MASTER RALLYE 2000
OUT TO DISCOVER THE MASTER RAID

This Master 2000 will take you to the heart of magnificent landscapes and surprising countries.

Germany is crossed very rapidly, Austria gives a glimpse of the Alps and its lakes surrounded by greenery. Then Hungary with Budapest takes us to a historical universe, whilst Lake Balaton will be a pleasure to see and give the joys of water.Rumania with the crossing of the back-bone formed by the Carpathians, offers numerous wooded regions with passes at over 2000m where the legends of Count Dracula and of his castles are revealed at each bend in the trails.

Bucarest looms in an agricultural plain of the Danube which extends as far as the Black Sea, where Constanta and its harbour installations will enable you to reach the Orient.

And more precisely in Turkey. Mountainous and wooded slopes from the Black Sea until the icy and isolated peaks of the East, this country surprises you with the beauty and the variety of its landscapes. The leg towns will allow you to discover history 2 000 years old, and as a link between the bivouacs of the MASTER, the visit of "caravanserails", will remind us that the camel caravans en route for the silk route, used to come in the evening to seek a bed and rest and to obtain sanctuary from the bandits.

A LOOK AT HUNGARY

VESZPREM: Tourist and industrial town, Veszprem is the Chief place of the comitat of the same name, on the northern shore of Lake Balaton, and 105 km from Budapest. Its medieval castle perched on a rock 30 metres high, its cathedral and its chapel of the XIth and XIII centuries, which house frescos, as well as the Episcopal palace in baroque art make up the most interesting monuments of this town.
To be discovered during leg 3 on 28/07 in the evening and on 29/07 in the morning.

BUDAPEST: Budapest was originally composed of two towns: Buda on the West bank of the Danube and Pest on the Eastern bank, which were united in 1872. Buda, former Roman camp, became the capital of Hungary in the XVth century. There are many touristic curiosities: Roman, Gothic and Baroque edifices are to be seen: the castle of Voydabunyod, the chain bridge (lanchid), the quays of the Danube until the Elisabeth bridge, the hill of Buda with the Mathias church and the fishermen's stronghold. The numerous museums house rich collections, of the Spanish school in particular.
To be discovered during leg 4 on 29/07, the race will pass approximately 120 km from the Hungarian capital.

LAC BALATON: Lac Balaton is the biggest lake in central Europe with its 601 km2. Located 110 km to the south west of Budapest, it is an important holiday resort which is frequently visited for its nautical sports in summer and for its ice-skating in winter. Numerous excursions are possible, either towards the south east, very Mediterranean with Turkish monuments, or towards the north to Koszeg (medieval town and its fortress), Fertod with the most beautiful baroque castle in Hungary. In the wild part of the lake, Keszthely with its Helicon library and its Franciscan church.

A LOOK AT RUMANIA

ORADEA: Built on the two banks of the CRIS REPEDE, Oradea is the gate of Rumania towards the west and the Slavonic countries. It offers tourists its imposing fortress "in Vauban style", of the XVIIth century, today converted into the University of the Arts. Its cathedral of the XVIIIth century, richly decorated, deserves a detour.
To be discovered during leg 4 on 29/07, the rally passing the border at Oradea.

BEIUS: Although Beius does not have the attraction of other cities, its surrounding offer the Meziad cave about thirty kilometres away. A pleasant trail crossing a few typical villages will take you, meandering along a stream, to the gates of an ocean of greenery where this cave is hidden, perched on the hill.
To be discovered during leg 4 on 29/07 in the evening and on 30/07 in the morning.

HUNEDOARA: Hunedoara specially offers its feudal castle of the XVth century, burnt in 1850 and which claims, like the majority of castles in Rumania, to be that of Count Vlad, better known under the name of Dracula.
To be discovered during leg 4 on 30/07.

LAC OASA (and its monastery): Lake Oasa is truly the ideal place for prayer and meditation. Its monastery with brilliant zinc roofs at an altitude of over 1800m, reflected in the mirror of water of Lake Oasa, must be visited.

SIBIU: Sibiu is an industrial and touristic town in the south of Transylvania 210 km to the north east of Bucarest. Its walls and fortifications of the XIVth century surround narrow streets, small squares and red-roofed houses. The old town accommodates the Burkenthal museum (XVIIIth century) with its beautiful collection of Rumanian and Flemish paintings (Rubens, Van Dyck).
To be discovered during leg 4 on 30/07.

TURNUL & COZIA: Turnul and Cozia are two churches located on the left of the Sibiu/Ramnicu road near Brezoi. They deserve a visit.

SIGHISOARA: Town in the centre of the country 230 km to the north west of Bucarest, Sighisoara is the fatherland of the bloodthirsty Count Vlad Tepes (Vlad the impaler), born in 1430 and who served as the model for the famous fictional character, "Dracula". Built around a castle soaring at the summit of a hill, its citadel is the most well-preserved in Transylvania. In the surrounding area, a cave classified as a national monument offers spectacular concretions, rivers and even a glacier.

BUCAREST: Founded in the XVth century by a shepherd called Bucur, Bucarest is a pleasant town possessing spacious parks, wide avenues and elegant public buildings of the XIXth and XXth centuries. You can find the National theatre in the principal street in the "Parisian" quarter, as well as the Stavropoleos church with decorated walls and sculpted doors. Near to the former royal palace, in the culture and leisure park, is to be found the Village museum houses 70 farms, water and wind mills.
To be discovered during leg 5 on 31/07.

CONSTANTA: Founded in the VIth century before J-C by the Greeks, Constanta then became Roman, before being taken by the Turks in the XVth century, who kept it until 1878. A port and a holiday resort, the town is an open door to the Black Sea and the Orient, but also to Turkey, within the framework of the MASTER 2000.
To be discovered during leg 5 on 31/07

ISTRIA: Not far from Constanta, at about thirty km to the north, the vestiges of the ancient town of Istria rise in defiance of time and history, reminding us that the Romans were omnipresent in this part of the world and were at the origin of the name of this country.

A LOOK AT TURKEY

SAMSUN : Port of the Black Sea, Samsun is a city open to tourism. Many barrage lakes (among which the Altinkaya) offer different possibilities of water leisures. You will discover in the neighbourhood of Kolay (little village by the Derbent Lake) some splendid sarcophagus tombs (Asarkale) dug from the cliff, accessible by underground stairs dug in the mountain.
To be discovered during leg 6, on 1/08 in the evening and on 2/08 in the morning.

AMASYA : Stretching out on the sides of the Yesilismark river, Amasya is one of the most beautiful city of Anatolie. It's ancient tombs old of two milleniums constitute one of it's greatest interests.
To be discovered during leg 6, on 2/08.

SIVAS : Established at the crossing of the great caravan routes between the Orient, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, Sivas is fixed in the religious of the Seldjoukides (whirling dervishes). It's animated and coloured bazaar deserves to be visited.
To be discovered during leg 7, on 2/08 in the evening and on 3/08 in the morning

KAYSERI : Well-known for it's cookery (the flavoursome dried and spicy beef, cut into thin slices, called "pastirma" deserves to be tasted), Kayseri is a city where past and modern meet. It's religious edifices and it's 24 mausoleums testify to it's rich religious past. Sultan Hani's caravanserai on the road to Sivas deserves to be visited.
To be discovered during leg 8, on 3/08 in the evening, and on 4/08 in the morning.

THE CAPPADOCE : Situated in the centre of Anatolie, the Cappadoce offers a fantastic, strange and of the most spectacular landscape. The erosion has modeled "fairy chimneys" and other ochred and basaltic hats, among which the most representative are at Pasabag. Among the other strong points of this region, you will find the Goreme Valley with it's decorated chapels, the Uchisar peak which offers an incomparable viewpoint from the top of it's 142 steps, the Soganli Valley with it's rupestrian churches and it's white pigeon houses, and finally, the Ihlara Valley with it's impressive canyon of 14 km, where you will find the famous troglodyte houses and some churches decorated with beautiful frescos.

KONYA : Isolated city in the heart of the Anatolian plateau, Konya is the cradle of the whirling dervishes (Order of the Mevlelis) established in the 11th century and dissolved by Attaturk in 1925. The Mevlena teck and the "medersas" (mosques) deserve to be visited. It is also possible to assist to the dance prayer of the dervishes (the "sema"), all dressed in white.
To be discovered during leg 9, on 4/08 in the evening and on 5/08 in the morning.

EGIRDIR : The lake is one of the most beautiful in Turkey. At an altitude of 900 metres, it traces an "S" of 48 km long for a width of 10 km and a surface of 517 km?, placing it in 4th place of Turkey's lakes. Magnificent viewpoints allow to see the mountain reflecting itself in a green and transparent water.
To be discovered during leg 9, on 5/08.

BURSA : Cradle of the Ottoman Empire, Bursa is also the city of the silk which made it's prosperity. If the green mosque, the green mausoleum as well as the caravanserai from the town centre deserve to be visited, the supreme goal of this region is the ascent of the Ulu Dag (2543 m) with it's park, the Bursa garden, offering an unrestricted view on the valley.
To be discovered during leg 9, on 5/08.

ISTANBUL : Conjunction of the Orient and of the Occident, Istanbul is a city full of history and of inescapable monuments. The Bosphorus, the Marmara Sea, Sainte Sophie, the Blue Mosque, everything is there to remind you Pierre Loti and the myths and splendours of Byzantium.
To be discovered during leg 10, on 6/08.