Great news. The iconic Haydarpasa Train Station on the Asian side of the Bosporus will re-open for train journeys from 2019.

The station has been closed since 2013 as it was refurbished and the line from Istanbul to Ankara was electrified.

I first travelled from there in 2009 as I made my way to Aleppo in Syria. The feeling of arriving by ferry across the stretch of water dividing Europe from Asia is one of the those priceless travel moments that lives with you for ever.

When I travelled east once more from Istanbul to Georgia in 2014, departures were from the suburb of Pendik which just wasn’t the same. Taking the brand new train under the Bosporus did go some way to compensating mind.

Station Under The Bosporus

Welcome back Haydarpasa, we have missed you. Tehran here I come!