Archived:Istanbul

Phil version

London to Frankfurt (5 hours on continent + 2 in UK, so quite a long first day)
Frankfurt to Graz (6:16) - again, quite long
Graz to Zagreb (2:00), could even be via Ljubljana for an extra 1:30 or so - nice to have short drive after two days of long ones
Zagreb to Sarajevo (4:38)
Sarajevo to Cacak (3:40)
Cacak to Sofia (4:30)
Sofia to Istanbul (6:17) - quite long
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Istanbul to Salonica (6:33) - another quite long journey, but I think with much of it along the coast of the Marmara/Aegean, it could be awesome
Salonica to Pristina (3:37) - I think there may be an issue here, with the whole Kosovo/Serbia thing - perhaps subst. this for Nis or similar. In fact, could subst. for Skopje, and have a long drive to Belgrade. I recall that stretch to be rather scenic from what could be seen out of a very hot train. Could be quite a nice bit to do as a long section.
Pristina to Belgrade (3:43)
Belgrade to Budapest (3:50)
Budapest to Prague (4:58)
Prague to Frankfurt (4:31) (when I say Frankfurt, I mean somewhere in that area - plenty of German cities around there)
Frankfurt to London (5 hours on continent + 2 in UK, so quite long)

There are several bits that could be cut down if we are running late, especially in the latter half, where we might well be.

Notably this is 15 days, so there is still some slippage time

Could remove some of the Germanicness with either flights to Zagreb (or similar), or perhaps Eurostar+IC(E) to Munich or similar (a ~12 hour train journey, but on awesome trains, so probably tolerable).

Lmm version, 4-hour-a-day style

Saturday: drive to munich - first day long drive
Sunday: munich -> graz
Monday: graz -> slavonski brod
Tuesday: brod -> Cacak
Wednesday: Cacak -> Prishtine
Thursday: Prishtine -> Thessaloniki
Friday: Thessaloniki -> Kesan
Saturday: Kesan -> Istanbul
Sunday: Istanbul -> Edirne
Monday: Edirne -> Sofia
Tuesday: Sofia -> Kraljevo
Wednesday: Kraljevo -> Sarajevo
Thursday: Sarajevo -> Zagreb
Friday: Zagreb -> Salzburg
Saturday: Salzburg -> Karlsruhe
Sunday: back - last day long drive

Lmm version, 8-hour alternating style

Saturday: drive early (6am) to eurostar, drive to munich, arriving ~8pm
Sunday: Spent in Munich
Monday: drive to Belgrade
Tuesday: spent in Belgrade
Wednesday: drive to Thessaloniki
Thursday: spent in Thessaloniki
Friday: drive to Istanbul
Saturday: spent in Istanbul
Sunday: drive to Sofia
Monday: Spent in Sofia
Tuesday: drive to Sarajevo
Wednesday: Spent in Sarajevo
Thursday: drive to Vienna
Friday: spent in Vienna
Saturday: drive to Strasbourg
Sunday: last stretch back to london