We made it into Istanbul, late last night; crazy driving and crazy people on the ring roads of what is possibly the most idiotic traffic system ever devised. But we made it (again, thanks to the magic blue dot on the iphone) into our first great city on the Silk Routes, the gateway to Asia. Istanbul, not a cliche...

Turns out the guest house, we had navigated to was also the first choice for another rally team "Thunder Camel" two excellent lads from my new neck of the woods, the new forest. We had a quick dinner with them, exchanged stories (they had broken down in war torn Serbia but had a great time with the locals) and then an early night so that we could maximise the sightseeing in Istanbul.

So Huw will publish the good photos we took along the tourist trail in Istanbul. Tea houses, the Bosphorous River that divides Asia and Europe and all those mosques and historic buildings left by the Hittites, Greeks, Romans and any other b***** who fancied a little stay in Istanbul.

I think for a few hours even the Mongol Rallyists took control of the city as we partied into the night as we celebrated with raki getting thus far.

Highlights:

• The amAzing tea shop in the grand bazaar.
• Drinking the raki with the Beer Bongolian team amongst others...
• Buying our new tents to replace the b*****ed ones from Czech-Out.
• Hearing the Call to prayer whilst seeing the Blue Mosque.
• The Blue Mosque.
• Pistaccio ice cream

Lowlights:

• The early start with a raki hangover
• Watching my pals eat donner kebabs
• Eating fish kebabs on the bospherous river when my tummy wasnt quite ready for it...

And that folks, was 24 hours in Constantinople.