With our car taken to a good mechanic in Istanbul, they were able to fix all the problems in only a few hours. With this done we’re finally on our way out of Istanbul. We were delayed from leaving last night because of a severe storm flooding the streets, but now we’re getting out of during the early hours of the morning to avoid the traffic. It has been a great stay and we are thankful to everyone who helped us out, especially Burak and all the staff at the Buhara restaurant and Mustafa Yurtseven’s garage.
Şerefe!

Another thank you to our mate Burak who is helping to translate with the garage for us, it’s going to be difficult but it looks like we might have the car up and running again within 2 or 3 days. In the mean time some interesting developments are taking place. I have successfully managed to blend in with the local population with a hat that was haggled for for 15 lira. Now everyone thinks I’m a Muslim. When explaining our mission to one person at the place we’re staying, they asked if i was doing it for my religion. Shaun has been finding and exploring some incredible Byzantine sites, and Simon continues to stuff his face with Turkish cuisine. He also managed to be successfully kidnapped by someone trying to force him to buy a jacket at the Grand Bazaar. While we’re having communication difficulties and trying our hardest to get on the road again, some quite amusing stories and friendly gestures from the locals are coming out of this.

It seems heavy traffic and 35*c in the scorching sun is a little much for our old car. Once again we’re stuck in somewhere it seems almost fortunate to have been stuck in. When trying to go uphill in the middle of the metropolis our car suddenly lost all power. Thankfully the people of this city are quick to help those in need, and ran to assist us and to call for a mechanic. Hopefully it will be up and running again soon enough.

In the mean time, we’re enjoying the city we find ourselves stuck in, and it must be said it is an incredible place. Also for such a large place, it can still be such a small world – today when getting something to eat at a top quality restaurant, we found we were being served by a chap called Burak. He and Simon got on very well, as he had lived for some time in Hampstead himself, and is a Liverpool F.C. supporter. We told him our story and had quite a chat with this guy, who also served us some top quality baklava as well as brilliant mains. Hope you see this Burak and we wish you and your fantastic restaurant well.

After crossing into Turkey in the early hours of the morning we stopped to get some rest. Currently, we’re on our way again to the magnificent city of Istanbul and to cross from the west to the east. We will stop one night in Istanbul before crossing the bridge over to Asia. The cultural difference after crossing the border is noticeable and interesting, as we could hear the morning prayers before we set off, and have already seen some beautiful mosques as we roll across Turkish Thrace.

We’ve found Greece to be an incredibly welcoming country, full of friendly faces. After taking a rest in Metsova, we decided to give away our excess equipment that was weighing us down to the people we’d just stayed with, who were a very nice family to meet and get to know a bit – so thank you Hotel Anax. Further on our way towards Turkey, we came across a very nice restaurant with very authentic and delicious food, and were thankful to be able to get a photo with them after enjoying our meal.

Last night we caught our ferry two hours after check-in, just before it departed. After finding out our seats did not in fact exist due to “a fault” (that’s just how it is in the Mediterranean) we instead just slept on the open deck. Not exactly comfortable, but this is the Mongol Rally, and it was all quite exciting and definitely worth it to wake up in Greece. It was a 5am start and we drove to the idyllic Greek town of Metsovo, so Shaun and Simon can have a bit of a rest before we head on to Turkey, and so that Peter can blog about it.

We all wanted to say thanks once again to Sven, the mechanic in Switzerland who saved us from being boiled alive. It’s now 36*c in Southern Italy and we’re damn glad the Air Conditioning is working.

We’re now on our way to Bari to catch the ferry across to Greece. Along the journey though we found a very nice town to stay in last night. It was quintessentially Italian, with countless pizzerias and gelato shops. Tarconte, the peaceful little town, turned out to have a great deal of mediaeval architecture. Just outside the town we’re some incredibly illustrated Etruscan tombs. However, with all this culture around, I’m starting to fear we’ve been in Italy slightly too long – as Simon’s gone native and is always hanging his bloody arm out the window like an Italian driver.

Now racing through sunny Italy (although it was more stormy than sunny this morning), we’re heading down towards the south of the country, with the intention of catching the ferry over to Greece within a couple of days. After the struggles of navigating our way around the ring roads of Milan, it’s quite a relief to just be on a direct route down through Tuscany.

After a struggle with traffic in a few mountain tunnels, we were very relieved to finally reach the border and cross into Italy. The temperature is noticeably different, but it seems that after the repairs on our car the air conditioning is suddenly working, and so now we should be able to enjoy the Mediterranean without melting in it. We’re currently heading south through the country to find a place to set up for some rest. Hopefully somewhere with plenty of pizza.