A Journey on South Africas Blue Train

Chaos surrounded us.Informal porters rolling luggage carts zigzagged between cars.

Commuters spilled from the bus terminal onto the sidewalk, where they sat on suitcases and duffel bags.Minibus taxis zoomed through the congestion, pedestrians be damned.Our car crawled past a barbed-wire fence and reached a sliding gate, where all that separated my wife and me from the empty lot on the other side was a security guard.

“Blue Train,” I said, and the guard waved us through.We pulled up to a blue carpet next to Cape Town’s central train station, where two butlers in blue vests and white gloves greeted us by name and unloaded our luggage before ushering us into a waiting room that was decidedly more upscale than the one in the adjacent building for bus travelers.We lounged on plush sofas with a few dozen other passengers, relaxing to piano music and enjoying a spread of fruit, pastries, sandwiches and sparkling wine.I had traveled to this stunning South African metropolis, where the ocean meets the mountains, last December to indulge in a bit of Gatsby-like luxury by taking a trip on the country’s legendary Blue Train.

It’s an adventure that turns a two-hour flight (plus a 45-minute drive) from Cape Town to Pretoria into a two-night, 994-mile experience, with all the pampering and beautiful vistas you could possibly ask for.The Blue Train, whose origins date back a century, is meant to evoke exclusivity.And that’s exactly what you feel when you’re waiting in the lounge, a separate world from the gritty urban commotion outside.

The tin shacks you flew over when landing at the Cape Town airport were out of sight, as were the people who approached your car asking for money, and those who pitched tents on street corners in the shadow of glossy condominiums and waterfront restaurants.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mo...