STORIES FROM OUR HISTORY

The Indian Mail Route

With the opening of the Suez Canal, Brindisi was chosen by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company as the terminus port for the ship of the biggest european navigation company of the last century.
From 1871 to 1914 the Indian Mail Route had a stop in Brindisi and became exclusively a rail-maritime line: from London to Brindisi passengers and cargoes travelled by train, then ships sailed from Brindisi every Sunday at 2 p.m. to Port Said, Bombay and Calcutta.

To satisfy the needs of the travelers, "Hotel of East Indies" (today Hotel Internazionale) was inaugurated in 1870, that was one of the most renown hotel in the Mediterranean.
In the 1914 the stop-off in Brindisi was changed to Marsilia (France), not exposed to danger of war as Brindisi.

The image show the route from London to Brindisi by train, using the luxurious Peninsular Express; It took 44 hours to get to Brindisi

The image shows the arrival of the Indian Mail Route to the port in 1875

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