(dramatic music) (whistle blowing) Comm: For over a hundred years, the Orient Express, the world's most iconic train, crossed Europe.

If you were traveling on the Orient Express in its golden age, this is the kind of carriage you would be traveling on.

Until its withdrawal, the train tied Europe together.

Franz Ferdinand was quoted in saying that the Orient Express is of vital interest to us.

A service famed for its glamour and luxury... This space was for the crème de la crème, the best of the best.

That became world famous.

The Cold War made the Orient Express the hotbed of spies.

And whose legacy is still felt.

Let's say 150 years ago you came here with the Orient Express, you would have seen exactly the same mosque of today.

(upbeat music) In this series, we'll take a 2,000 mile journey across Europe.

It's always a very exciting moment when we are doing a route for the first time.

And follow a new luxury train as it retraces the fabled route, exploring the history of a golden age of train travel along the way.

(upbeat music) In the golden age of rail, a single ticket on the Orient Express network took passengers from London all the way to Istanbul, the gateway to the east.

In the 1920s, Wagons-Lits, the company that ran The Orient Express had a luxury train network that stretched across three continents.

At the core of this network were their multiple Orient Express services.

After traveling through France and Germany, passengers from London would head for the Imperial capital of Vienna, before passing through Budapest, Belgrade and Sofia on their way to Istanbul.

(vivacious music) On this part of the legendary journey... ...a shocking attack... It exploded and the locomotive and four carriages fell down to the abyss.

...a close escape... It was extremely dangerous and Freud, of course, spent the most horrible hours of his life.

...and a rare survivor.

It was a luxurious carriage from top to bottom.

(dramatic music) 895 meters above sea level, the Semmering Pass is one of the few ways to cross the Alps.

For centuries, people used trackways and roads to cross the mountains.

Then came the railways... (dramatic music) In one of the greatest feats of railway engineering ever, the Semmeringbahn was driven through this pass.

It's still a unique highlight for anyone who travels through it, like passengers on The Golden Eagle Danube Express, a modern day luxury train on its inaugural run from Paris to Istanbul.

The 41km long line took 10,000 people just six years to build by hand.

It traverses 14 viaducts, 129 bridges, and 14 tunnels as it crosses the mountains.

The route, the world's first mountain railway, was long thought impossible.

The highlight of the route is the Kalte Rinne Viaduct, a 46 meter high double storey structure that carries the line across the river.

Since 1998, this railway has been a World Heritage Site, standing alongside The Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, and the Great Wall of China.

The Semmeringbahn is a highlight for seasoned traveler Helen Bernard.

It's a great adventure.

It's a great way to travel.

Look at all this nice scenery here.

But Austria is a beautiful country, you know?

Helen has traveled on luxury trains across the world.

I got hooked on luxury travel by the Royal Scotsman, a trip which I did in '96, which is a long time ago.

Almost thirty years later, there's just one route left on her bucket list.

Everybody raves about the old Orient Express, which is sort of an epic journey, Paris to Istanbul.

That was missing on my program.

But there are benefits to doing the journey on a modern luxury train.

There is a lot of history attached to the Orient Express.

The old Orient Express didn't have private bathrooms.

(chuckles) They never talked about that, but when they show the old films of the Orient Express, it's always about the dining.

(uplifting music) 1,400km after leaving Paris, the Orient Express approached the halfway point of the journey.

After traveling through Germany and having navigated the Alps, the train pulled into the Imperial capital of Vienna.

One of the most architecturally impressive cities in Europe, it was rebuilt in the mid-19th century.

Its old city walls were replaced with a sweeping Ringstrasse and grand buildings.

It was also one of Europe's great railway cities.

The city was surrounded by workshops that produced railway locomotives and carriages, including the first Orient Express carriages.

Orient Express passengers arrived into the city via its West Station.

The original grand 19th century station was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in the 1950s.

Its modernist ticket hall remains much as it looked when the station reopened.

Vienna was one of the most popular stops for Orient Express passengers.

Many would leave the train and immediately head to their hotel.

But if you were looking for luxury, you would have headed straight for Vienna's most famous one... Michael Moser was the head concierge at the Hotel Imperial for over 30 years.

The building itself was not built as a hotel.

It was built as a private palace for a German duke.

He was very rich and married a very rich princess of Austria.

The Duke Philipp of Württemberg only enjoyed his lavish palace for five years.

They built the Ringstrasse, so much noise, trouble, and he was so rich he said, "I don't like the place anymore.

I'll build another palace in the 9th district."

It was empty for two years and 1873, Viennese World Exhibition, no hotels.

Somebody bought the place and changed it within one year into a hotel and since 1873 we are a hotel now.

The hotel's grand staircase remains today exactly as it was when this was a royal palace.

It leads to the lavish double-height first floor.

Once these were royal apartments.

Now they're the best rooms in Vienna.

So, here we are on the first floor of the palace and here's where our wealthy guests from the Orient Express stayed when they came to the Imperial.

This is a part of our Royal Suite.

We have two of these, actually.

460 meters squared with ceilings almost seven meters tall, the Royal Suite has a palatial living room and a separate bedroom with en suite bathroom and changing rooms.

And just to mention the two rooms, they have a 100 meter curtain, because every window has four curtains, because if somebody would like the room in the dark, we have double curtains on each side.

If we look up, there are still the crowns from the Duke of Württemberg.

The decoration is all absolutely original.

This is really 160 years old.

Michael Moser fell in love with the hotel the moment he walked into it for the first time.

I started actually in 1983 here, second row concierge, and my head concierge retired in '86, and then I became head concierge.

(classical music) We had a lot of charming, very charming guests from the Orient Express.

And if I remember well, they always came on Friday late afternoon, then they stayed a little bit in Vienna, one or two days or three.

When I started here, there were not so many luxury hotels in Vienna.

So more or less, every party, every famous person who was staying in Vienna was staying with us.

The hotel's famous visitors are recorded in its guest books.

Unfortunately, the first guest book from 1873 till 1915 got lost.

But I'll show you, this is our guest book.

The oldest we have, they start in 1915.

Some we cannot read the signature, but a lot of them, we found.

This is, for example, Charlie Chaplin.

He wrote "Beautiful and splendid.

Charlie Chaplin, March 1931."

This is Alfred Hitchcock, the famous, um... film designer, film regisseur.

He made his face, and then he wrote also his signature.

He stayed actually in this room.

And in an interview, he said, "I was staying at the Hotel Imperial in a very, very large suite.

I lost my wife, and half an hour later, I found her behind a marble column."

Despite retiring in 2014 from concierge duties, Michael's love of the hotel keeps him here almost daily.

I mean, actually, I'm proud to be a little a part of the history itself, you know, because I'm so long here, I'm the longest running man here in the hotel.

I always say people worked very hard 100 years before and made a good job, otherwise the hotel would be not as famous as it is.

(uplifting music) (birds chirping) (light-hearted music) For decades, Orient Express passengers could alight at Vienna, one of Europe's greatest cities.

It was the heart of the Hapsburg Empire and its imperial glory is clear to see.

Once Orient Express passengers had checked into their hotel, they'd be looking to stretch their legs and blow off a little steam after such a long journey.

Luckily, Vienna had them covered... Paul Prop is the fifth generation of his family to work at Prater.

The large public park is one of Vienna's most famous landmarks.

So, if you decided to step down from the Orient Express and visited the Prater a hundred years ago, you will find...most of the similarities you will see now with the Hauptallee and the trees.

And we even have the Lusthaus on the top of our hill here where all the people back then drank their coffee and ate their schnitzel.

Prater was transformed for the 1873 World's Fair.

Paths were paved, gas street lights installed, and a brand new amusement park created, the centerpiece of which was a recreation of Venice, complete with canals and gondolas.

Venice in Vienna Prater was an amazing entertainment area where they brought different culture to a very, very famous attraction park.

My family actually came into the Wiener Prater in the year 1887.

And it's so interesting and so funny because the people that came from the Orient Express, for example, they had the experience probably with my grand grandfather operating these businesses back in the days.

Two years after Venice in Vienna opened, a brand new attraction was unveiled.

This is our famous Ferris wheel, built in the year 1897.

And it was built actually for our emperor, Franz Josef I. It was built by a British engineer, a very brilliant guy because in the end he decided to have a different operational system.

Here you can see a wire that is getting pulled in by a mechanical system, and it is totally different compared to normal Ferris wheels because they use tires to operate the whole wheel.

(upbeat music) Incredibly, this 128 year-old wheel still operates daily.

It's one of Paul's favorite places in the city.

If you think about it, people from the Orient Express had the same experience as what we are having right now, it's mind-blowing in my opinion, and it's not only the experience being in the same gondola but also having almost the same view like back then.

This is what makes the Wiener Prater very special.

(birds chirping) (suspenseful music) At the start of the 20th century, Vienna buzzed with excitement and culture.

It was the famous city of music, once home to Beethoven, Brahms, and Strauss.

Philosophers, politicians, and artists all sat at its famed coffeehouses and discussed the issues of the day.

It was one of the most exciting cities in Europe, and one that helped to shape the modern world.

But perhaps the city's most famous resident was altogether less flashy.

Despite this, some Orient Express passengers traveled to Vienna specially to see him... The patients who arrived here for the first time or even another time, it was always the same procedure.

It's a private apartment, it's a private building, so you have to ring the bell and push the door.

Daniela Finzi is the Research Director of the Sigmund Freud Museum.

Behind this door on Bergasse-19 were the consulting rooms of Freud, the father of psychoanalysis.

Just imagine that all these patients and all the family members and Freud himself took the same stairs which we are taking now and nothing has changed.

Patients would climb these stairs to the first floor.

So, it's the same thing as in former days.

You have as downstairs to ring and push the door.

Yeah, and then we enter Freud's wardrobe, the practice wardrobe which, and this is a miracle, which is basically the same as it was a hundred years ago.

I would now go to the waiting room which is just over here, waiting for Dr Freud opening the door.

And this is also a very special setting because we see the original furniture of the waiting room.

We see different etchings and different photographs which were hanging here.

Freud's patients were largely from the upper echelons of society.

Some traveled across Europe to see him, including on the Orient Express.

We enter now Freud's practice.

This was a room designated to secrets, to intimacy, to a very personal relationship.

This is where the patients had the task to freely associate.

Psychoanalysis was developed by Freud over many years.

He believed that our behavior is shaped by repressed, subconscious experiences, often from childhood.

By coming to a consulting room, freely associating, and talking out loud, Freud believed troublesome behavior and feelings could be eased.

Patients would enter the consulting room and lie down on a couch.

Everything was in dark, warm colors, a warm, dark red, but also the carpets and the different paintings were in dark colors.

Freud was also smoking.

There's not so much sun coming into this room, so it was already a very special atmosphere.

Freud's theories and phenomenal success made him one of the most famous people in the world by the 1930s.

But it also drew unwanted attention... (tense music) Freud completely misjudged or even underestimated the Nazis.

This is important because this meant that when in March 1938 the Nazis came to Austria and the so-called annexation took place, Freud was not so easily to convince that he had to leave the country.

Daniela has been researching Freud's final months in Vienna and the role that the Orient Express played in his escape.

Psychoanalysis was dubbed a "Jewish science" by the Nazis and drew its ire.

When Hitler invaded Austria, Freud was one of his top targets.

Despite this, Freud still refused to leave the city.

There were two raids from the Nazis here at Bergasse-19.

First of all, a few days after the Anschluss from the SA and one week later the Gestapo came to Bergasse-19 and the Gestapo arrested Anna Freud.

Anna, Freud's daughter, spent hours in Nazi custody.

It was extremely dangerous and a threatening situation.

Anna Freud did not know what was happening, if she would be able to come back and Freud, of course, spent the most horrible hours of his life.

Anna was eventually allowed to return, but Freud finally realized that he could not stay in Vienna.

The challenge was not only to find a country which would allow you to enter.

The challenge also was to be able to leave the country.

Freud was helped by a network of friends and former patients, including the great-grandniece of Napoleon, Princess Marie Bonaparte, and the American ambassador to France, William C. Bullitt, a close friend of President Roosevelt.

And then there was another person Freud only met during these dark days, a certain Anton Sauerwald.

Sauerwald was sent from the Nazis in order to manage Freud's assets, and he's said to have known antisemitic positions before he met Freud, but to change his mind in the way that he was actually helping Freud in order to get him out of the country.

Sauerwald helped push through permissions for Freud to leave.

They soon booked tickets for the Orient Express leaving on 4th June 1938.

I think they chose the Orient Express because it was the most comfortable way of traveling for such a long journey.

Yet there must have been a certain resistance to approach Germany in order to go to France.

Leaving Austria meant to get even closer to the Nazis before being able to leave them behind.

Leaving the city he had spent his life in was not easy for Freud.

I have another quote of a niece of Freud who came to the to the railway station in order to say goodbye.

"We arrived at the train at the time indicated.

I struggled to buy some red roses, which I know he loves.

But he doesn't speak to us anymore.

He sits motionless in the simple coat I have known him in for years, wearing a gray velour hat.

He sits in a carrying chair with his back against the city that drives him away."

(poignant music) The train left Vienna and headed straight towards Germany.

As Nazi officials patrolled the train, the entire party held their breath.

We know from Freud's personal notes in his diary that he was extremely worried about controls in the German territory and that he was extremely relieved when they passed the border at Kiel and no longer were in Germany.

(train whistle blowing) After a brief stay in Paris, Freud caught the boat train to London Victoria.

He spent the remainder of his life in Hampstead.

The Orient Express was part of this helping machine and it was the vehicle which brought Freud out of Vienna, freed him from the Nazis and allowed him to spend his last months, one year and a quarter, in freedom.

(gentle music) (vibrant music) Crossing the border into Hungary, Orient Express passengers from London would pass into their sixth country.

With Vienna three and a half hours behind it, the Orient Express pushed onwards towards its next major stop, Budapest.

Just outside the city, the train would have run fast through the tiny town of Biatorbágy across these viaducts.

In 1931 they became the scene of an infamous attack, one that threatened the future of the Orient Express.

Tamás Tarján is a historian with a specialism in Hungarian railways.

On 13th September 1931 there was a huge explosion here on this viaduct which became one of the most well-known and the most tragic train catastrophes of Hungarian history.

Twenty minutes after midnight, a luxury express train heading towards Vienna passed a suspicious suitcase on the side of the tracks.

It exploded... (explosion) ...with a huge noise and huge light.

And as a consequence, the locomotive and four carriages fell down to the abyss.

The driver of the train noticed the problem and tried to stop the train as fast as possible.

Because of his fast reaction, the last six carriages were spared, and instead of hundreds of victims, 22 persons died in this incident, including the heroic driver of the train.

As the sun came up the following morning, rescuers discovered a horrific scene.

The remnants of the train which fell down to the abyss laid there.

Four carriages and the locomotive fell down to that place with 22 dead bodies inside.

With the tracks destroyed and the threat of more attacks assumed, all trains were stopped.

Passengers had to make their way towards Istanbul via a different route.

They had a strong fear that sooner or later another attack will be committed on the Hungarian railways, therefore thousands of Hungarian policemen guarded the important rail lines for weeks.

The investigators soon turned their attention to who carried out the attack, and what their motivation might have been.

They found the remnants of the bomb and it became clear that the explosive which was used during the incident was Ecrasite, which is mainly used in mining.

A leaflet was found by the policemen with communist propaganda.

On the paper, the message said that workers of Hungary, you had no rights so far, but we will fight for those rights.

Because of that and because of the regular political hysteria, the authorities became suspicious about a potential communist terror attack.

Hungary declared martial law as nerves began to rise about the safety of traveling across Europe on grand express trains such as the Orient Express.

There were even rumors that it was the Orient Express that had been attacked.

All resources were thrown into solving the crime.

Despite this, the investigation stalled.

The investigation became only successful after the Austrian authorities captured the person who was connected to many attacks against various railways.

And his name was Silvester Matuska.

He was a Hungarian citizen with interests in Austria, who had some interests in mining and in the metal industry, and later he became the number one suspect.

Incredibly, they soon discovered that Matuska was at the scene of the explosion.

And he was heard by the Hungarian authorities during the investigation, but he masqueraded himself as a passenger who injured himself during the explosion.

Every detail of Matuska's life was investigated, but despite this, the authorities couldn't work out why he would attack the train.

There was a theory that he was aroused sexually by explosion; by the light and by the noise.

There was another theory that he was hypnotized by someone, and he was used by this person for terrorist attacks because of the intention of a secret conspiracy.

It soon became clear, however, that Matuska was not a communist.

It's possible the smoking gun note was planted.

We can only presume that this attack was organized by some kind of right-wing group which wanted to move forward to a fascist-type dictatorship in Hungary.

Matuska was found guilty of the attack in 1934 and sentenced to life in prison.

It was never established why he carried out the attack or if he acted alone.

The rumor that it was the Orient Express that was attacked persisted.

Embellished over time, it became part of the legend of the train, one that not even explosives could stop.

In the 1970s, this line through Biatorbágy was abandoned as the tracks were re-laid in preparation for high speed trains.

So, these viaducts now stand as silent memorials to those killed.

Half an hour after passing through Biatorbágy, Orient Express passengers arrived into Hungary's capital, Budapest.

(lively music) Formed of the twin towns of Buda and Pest on either side of the River Danube, Orient Express passengers found themselves in one of the most impressive stations of their journey so far.

Nguyati.

Its ornate iron roof covers a 14,000 square meter train shed.

It was built by the Eiffel Company of Paris, a decade before they built the Eiffel Tower.

The iron beams were precast in Paris and transported to Budapest.

As impressive as the station is, there's even more luxury hidden away from regular passengers.

(eclectic music) This waiting room was built for Hapsburg Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife.

Its walls are highlighted with gold and decorated with the coats of arms of all the countries you could reach from this station in 1877.

This station was a grand entrance way for international express trains, including the Orient Express, a sign that this was a city looking outwards to the world despite political machinations within Hungary at the time.

For passengers alighting here, Budapest was the "City of Spas."

And there was one in particular that catered to the most exclusive of clientele.

This is one of the biggest bath complexes in Central Europe, the thermal bath of Budapest, which we call Szechenyi.

And it's such an impressive building that even its exterior is grandiose.

Even the domes up until the very top are designed in a certain way that you wouldn't be able to just walk past it.

And it sort of invites you inside.

Bernadett Katus is the baths' marketing manager.

The baths took four years to build and cost 3.9 million gold crowns, the equivalent of over £29 million today.

Every detail was designed with an eye for luxury and grandeur.

As you can see, it's even more amazing when you come inside and coming here, you immediately get a sense that, wow, there's more to it.

Conceived as a palace of water, this grand central hall is packed with aquatic references.

The people who enter, they always get to see this amazing statue that actually can be a working fountain.

We don't use it at the moment, but if you see the mosaics behind it, they sort of replicate the water movements.

We have scenes from Persian, Egyptian, Roman, and Greek mythology.

And in the center, we also have a lot of scenes from Greek mythology.

Even the wall decorations, the lamps, if you go closer, the chandelier has actually some creative ways that they incorporated fish and other water creatures.

Every single detail here is important, it's different.

You see the faces and it all comes together.

I think if the Orient Express guests just stepping off their luxurious and beautiful Orient Express train coach, they would still be amazed by how much the Széchenyi Thermal Bath has to offer.

When Orient Express passengers visited these baths, they were strictly split by gender.

The whole complex is mirrored with one side for men, and the other for women.

Although the baths have changed a lot since the days of the Orient Express, many original features have survived.

The moment that our Orient Express guests used to come, they checked in, they got their tickets, and they come here to change.

They have a really decent-sized changing room.

In the changing room, they can leave their belongings.

They used to be able to leave them.

And as you can see, it's very authentic.

And it used to be open.

So imagine yourself coming here on a winter day, and these were open.

It would be cold.

But that's also why they put these on, so the pigeons wouldn't be able to fly in and go through the changing areas.

And once you were done, you could lock your cabin away with your belongings safely and pop into the water.

(spirited music) Then, as now, people flocked here to experience the mineral-rich water drawn from a spring deep underground.

3,500 liters of water is drawn every minute.

At 77 degrees Celsius, it's mixed with fresh water to cool it to a more pleasant temperature.

So this is the main event.

Imagine yourself on a really, really cold winter day, snow is falling, and you go into the beautiful thermal water.

Temperature-wise, very nice, like your hot tub at home.

So typically, you would come here because you wanted a time to relax, you wanted to be in the hot water.

The mineral content of the bath does help relaxing, but a lot of people weren't aware of the beneficial factors of the mineral water.

If you came on your train, you left your belongings in the changing room, you went straight into the water, they would have the time of their life.

You don't necessarily need to do big things to have fun.

During the Communist era, the baths were made fully mixed and the prices dropped.

Suddenly this opulent water palace was available to everyone.

(spirited music intensifies, then fades) (vivacious music) After Buda and Pest united into a single city in 1873, the city rebuilt itself into one of the most striking capitals in Europe.

The Grand Boulevard was built for Hungary's Millennium in 1896 and populated with hotels and civic buildings.

The same year the Millennium Underground opened, the first metro line in Continental Europe and the second in the world after the Metropolitan Railway in London.

For Orient Express visitors with a love of railways, the city was a paradise.

But perhaps the most unusual line runs through the Buda Mountains north of the city.

For over 75 years, this railway has been run almost entirely by children.

I have to do anything except driving the trains.

I have to check the tickets, the sale tickets.

I want to be a train driver when I'm older and this is a really good place to start.

14 year old Ben Kovács has been working at the railway since he was ten years old.

To get a place here is a competitive process.

My dad's friend sent him an invite that they have open places where I can come and do a six month long learning process.

And then I have to take an exam.

And if I got better grades than two, I can work here.

With a salute, the train is off.

It's a rule that when we go or the train goes, you have to salute for it.

Today, Ben is the conductor on the train, responsible for checking tickets and making sure everything is running on time.

It takes ten minutes to get to Hárshegy.

And does the train go in the forest all the way?

No, it goes a bit in the part of the city, but most of the forest.

The seven-mile line is known as a children's railway.

They were popular in the old Soviet Union as a way for young people to gain hands-on experience.

It was started in 1948 and finished in 1950.

It was built to the children so they can learn a bit of railway and for entertainment for tourists.

Originally steam hauled, the railway is now powered by a custom-made MK45 diesel hydraulic locomotive.

We are waiting for the other train to come, if I know the timetable correctly.

Yes, it's coming.

Today our four trains are running.

I like diesel trains more.

I think that steam trains are a bit old and should be retired.

Forty-five minutes after leaving Huvösvölgy, the train arrives into Széchenyihegy Station, the end of the line, where the engine is turned around.

We wait for it to go around.

Then we can go into the office, drink or eat, talk to the others and then we come out and go back to Széchenyihegy.

Over 75 years after it opened, this railway is still inspiring children like Ben.

It feels good to keep the history alive of this railway.

(birds chirping) (upbeat music) The Orient Express ran through Budapest for over one hundred years, with the last service finally being cut in 2001.

But that doesn't mean the famous train has disappeared from the city entirely... In the grounds of the former Budapest North Train Depot is a rare collection of historic trains.

Let me show you our precious little carriage here.

Norbert Schvéd is the manager of the Hungarian Railway Museum.

This is the Orient Express teak wood carriage.

It originally has been built in 1912 near Prague.

This is from the golden era of the Orient Express, so we are talking about the 1883-1914 era.

And this is the only one, as far as we can tell, which is still in a working condition.

It was originally built as a restaurant carriage and we still use it as a restaurant carriage from time to time, although we don't cook anymore in it.

Known as a teak wood carriage, even the frame is made from wood.

It's only steel from here to the bottom.

Everything else up is wood, and this is why it has a limited speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

It was a luxurious carriage from top to bottom.

If you see the boogies, for example, made the journey very comfortable.

These kind of springs and the whole layout was very unique for these kind of carriages.

This carriage was designed to stand out, from its polished wood to its brass details that would shine in the sun.

But as impressive as the outside is, the inside was even more luxurious.

The outside is mainly teak wood while the inside we have mahogany and other precious woods with these lovely inlays, and remember this was made in 1912 and it wasn't sitting in your dining room.

It was doing hundreds of thousands of kilometers throughout the decades, and it's still in good condition.

And also we have a unique feature on the windows.

If we pull it down with this little handle, basically, depending on the direction we are going, you can direct the air into the carriage as you wish.

Originally we had gas lamps, these ones on the ceiling.

We don't use them anymore because I don't think it's a safe thing.

Every tiny detail in the carriage was designed to be practical and beautiful.

We are talking about details.

We have these candle holders for example, again brass, lovely finish.

Yes, it was real candle on a teak wood carriage.

We don't use them anymore.

If for any reason you have complaints throughout the journey, this is the place where you can place it.

Originally it has been divided into two sections.

We had a smoking and non-smoking section.

Obviously it's a non-smoking for now, but it used to have a smoking section as well.

As well as the public areas, this carriage still has the parts that paying customers would never get to see.

If you would have dined in the restaurant, that would be the place where the barmen were preparing the drinks here.

You can see all the brass and wooden parts are pretty much the same here.

You have to remember that this carriage was built in 1912.

At that time there was no refrigerators, well, not in the same way as we use them.

They were using ice blocks.

So this part in the bottom could be opened and huge ice blocks were placed here to keep everything cold.

With these handles, after over 100 years, it's still easy to open, easy to close and it still stays closed even if the track is a bit rough.

Connected through a small hatch is the kitchen.

We have a wooden fire stove here.

Obviously you can roast a pig for example, if you like.

It's amazing how they can prepare and cook meals in such a small place, but that was, or still it's a challenge if you're working on the railways.

(dramatic music) This carriage is unique in that it's kept in working order.

Meaning that on special occasions, it springs back into life.

(train rumbling) And, for today at least, there's an Orient Express service back on Hungary's rails.

(dramatic music builds, then fades) (gentle music)