Around the Med in 80(ish) days

[bertus]

Hello everyone,

So 3 friends and I are planning on entering the 2011 Budapest-Bamako charity car rally. So I have been thinking that if I'm over in that part of the world anyway I might as well do some traveling. So I am planning on sticking around after my friends head back to Canada and traveling until I run out of money. I don't really make itineraries however so I was thinking I would simply post the countries I am hoping to visit and see if anyone has some must-see places they know; keeping in mind that I'm a big ancient history buff.

My 3 friends and I should be arriving in Europe around Jan.4th so that we can find a car for the race that is starting around Jan.14th. Right now it looks like we will be flying into Germany but that is only because I have heard rumors that it is easy to get some decent used cars for cheap. So once we have 2 vehicles we will be heading to Budapest for the race. The race route changes each year but it is a 15 day race and we should be passing though Hungary, Austria, Italy or Switzerland, France, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania and Mali.

After the race one of my friends and I are hoping to drive to Timbuktu before donating our vehicle. After that I would be making my way to Egypt and working my way up to Istanbul via Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and into Turkey. Hopefully if I have enough money I would be able to see Iran as well and it would be amazing to go to Israel as well but the only way I can think that it would be feasible would be to either fly or take a ferry from Greece. Once I was done I would then be catching an easyjet or ryanair flight to London and visiting my sister for awhile before heading back to Canada.

If anyone knows some great places to visit for the Egypt-Turkey leg I would love to hear them. I'm quite laid back so I enjoy everything from big party places to some relaxed little beach somewhere; and I love ancient/medieval history so I can never get enough ruins or museums. So far I have been reading Lonely Planet's "Istanbul to Cairo on a shoestring" but was published in 2000 so some newer information might be helpful.

Thanks!