Alex was easy to communicate with and his place was pretty straightforward to find. Taxi from the airport is close to 70tl. His mother met me at the apartment, showed me around the apartment, and left after doing some dishes and cleaning.
The apartment was just as described, clean, and welcoming. The shower was spacious and the water pressure pretty good which was lovely. The kitchen was also really nice and plenty of drinking water (don’t drink from the tap). The living room was also comfortable with a sofa which you can sleep on. There was a good sized TV which I never turned on.
The bed was a bit hard but not too uncomfortable and the street/area pretty quiet. In fact, the location was fantastic as it was only 5mins walking distance from Istiklal Street which has a gzillion restaurants, stores, etc. The apartment is also barely 5mins from a Carrefour grocery store where you can get food, drinks, wine, beer, etc.
The only downsides were the 2.5 flights of stairs – no elevator. Not a bid deal with no luggage but a pain in the butt with luggage especially as I didn’t see where the lights in the hall were the first time and had to struggle up in the dark. And the towels which were small and very thin.