The Turkish leg of the journey was supposed to be pretty relaxing, spending time by beaches etc - and it was for the most part. The only problem really, as you probably gathered from my first blog, was that it was ridiculously expensive - prices by the coast were even worse than in Istanbul - and in some cases had gone up four or five times since I visited in 2004. So we were scrimping and saving a bit, staying in dorms all the time and eating pretty averag...

We've made pretty rapıd progress so far, and fınd ourselves ın Kas on the western Mediterranean coast of Turkey now, having been travelling for just over a week. The temperature started off hot on our first day ın Bulgaria, and has continued soaring to thermometer-bustıng levels. Bulgarıa, or Bulgarıstan, as the Turks call ıt, was a pleasant startıng poınt for us - although the rather rough and ready port of Burgas ısn't everyone's cup of tea to s...