One of the strangest AirBnB experiences of my life.
Rather than make this a negative or positive review, let me simply state the facts and you can determine whether or not this property is ok for you.
So, I arrived on a Tuesday evening for a month-long stay. The taxi driver wasn’t able to make it directly to the apartment because the steep and narrow roads of the area. As I pulled my heavy suitcase up the hill, I was greeted by a man who couldn’t speak English but beckoned me to the apartment, handing me the key.
To my surprise, he took me down a level to my apartment. The apartment is exactly as pictured so I wasn’t catfished but what I didn’t realise was that the windows of the apartment align with the ground floor outside. While I didn’t clarify what level the apartment was on before booking, it was a bit of a downer to see that I was on street level and had little privacy (apart from if I pulled the curtains).
I decided one day to try and peer into the apartment from the outside but during broad daylight, it’s actually hard to see inside, giving you at least some level of privacy.
At night however, if it’s dark outside and lit inside the apartment, people on the street can see you.
One night I was having a little dance to music when a street kid spotted me and came closer to the window.
During my stay, I had 4 Turkish girls come visit at different times.
2 out of the 4 girls asked me why I stayed in such a ‘dangerous area’ and felt unsafe.
It then reminded me about the door to the apartment which is very thick and with big metal bars for locking.
Also, why are there two single bed pushed together? I thought maybe it so they could be separated but there is only one bed frame. Two mattresses though??
When ordering Ubers to the apartment or trying to get dropped off at the apartment by a taxi, I always had to walk some distance between the taxi and the apartment. I think this is because of the steep roads around the apartment that can only fit the width of a single car.
When I tried to leave the apartment, the same man who I met on check-in offered me a 30€ airport transfer which at the time was 520 lira. I declined and said I’d take a taxi but he insisted that he book me the taxi, asking me again to pay in Euros for the taxi. I refused and said I would pay the driver in lira. All of this using Google Translate to communicate as he spoke zero English.
So overall, just a weird experience. Apartment is nice and as pictured but everything else around the experience seemed unusually difficult.
I understand that Turkey is going through some economic troubles right now so maybe this is normal though.