Getting around by train Route de la soie

Built from 1978 to 1983, this railway station replaced that of the Brotteaux, especially for the liaison with Paris in TGV. It is "connected" to all the means of public transport (bus, metro, tram and the Rhône Express in direct connection with the airport of Saint-Exupéry). It is the first station in Lyon in terms of travellers and allows many connections. With TER, it links Grenoble, Saint-Etienne, Annecy, Chambéry, Clermont-Ferrand and Switzerland. Its TGV lines offer the proximity of large destinations such as Paris, Marseille or Lille. They also allow to directly reach Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. Finally, the TGV Rhine-Rhône places Strasbourg and Germany within a few hours of journey. To follow: The station of the Part Dieu, designed to receive 30 000 passengers a day, while it welcomes more than 120 000 currently, is in the process of complete redevelopment to become 2021 to the image of the neighborhood surrounding it (high towers and work of Garibaldi), modern and more functional.

When you arrive by train in Santa Lucia, you will suddenly experience an absolute sensation of disorientation. Venice simply jumps out at you! The view of the Grand Canal is superb. Vaporetti 1, 2, 4.1 and 5.1 dock 20 meters away to take you to Rialto or Piazza San Marco, among others. The Santa Croce and Cannareggio neighborhoods are available to you if you prefer to walk. But take your time if you need to. There are many restaurants and stores, as well as tourist information desks in the main hall.

Linked to the main stations in France and Europe, Saint-Charles station offers more than 15 Marseille/Paris journeys per day, in about 3 hours 30 minutes. You can compare fares and discounts at the ticket offices and terminals or on the website. You will find all the information on the TER lines on site, not forgetting the bus station in the heart of the station. To wait, think of the heated waiting room with seats, the sunny terraces, the commercial shops, bars and fast food restaurants, luggage lockers...

The central station of Rome was begun shortly before the Second World War, it is a modern building, close to the rationalist aesthetic of the 1930s. It houses all kinds of stores. Roma Termini serves all regional destinations (Fiumicino airport, Tivoli...) and many national and European destinations.

Luggage storage (follow the signs: deposito bagagli in Termini): located in via Giolitti.

Car rental. The main car rental companies (Europcar, Avis, Hertz...) have their counters on the Via Giolitti side.

There are two main train stations in Genoa, Brignole (east) and Principe (west), at almost equal distance from the center, which can be reached on foot or by bus. Luggage lockers in both. Principe is the main rail hub of the area, but most trains also stop in Brignole. The metro connects the two in a few minutes (tickets available at tobacconists). For any connection with France, change trains in Ventimiglia, from there direct trains to Nice and Menton. Otherwise, you have to go through Milan or Turin.

The city's main station and Alexandria's terminus. "Mahattat Misr" is an Egyptian National Railways station, served by trains on the Alexandria - Cairo route. Located close to the center of Alexandria, it's a convenient way to get to the west of the city, to the beaches of Agami. The railway station is about 1 km south of Midan Ramla. If you're arriving from Cairo and heading into the city center around Midan Saad Zaghloul, make sure you stay as far as this stop.

Sidi Gaber Station is one of the two main railway stations in Alexandria. It was built in the late 1850s. It is the oldest railway station in Egypt. You get off there to get more easily from the district of Sporting Club, Semouha to all the east of the city. You can take Sharia el-Horreya to the north, or to Semuha to the south. Inside the station you will find a few restaurants and cafes to keep you waiting.

Italy's railroads. Frecciarossa high-speed trains link several major Italian cities. Book in advance on the Internet to save money on these lines. To get around Rome, however, always use regional trains. They're a little slower, but often a lot cheaper! What's more, their fares don't vary according to date, but only according to kilometers traveled: so you can buy your Roma-Anzio ticket at the last minute. How convenient!

This sixth station was recently renovated (2010) with an emphasis on multimodalité. All public transport is available in direct correspondence at the doors of the railway station (subway, tram, bus). In addition, a bicycle rental and parking service has been put in place. In order to relieve the share-Dieu station at the regional lines, the station offers destinations such as Mâcon, Vienna, Valencia, Villefranche-sur-Saône or Avignon.

Located in the heart of Old Lyon, this small terminal station serves mainly the west outskirts of Lyon (Lozanne, Tassin-la-Demi, St-Germain-au-Monts-d'Or, etc.). It hosts an average of 5 500 passengers per day.

Italo, the high-speed train, the result of the technological creativity of the Alstom group, which competes with the national company Trenitalia by offering competitive fares (numerous promotions on the website) and by advocating flawless punctuality. Italo offers daily connections between Rome (from Termini and Tiburtina stations) and Milan, Turin, Venice, Padua, Florence, Naples, Salerno... This can be an opportunity for a day trip, or to arrive in Italy from a city other than Rome.

The place, not entirely foreign to movie lovers, served as the unique setting for Gare Centrale, one of Youssef Chahine's most famous films. The large building, built in the 19th century, is rather elegant for a railway station. It remains the junction between the railway and the metro. The colossal statue of Ramses II that stood in the middle of the footbridges has been moved, suffering from pollution. In the middle of the great hall, the information kiosk of the railway station will tell you where you can buy the ticket for your destination.

In direct correspondence with the metro line D, the Vaise station offers a regional trend with destinations such as Roanne, Vienna, Mâcon or St-Etienne. It is one of the main interchange points of the TCL network.

In addition to the hill of Fourvière, this railway station serves mainly west Lyonnais. Important multimodal pole, it offers direct correspondence with line D of the subway and numerous buses on the TCL network.

You can get information by e-mail but it is better to travel or phone. Don't wait to reserve your place as it can take up to three days to do so. If you're in a real hurry and the trains are full, try your luck without a reservation. A photocopy of your passport will be required. Trains in general: n°86, departure at 7.45 pm from Cairo Central Station and at 8.15 pm from Giza Station; arrival at 5.45 am in Luxor and 8.50 am in Aswan. Extra train running only on Thursdays at 7.30 pm (7.55 pm Giza).

The Greek rail network has shrunk considerably in recent years. Only the line between Athens and the north of the country has been modernised. From Larissis Central Station, trains mainly connect Athens and Thessaloniki as well as some of the country's major cities (Larissa, Kalambaka...). It should be noted, however, that two transverse lines to Evia and Peloponnese are operated by another more recent network, Proastiakos.

It is one of the two main stations of Istanbul and the only one located on the European side of the city. Its history is rich, it remains essentially famous for having been the terminal station of the mythical Orient-Express train which made Paris-Istanbul between 1895 and 1977. Today it is mainly the Istanbul suburban trains and international trains to Europe that transit through the station Sirkeci. Oriental style, the exterior and interior of the station are decorated with earthenware and stained glass windows very nice.

Comfortably installed, we prepare our trips with a SNCF agent, which is even more pleasant than behind a phone or a computer to have reliable and online information. An automatic teller machine, accessible with a credit card outside the opening hours, is located in the entrance lobby of the shop. There are shops in Lyon, but many other addresses exist on the outskirts and in the main shopping centres to make life easier for us.

If the cyberopératrices discourse tends to get you out of your hinges, here's a Smart Council: Let you guide a moment through the maze of options, then type "9". You will then be contacted with a vendor to whom you can direct your questions directly. Lyon has two TGV stations in the city centre. Lyon-Perrache (TGV and TER) is located on the peninsula in the 2nd arrondissement; Lyon-Share-Dieu (TGV and TER) is in the 3rd arrondissement on the left bank of the Rhône. The third TGV station is located at the airport of Saint-Exupéry. Some TER also serve the stations of Lyon-Saint-Paul in the 5 th arrondissement, Lyon-Gorges-de-Loup (lines 48, 49, 50 and 51) and Lyon-Vaise in the 9 th district (lines 15, 19, 22 and 49). At the departure of Paris-Gare-de-Lyon, TGV stations serve Perrache and Part Dieu stations in two hours. These trains, dubbed Duplex because of their two floors, leave every hour (every half hour during peak hours) from 6 am to 22 pm.

Long reserved almost exclusively for freight trains, the station east of Gyumri has been back in service since the March 2018 launch of a modern-design electric train to Yerevan. It is not a TGV, since it takes 2 hours to cover the 130 km in one go, but on the scale of Armenia, it is a big step, and at the experimental stage since there are only 4 shuttles on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. While waiting for the other announced trains, there is always the Yerevan-Tbilisi, which connects the capital to Gyumri in more than 3 hours