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Race Across the World is back on our TV screens with the show’s most extreme race to date. This year, we will see five new teams competing against each other to be the first to reach the finish line in rural Mongolia.
We meet our teams at the start line in Palermo, Sicily, before they embark on a 7,400-mile race across Europe and Asia, following parts of the ancient trading route, the Silk Road.
Taking part in this year's race are best friends Jo and Kush, siblings Katie and Harrison, and father and daughter Andrew and Molly. Completing this series’ line-up are cousins Puja and Roshni, and an unlikely duo, in-laws Mark and Margo.
The pairs will travel through bustling cities and rural areas, in harsh conditions and extreme temperatures, all with a limited budget and resources carried in backpacks.
Promising to take viewers on an epic transcontinental journey through Italy, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, here is a closer look at each location the teams visited as the Race Across the World episodes air.
The start
Palermo, Sicily
The race starts in the city of Palermo, the capital of the Mediterranean’s largest island, Sicily. To reach the first checkpoint, teams choose various routes across southern Italy, passing through Naples, Sorrento, the region of Puglia and the Calabrian coast. The teams must hand in their bank cards and phones at Palermo’s 12th-century Baroque cathedral, the Church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini. This is the most conquered city in Europe, visible in its Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque architecture.
Palermo is also known for its Unesco-protected palaces and churches. They were built by the Normans in the 10th century, incorporating earlier Arab and Byzantine styles. Aside from its fascinating cityscape, Palermo attracts crowds of tourists due to its Mediterranean climate and Sicilian cuisine. Favourites include arancini and pasta alla norma.
Read more: How Mount Etna has turned Sicily into one of Italy’s best destinations for foodies
Checkpoint One
Fiskardo, Kefalonia, Greece
The teams’ first checkpoint is the small village of Fiskardo on the northern tip of Kefalonia, the largest of Greece’s Ionian islands. The upscale harbour resort is popular with yachters, who moor in its turquoise waters next to traditional fishing boats. Fiskardo is known for its original Venetian buildings, which are still intact from when they ruled the island between 1500 and 1797.
Visitors will find a selection of restaurants, cafes and bars along its waterfront, many of which are family-run and serve local specialities. The village is surrounded by pebble beaches and bays – ideal for swimming, scuba diving, kayaking, or even hiring a boat to find a secluded cove.
Read more: The best hotels across our favourite Greek islands – Crete, Corfu, Mykonos and more
Checkpoint two
Istanbul, Turkey
In contrast to the tranquil Greek harbour village, the team's next checkpoint was the bustling Turkish city of Istanbul. After a 186-mile journey, stopping in towns in rural Greece, the ancient capital of Athens and Mount Olympus, the pairs reached one of the most-visited cities in the world, drawing over 19 million tourists each year. Straddling Europe and Asia on the Bosphorus Strait, Istanbul is known for its sprawling spice and jewellery bazaars, as well as over 3,000 mosques. Arguably, the most famous is the Hagia Sofia, a historic Byzantine structure that was a Christian Orthodox church for centuries until it was turned into a mosque in the 15th century.
Aside from its striking architecture, the city is also known for being a haven for foodies, with savoury and sweet dishes making up Turkish breakfasts; street vendors selling fish sandwiches called balik ekmek; and a strong coffee culture.
Read more: From pickle stores to Michelin stars – exploring Istanbul through its rich and unique food
Checkpoint three
Halfeti, Turkey
During this leg, the last team to reach the checkpoint will be eliminated from the competition. With the stakes ramped up, the pairs race from Istanbul across the central part of the country to the town of Halfeti on the southeastern border. Described as one of Turkey’s most extraordinary locations, Halfeti’s old town was purposefully submerged into the Euphrates River as a result of the completion of the Birecik Dam in 2000. The residents had to build and move to a new town about 15km away called New Halfeti.
Visitors by boat can see semi-submerged stone houses, trees and historical monuments, but the most spectacular sight is a tall minaret jutting out of the water. The area has become a popular diving spot too, providing a unique opportunity to explore an ancient city underwater.
To complete the leg, the teams had to reach a viewing platform opposite Rumkale Castle, a little further upstream, a ruined fortress sitting on a large rock dating back to the Byzantine period.
Read more: Turkey’s best budget train ride is an 800-mile journey east
Checkpoint four
Tbilisi, Georgia
After one team was eliminated from the race, the remaining pairs had to complete a 1050-mile journey to Georgia’s capital, where the fourth checkpoint lay. After travelling via Turkey’s Black Sea coastline or its eastern countryside, the teams crossed the border into their fourth country.
With a history spanning over 1,500 years, Tbilisi’s past can be tracked through the diverse architecture, from its medieval domed sulphur baths and Soviet tower blocks and modern buildings.
The country is located at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Georgian cuisine has evolved into a mix of different flavours, such as khinkali dumplings and mchadi, a traditional cornbread. Georgia is also famous for its wine, with Tbilisi known for its Chinuri white grape variety.
Read more: Bohemian Tbilisi is not to be missed – here are the six best things to do in the Georgian capital
Checkpoint five
Zaamin National Park, Uzbekistan
For this leg, the teams will have to travel 1,300 miles from Tbilisi to their next checkpoint in Uzbekistan. Due to the land border being closed between Georgia and Azerbaijan, the teams flew to Aktau, Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, to continue their race. Their end goal is to reach the Suffa Plateau in Uzbekistan’s Zaamin National Park. Part of the Turkestan mountain range and nicknamed Uzbek Switzerland, the landscape is a huge contrast to the vast arid plains that lead there. The park is filled with alpine meadows, deep valleys, home to over 150 species, including Siberian ibex and rare species like the Turkestan lynx and Saker falcons.
There are hotels and guesthouses found throughout the park and in nearby villages, as well as health retreats such as the Soviet-era Zaamin Sanatorium. Wellness holidays have become popular in the park, which grows over 100 plant species thought to have medicinal properties.
The Suffa Plateau sits 2,500m above sea level, meaning the teams had to tackle the thin and cool mountain air, as they raced across the arid land and into a steep cable car ride providing views across the surrounding mountains and forests.
Checkpoint six
Almaty, Kazakhstan
For the sixth checkpoint, the teams were instructed to travel back to Kazakhstan, but this time in the southeastern area of the country, to the city of Almaty. Covering a 1,500km trek, the pairs could either skirt the southern border of the country to the city, or head through Kyrgyzstan.
Almaty is Kazakhstan’s largest city, known as the cultural and financial hub of the country, home to two million residents. Its name means “place of apples” due to the wild orchards that cover the foothills of the Tian Shan Mountains that surround the city, which is believed to be the ancient ancestral home of the fruit. The city celebrates apples through public art installations dotted along boulevards, such as large apple sculptures with different murals painted onto them.
The city is also the former Kazakh Soviet-era capital, gaining independence from the USSR in 1991. Reminders of Soviet rule are seen through Almaty’s orthodox churches, such as the brightly coloured domed Ascension Cathedral. The Memorial of Glory and Eternal Flame, found in Panfilov Park, is also a relic of the Soviet era. The grand monument featuring the faces of Red Army men was erected in 1975 to mark the anniversary of the victory on the Eastern Front in World War II.
Read more: Why you should swap Everest base camp’s crowds for its rival’s spiritual beauty
Checkpoint seven
Kharkhorin, Mongolia
Entering the race’s final country, the teams navigate freezing conditions, off-road travel and endless plains as they dash to the seventh checkpoint in Kharakhorin. The town was once the imperial capital under a son of Genghis Khan, scattered with ruins and sacred monasteries, which are reminders of when it was part of the largest contiguous land empire. The racers visited Erdene Zuu monastery, built in 1585, which is a rare survivor of the Stalinist purge that destroyed hundreds of Buddhist temples. At its peak in the late nineteenth century, the monastery consisted of 62 temples and 1,500 monks.
Kharakhorin is found within the Unesco heritage Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, with its grasslands still grazed by Mongolian nomadic pastoralists as it has been for centuries.
Read more: This is what it’s like to win the ‘world’s toughest horse race’ through Mongolia
The end
Hatgal, Mongolia
After completing the 7,400-mile trek, teams will reach the finish line in the remote Mongolian village of Hatgal on the shores of Lake Hövsgöl. Found in the northern part of the country near the Russian border, temperatures in this region can be extreme, with long and harsh winters and temperatures that drop to -49C in January.
The nearby freshwater lake, which is the largest in the country by volume, is known as the Blue Pearl. It is one of 20 ancient lakes on Earth, existing for around two million years. Each March, a two-day festival is held on its frozen surface that includes ice skating, horse sleigh racing, ice sumo wrestling and Shamanic rituals honouring the spirits of nature.
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