Tuba and Paul’s place is a nice place to stay if you want to be in Besiktas area. The apartment itself was nice and had a very nice view of the Bosphorus. It was equipped with most of what you need. The host tries to be flexible with your needs.
However, there were quite some problems. 1) the address they provided after reservation was not correct. It was an issue for us because we choose one place over another based on the location, as some locations might not be nice, or not easy to walk to (like Tuba’s place) which requires you to climb lots of steep stairs in the neighborhood to get there and it is not convenient for everyone specially elderly or those with small kids.
2) the bathrooms designs are very small, you cant even wash hands in the sink located in the upstairs bathroom, or can’t sit straight in the bathroom downstairs. You can’t also fit into the showers without hitting the windows. So I don’t recommend it for tall or big people.
3) the essentials provided are not enough or not provided at all. For example, they had provided only 3.5 rolls of toilet paper while knowing that we are 6 people and will stay for a week. There is a strong odor problem in the bathrooms, and there weren’t working odor eliminators in the bathrooms. When asked they told us to get one ourselves and if we can’t find we van let them know so they can bring us one! I don’t think we pay $200 a night to get our own odor eliminators.
4) there is a steep staircase inside the unit to go from downstairs to upstairs where the kitchen and balcony and other room is located. I don’t recommend it for elderly and those with kids as it is dangerous.
5) there isn’t good internet coverage downstairs. You have to go to the hallway to connect to the internet.
We enjoyed our stay otherwise. Thanks Tuba and Paul.