After a one week stay, I must say that I cannot recommend this place. One of the previous reviews said that this place is an authentic experience. No, it’s not. If you want an authentic experience you need to stay somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, not in a neighborhood that looks like post-war syria. This is like staying in the slums. It's near istikal street but I don't think that's a big deal and taksim square has nothing interesting. Fatih would've been a better choice but that was purely my fault. The check-in was awful. I had to call the host when I arrived because I couldn’t find the place based on pictures. It isn’t visible from the street and is sandwiched between dilapidated buildings with broken and missing windows. In addition, the host didn’t remember I was arriving that day. Then, the people who were checking me in, wanted my passport to photocopy. I’ve never had to give my passport to any places I’ve stayed, all the way from Scandinavia to Jordan and Egypt. I wouldn’t have had a problem if they’d told me beforehand. I never met Nida during my whole stay and she doesn’t live in the building. It’s a apartment building furnished for rental and also serves as a makeshift hotel. The wifi is slow and goes in and out. Nighttime noises included helicopters, street cats fighting, street dogs howling, and this weird loud gurgling noise that comes from the kitchen sink. There were occasional brown-outs, in which the power went off for a few minutes. The road payment outside is crumbling and the streets smell like cat piss. The one good thing about this place is that the interior looks like the pictures.