The Orient Express departs Paris for the first time.

The first Orient Express never quite reached Constantinople; passengers finished the journey by ferry.
On 4 June 1883, Belgian entrepreneur Georges Nagelmackers launched the Express d'Orient from the Gare de Strasbourg (now Gare de l'Est) in Paris. Operated by his Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the train ran to Giurgiu in Romania, with passengers completing the final leg to Constantinople by ferry and connecting train. It was the first transcontinental luxury express in Europe. Budapest was on the route from the very beginning. The train passed through the Hungarian capital as it crossed the continent, and Budapest Keleti station became one of its most important stops.















