We arrived late at night due to flight complications and our charming and friendly host welcomed us to his apartment with a welcome pack of tea, coffee, bread, milk and cheese. As warm as his welcome was, equally welcoming in the middle of a very snowy Istanbul night the fact that the heating had been on in the apartment made it feel very cosy and warm. This together with the fantastic view of the Galata Tower from the window of the sitting room made us feel that the holiday was well and truly going to be a magical experience. Izel, our host, showed us all the features of this very well equipped and spotlessly clean spacious flat, sat with a map and showed us where the main tourist attractions were, explained the transport system and (nice touch) gave us a travel card, then took us out for a walk around the area, showing us restaurants, places of interest and recommendations. The apartment has very good and very reasonable priced restaurants close at hand and we enjoyed a very tasty Turkish Dinner. The next morning an email was waiting from Izel with links to all the details of ferries, attractions, websites and lots of handy information. We spent five days in Istanbul and I can truthfully say that we enjoyed them all the more because of the care and consideration from our hosts.I should also mention that he came to see us off, and handled the booking of our airport transfers which went flawlessly. there are maybe holiday apartments that are equally well presented, possible even equally well situated, but I doubt that there are any which come with the added benefit of such caring and considerate hosts.