and prepare for the day ahead. Michael puts the kettle on and I rustle up a cup of reasonable coffee and some breakfast. Outside the landscape is rocky and slightly Mars like, were it not for the head waters of the Euphrates now cutting deep into the valley bottom alongside the train tracks.

The toilets in this carriage have remained clean and are worthy of mention so I can pass on some important safety tips. The carriage has a WC at each end, an Asian squatter at one end and a western toilet at the other. The squatter has a pressurised flush, however if you press it also pressurises and fires the ‘bum gun’. Be very careful, as you might need to change for dinner. The western toilet also has a pressurised system and a separate bidet button. This is why, it would seem, it has been flooded. I would avoid pressing that button too at all cost.

We stop half a dozen times and the families get off with large amounts of luggage. One couple have managed to stow a complete plastic patio furniture set in an empty compartment. The great thing about this journey is that there is most of the day to sit back and take in the world outside the window.

My destination today is Erzurum, and we arrive, almost on time, at 14.30. This has been an amazing journey, and the highlight of my trip so far. I’m brought back down to earth though with a ride in a taxi that should not be on the road. Apart from the smashed windscreen, the horn does not work. To a Turkish taxi driver that is like a pencil without lead, and my driver beats his steering wheel as if it might make it start working again. A night in a simple place tonight before what might turn out to be a complex set of border arrangements tomorrow, as I plan to get a bus to Hopa and then walk across the Georgian frontier at Sarp. If I’m successful Batumi beckons, but looks like it might be greeting me with thunder, hail and torrential rain.

Descending into the tunnel that forms the working part of the station, I discover that it isn’t possible to get onto the platform until 30 minutes before departure, or even to go through to a waiting room. Instead I have to hang out in the rather grim bowels of the station with the stray dogs until security opens. Speaking English has become pretty pointless here as no-one seems to understand. Eventually one of the security guys uses the translate facility on his phone which works well – I’m going to have to try that..

Once the gate opens I queue Turkish style, that is trying to bat off the mainly older men who don’t think queuing is for them. They are incredible chancers, and just breeze past everyone. A woman at the ticket check looks at my passport and then my bag and declares a surcharge needs to be paid, as it is bigger than an airline carry on – fortunately I have a big bundle of small denomination notes. I wondered if it meant it needed to be put in a special wagon for bags, as it gets tagged, but that just means the surcharge has been paid, it just goes in the racks like on most other trains.

Up on the platform the modern train is there, and I find carriage 1, seat 2C situated at the rear of the train. It’s comfy and roomy. Nothing to grumble about here.

In business class there are three seats across, C being the single one. Siting on the right hand side facing forward gives better views through most of the journey.

Business class didn’t cost much more than standard class, and it was well worth it for the four hour journey. The train was full, but no one was standing – unlike in the UK, you can’t get on without a seat reservation. Tickets go on sale 10 days before departure and sell fast.

We set off on time at 11.15, and cruise at around 150 – 180 kph much of the way, making few short stops. A simple lunch in a box is served, and I get offered several cups of instant coffee, all included in the ticket price.

The view outside the window changes dramatically during the journey. At the start the line hugs the Bosphorus, where tankers sail through from the Black Sea – I even spot a submarine on the surface transiting from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, something not in the I-Spy book of rail adventures – if it were it would surely be worth over 1000 points.. Then the landscape becomes flatter, drier until it begins to feel quite like a desert until we reach the outskirts of Ankara.

We arrive in Ankara gar (station) right on time at 15.11, and I’m blessed with a working escalator to reach the street. If you had a bag like mine, you would understand the horror of climbing long sets of stairs. I must learn to carry less kit. This has been a smooth journey, the hardest part actually reaching Pendick in Istanbul – eventually the line will come all the way into the city, possibly back to the old and venerable Haydarpasa station. That’s going to be amazing. I’m here in Ankara now until I catch the fabled Dogu Express tomorrow afternoon. In fact I realise that all of the remaining trains on my journey from now on will be long distance night trains (sleepers).

Sofia station seems to be a good place to me. It’s a large, slightly brutal, Soviet inspired building, but it is clean and seems safe. Getting a ticket for the Istanbul train proves very simple once I have located the hidden counter 22. If in doubt start at counter 23, and it will all work itself out. The platforms are mainly under the station and each is described as East/West (in crylic) by a letter after the platform number, which is really just indicating the position on the same long platform.

Tonight the platform for the Istanbul train was announced about 40 minutes before departure, and there on platform 4 was the train, made up of a mixture of Turkish and Bulgarian carriages. At the front were four similar looking modern Turkish coaches, most looked like sleepers (2 berth), but maybe a couple of them were actually couchettes (4 berth). Outside they all look the same.

The Bulgarian loco hauling the train tonight for the first stint was ancient, and could be part of a vintage train restoration rally. The driver spoke a little English and seemed like the sort of person who was used to fixing things designed for Stalin.

The two white polo shirted Turkish carriage attendants were very professional, but at the same time enjoyed a joke or two, which is just as well as the passengers were a wonderful mix of nationalities – Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, German and Turkish amongst others. Many were students on their first Istanbul adventure. I recognised several of them from Serbia, and it was nice to share the next leg of the trip with the ‘Balkan gang’ on such a wonderful train.

On board the sleeper, the first class compartment is a two berth set up, with one above the other. The lower berth pulls down too, so it is a proper bed, both wide and comfortable, and bags of pressed bedding are supplied complete with smart Turkish rugs. But the big news of the night was the ‘kitchenette’. I’m calling it a kitchenette, as each two berth 1st class compartment has its own fridge, and a big table top complete with a further table that sides out, presumably for late night kitchen supper parties.

This really is taking comfort to a new level, especially if you have brought your own picnic. Added to this, the compartment has a good air conditioning system , with a heating set up that can be adjusted but also isolated, giving you just cool air. The window also opens. Sleeping carriage nirvana!

There was a bit of a party atmosphere on board, and I felt very safe and comfortable to be amongst the passengers on this train. At one point a very nice Turkish woman knocked on my door and asked me if I was Russian. I asked why she might think that. She had checked the manifest and there were several Russians on board, and she expected them to have a surplus supply of vodka! If we were not getting up at 02.00 I would have joined her in her quest.

The only snag with this train is one of timing. The train departs at 21.15 from Sofia, and really you need to be disciplined and go to bed immediately, as between 02.00 and 04.00 you are up dealing with officials on the Bulgarian border and then the Turkish border at Kapikule. You then get to go back to bed until around 08.00 where the train currently terminates at Halkali station on the outskirts of Istanbul. Here there is a bus transfer into the city which drops you outside the original Sirkeci station terminal building.

You might wake up in the morning and vaguely remember a dream about getting off the train at the Turkish border. The process takes about 30 minutes for passports to be inspected and stamped. Your luggage stays on the train, so its just an amble over to the immigration office, a stamp in your passport and back to bed. There seemed to be no interest in my paper e-visa – I can only assume that their system just shows that I have one when they scan my passport.

Halkali station is currently a massive engineering project, and as the footbridges have not been finished, getting from the train to the bus involves a 10 minute walk through the building site, and no hard hats are provided. The bus transfer is included in the ticket.

This route is only going to get better now as the line engineering works get completed. It is already much better bet than two years ago, when I last made the journey (from Bucharest) – back then there was a five hour bus journey from the Turkish border at Kapikule. I have to mention that as a young man I remember InterRailing here a couple of times from Greece (now no longer possible) – back then the train rounded the Golden Horn and terminated in the wonderful Sirkeci station, now a railway museum. This was the ultimate way to arrive Istanbul for the first time, and I wrote a little about this experience in my first book ‘Trans-Siberian Adventures’.

The major highlight of such a trip is the huge cultural diversity that you can encounter in just a few days. Every day is a new currency, a new favourite beer, and a place that feels very different to yesterday. If you are unlucky you may discover a new top scam too. Living in Europe we are lucky to have such differences packed into a relatively small amount of space, east to west, north to south.

In terms of trains, Europe has really divided itself into three areas. In the core (rich) EU countries, heavy investment in rail infrastructure has given us a high speed rail network that can propel us effortlessly between member states. Whilst this is progress, the consequence is the slow death of the night train network, one of the huge pleasures of longer range rail adventure. In the second area – countries like Hungary and Romania, there are few high speed trains, but still great night trains and connections with other trains across multiple countries. In the third zone are the countries that have failed to invest in even maintaining their rail network. Travel in Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey (and a few others) is much harder than it used to be – at the moment.

Travelling east it’s possible to get to Budapest in less than 24 hours. After Munich things slow down, and in my view get much more pleasurable. I would commend travel to Central and Eastern Europe by train. I have recently found a new place in my heart for German beer, for Hungarian wine, and for Romanian cafe culture. I have found the trains to be reliable, safe and great to meet local people and admire the scenery of their countries. In Western Europe I think people have the wrong perception of newer EU members as they might just see migrants in their own country. Travel there and you find amazing cities, culture and heritage that isn’t perhaps well represented in the media back at home.

Train wise, you can experience travel at about 300 km/h as far as Munich on the TGV and then a couple of classic sleepers between Munich, Budapest and Bucharest. There is great joy to be had sleeping on a train arriving ready for a new day in a fresh city. I have yet to try the Belgrade route, I understand while slightly faster, the sleepers are not quite as good.

There is a snag coming, and it’s this. Things break down pretty severely from a train point of view as you head beyond Bucharest. The trains are fewer, they are of lower quality, and sometimes there are no trains at all. To be honest going to Istanbul on the train is a hard and difficult journey, and not one to attempt unless you seek the satisfaction of perhaps the biggest prize in European rail adventure.

Would I recommend it? No, not unless you enjoy old trains, multiple train changes, red tape and sleep deprivation. Take a plane from Bucharest or Sofia to Istanbul. But if you must, if you really have that burning “because it’s there” desire, then good for you. Get plenty of rest, buy provisions, and be prepared for the need to crash out on a good bed when you arrive in Istanbul. You are a born again hard core rail adventurer. Bravo!

When I find the departures board I discover that my train for the first seven hours is bound for Sofia. On platform 1 I spot two carriages getting pushed back into the station.  Where is the rest of the train? The guard confirms this is actually all of train 461, the only daily service to Sofia. One of the carriages looks pretty crappy and has no obvious numbers or markings. The other carriage, number 473 has international pedigree. It is Sofia bound and it is air conditioned. I’m relieved to see I’m in this carriage and not the crappy one.

On board there are about a dozen passengers and the compulsory seat reservations have been issued so that we are all down one end. I sit opposite a slightly scary looking big man with a shaved head and a black leather jacket. It’s actually against the law not to wear a black leather jacket if you are a Romanian man. Smoking and drinking lots of coffee are also mandatory. The inspector writes something on my tickets and it looks like all is in order. The next challenge will be the Bulgarian border in three hours time.

Giurgiu Nord, 15.30
I woke up at the Romanian frontier where in time honoured rail tradition a policeman checks our passports and takes them away. The border between Romania and Bulgaria is a massive flood plain and the Danube itself with a big metal Cold War bridge stretching over it, more than two kilometres long. On the other side we stop again and a Bulgarian policewoman repeats the passport process. On the platform a woman wearing rubber gloves writes our carriage number in her notebook. I wonder what her job is, but am afraid to ask. The Romanian locomotive was detached here and heads back to Bucharest. A new Bulgarian engine will power the two carriages to Sofia. The crappy carriage is still with us, and it’s empty. Other than luck I’m not sure how you would avoid getting a seat in it. The only possible ticketing difference is that it is not air conditioned.
One we set off again the Bulgarian ticket inspector spots my cunning plan and checked I knew where I was going to get off. I suggested what I thought was the arrival time into Gorna Orjahovica and she said “maybe, around that time”. I hope I make the connection, which I think is possibly 16 minutes, depending on which timetable you believe. There is just a single track on much of this line, which amazes me. You would think that two ex Soviet block countries would have better connections, but maybe that’s part of the story of Romania’s independent approach during the communist period.

18.29, Gorna Orjahovica
Connection made, 15 minutes was plenty of time. The timetable supplied by the ticket office in Bucharest is useless. Fortunately I have a copy of the DB Bahn one printed out (don’t leave home without one) and it’s pretty accurate. I couldn’t work out the Bulgarian departures board very well but got to speak to a helpful lady in the ticket office. Platform 4, 18.45 – I’m now bound for Dimitrovgrad.

On platform 4 I’m greeted by two old carriages, the style that have mini compartments. The engine is coming – I can see it in the distance. This is all good. I’m joined by a Taiwanese lady headed somewhere that neither of us can pronounce. She is lovely and we have much in common, so it’s a shame she is getting off soon. Before we depart the woman from the ticket office hops on as well, she is now acting as our conductor. She brings with her an amazing bit of news for me. My next leg, that was to be by bus, will in fact be by train. That means I’m on trains all the way to the Turkish border. I’m not sure if this is because there are no engineering works at the weekend, but I suspect more likely is that the bit of paper I was given in the Bucharest ticket office relates to train travel in the Byzantine period.

As the sun sets there are some good views and I have an open window. This is great, but in my haste to snap something interesting I nearly lose my camera out the window. Schoolboy stuff, get a grip Woodward. It’s an odd combination of open windows but overhead electric power, so from time to time I hear frazzling sounds and the smell the incineration of large insects or small birds. I settle down by the window and the day changes to night as the sun sets. I’m joined by two local lads who I can only guess are heading out for a Saturday night somewhere more exciting than Gorna Orjahovica. They are an odd couple. One is dressed ready for the full disco experience, right down to a diamond earring, the other has a strange emo haircut making his ears stick out through his hair at an odd angle. I’d like to know how they get on, but of course will never know. According to my timetable in 4 hours I shall be close to Dimitrovgrad, ready for my next change.

22.50, Dimitrovgrad
Bang on time again, I’m one of only two passengers left, and changing trains here. The 465 train that brought us here turns itself round, waiting I’m guessing for the reverse operation in a few hours time. Dimitrovgrad looks brand new and you can see what I’m guessing is big investment in the new line. At this time of night there is nothing going on, but the conductor of the train suggests platform 2. Bulgaria uses the cryillic alphabet, so it’s just like being in Russia – I have to guess the words, but on platform 2, none are obvious. Fortunately my fellow passenger, a Moldovian lady, confirms “Istanbul”, so I relax as best as I can and wait for half an hour for our “Midnight Express” to arrive.

This is getting even more crazy. The last two trains have been made up of just two second class carriages. Well now this latest train is made up of just a single (really crappy) one. It is the 493 train from Sofia. I imagined that it would be a big train full of InterRailers, but in fact there are seemingly none. There are five of us on board, and we make a very odd and diverse looking bunch. I read a book once called “Refusal Shoes”. It was about how immigration at Heathrow airport select and deal with people based on their footwear. I’m in sandals tonight, but at least I’m wearing a shirt with a collar. This is the route of the Orient Express after all. Three hours until we reach the Turkish border. The guard has taken down my passport number and nationality, so it will be interesting to see how they do this.

Kapikule, 02.30
I’m sat on a bus waiting to leave Kapikule with my four fellow adventurers, two Finns, a Moldovan and a chap who I can’t place, but he needs a full visa. It’s very dark and very hot on board the bus.

A man with a big moustache has been shouting orders at us and making us move around together between various police and customs buildings. If we had stayed any longer I’m sure he would have had us marching. One passenger does this every weekend, so I followed him. He’s Finnish and very ably exhibiting his national character, he’s as cool as a cucumber and very understated – he left his ticket on the train and was made to go back to get it. He explains to me in broken English that the train was moving away whilst he did this and he had to jump off. I tell him I’m pleased he made it back and he looks at me in a very deadpan Finnish way and says simply “Shit happens”.
I have discovered that the crappy carriage I was on for the last couple of hours has in fact come all the way from Sofia, no change at Plovdiv required. Normally I would be attracted to a direct train, but it was a really horrible local commuter carriage. My trains down from Romania today were much better, even though the journey has been six hours longer and I have needed to change twice.
Our bus first of all has to negotiate crossing the massive queue of lorries waiting to get into Bulgaria. There are miles and miles of them. Quite incredible. Once this is done we limp along the toll road in a top gear that doesn’t quite sound right. My plan has been to stay awake until getting on the bus then catch some sleep for the 4-5 hour run into Istanbul. In reality sleep isn’t possible on the bus. It’s hotter than a sauna, my seat won’t recline. The metal part of the heater by my feet is so hot that it burns or melts anything it comes into contact with. The hours pass slowly, but eventually I realise we are much closer to the centre of Istanbul than I had thought. It’s a fantastic dawn over th Bosphorus and I tag along with the Finnish guy who shows me how to use the metro (not built when I was last here) and avoid the usual station taxi scam.

Unsurprisingly I’m not in good shape, and I’m relieved when my hotel organise a temporary room at 7am just to allow me to wash and sleep for a few hours. As my head hits the pillow I actually start to hallucinate. I see a huge swarm of flies in the room swirling all around me, then all flying together into one mass before vanishing. Am I on the edge of a train based breakdown?