We had a great stay with Ali and his family - definitely recommend to anyone visiting Istanbul! His place was a little difficult to find on the first day (mainly because we were new to the transit system and it was dark out) but once we started sightseeing, it was in a great location (old town) and easy to get around. We were able to walk to most of the local sights (Aya Sophia, etc.) and took ferries to explore farther out.

Ali and his family were such wonderful hosts - we had turkish coffee with them almost every evening and they even made turkish lentil soup that was delicious! If you want to stay more to yourself, they would be comfortable with that too, but we liked the hospitality and conversation. Communication was a little difficult, but as long as you're comfortable with using google translator every now and then, then it shouldn't be a problem!

The room was great - only downfall was the shower flowed a bit into the rest of the bathroom so be careful where you place your clothes on the floor while showering.

Ali even walked us to the bus stop on the last day to make sure we had a hang of the transit back to the airport. All in all, a great visit and I definitely recommend!