Last update we were waiting for the rain to finish. Happily it did, and even more happily the power cut occurred after I'd spent 1 hour typing...

As for bonfire night, hope everyone who bothered back home enjoyed it. We of course have our own supply of fireworks but the middle of Istanbul wasn't the best place to let them off. That we even still have our fireworks is a little fortunate after we were stopped for a random search in Dover but at least our country's safe eh? ;-)

We're now in Antalya which is a big touristy city on the mediterranean coast. Grapes needed a rest from the incessant rain and cold and thankfully its nice and warm here. Only got here yesterday after a 9 hour drive but the seafood is great and everything's a bit cheaper than Istanbul. Didn't do anything today apart from stroll round getting mistaken for Germans and relaxing on the beach for a bit.

Actually since last time we posted nothing much has happened. The weather cleared up for our last day so we did some sightseeing, ate some nice food, and had a few drinks to round things off. Also got our first free beers off a Turkish guy trying to get us into his restaurant (he succeded!) and some artist did an unrecognisable picture of us (again for free as part of an Efes promotion).

The journey here was also fairly unexciting except for arriving at the automated toll booth into Asia with no idea how to pay. It was quite funny sitting there wondering what to do while the woman behind went apoplectic with rage. Our fun was cut short when a helpful local showed us what to do (park up beyond and go and pay in an office). This was a shame as it would have been quite interesting to watch the woman pop a blood vessel and spray blood all over her windscreen (probably still screaming at us as she expired). We also had a burger king for lunch. Cough.

Finally, we have lost our mascot, Carlos the reindeer. He came with the car but we treated him more like a red headed stepchild than the cuddly travelling mascot that he was. In the end he'd had enough of being squashed at the bottom of Grapes' backpack and only taken out for token photo opportunities in the freezing cold and has made a bid for freedom. We can only hope he's gone onto a better life than we could provide.