Bottles clinking, Turkish party train blazes through the night

Bottles clinking, Turkish party train blazes through the night

Festive garlands, white tablecloths and enticing bottles appear the moment passengers board the Eastern Express for an epic journey across Turkey’s snow-capped Euphrates plateaus. Named the Turistik Dogu Ekspresi locally, the train offers one of the expansive country’s most coveted new experiences.

Its nine carriages wind their way around mountain bends on a 32-hour, 1,300-kilometre voyage from the capital Ankara to Kars, an ancient city near Turkey’s rugged border with Armenia and Georgia. The service was suspended less than a year after starting because of the coronavirus pandemic. But with restrictions easing, the sleeper is back. Tickets, though relatively pricey, are snapped up in minutes.

“The Ankara-Kars line is considered by travel writers to be one of the four most beautiful train lines in the world,” Turkish State Railways director Hasan Pezuk told AFP. “It is really a very special moment for me and my family,” says Zulan-Nour Komurcu, 26, who is celebrating her birthday with them on board. “It’s my present,” smiles the brunette, who has decorated her cabin with purple lights, hung a furry wreath on the door and set out biscuits and a porcelain teapot on an embroidered tablecloth.

Three months of snow

The train runs twice a week from December