Mehmet was my point of contact when I arrived in Istanbul (Efe was out of town). As it was my first time visiting Turkey, I wanted to make sure I had everything lined up for my arrival. Efe was super responsive in the days before I arrived, and Mehmet was incredibly helpful once I was in country. I ended up taking a taxi from Ataturk Airport (definitely take the shuttle or the metro if you have the option - it's cheaper and very easy to navigate), and after getting stuck in traffic for way longer than I expected - again, first time in Turkey, my taxi driver got incredibly lost once he got into Besiktas. I called Mehmet, and he helped direct the taxi driver close to the flat, where Mehmet met us and walked me to the flat.

Mehmet took the time to introduce me to the flat when I arrived and walked me around the neighborhood to show me the good restaurants, stores, and markets in the area. He also got me all set up with wifi in the flat and was kind enough to check in half-way through my stay to make sure everything was going ok.

The flat itself is a two-story walk up that is very spacious with a large living room, a bedroom with a double bed, and another bedroom with two twin beds. There was a decent-sized kitchen with a mini-fridge and portable stove top, and a small bathroom with a shower. The flat was very clean, especially for an older building.

The neighborhood can be a bit difficult to navigate at first. I always used Barbaros Street as my point of reference, but if you're able to use a map on your phone, which I did eventually, it's easy to get around the back streets.

The flat is also about a 15 to 20 minute walk to the Kabatas tram, which costs 4 lire and will take you to all the main tourist sites - the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, a great Turkish bath house, etc. You can also take once of the many buses to Kabatas, which depart a five minute walk from the flat. If you want to take a taxi, there is also a taxi stand (I was told not to just hail a taxi but to make sure to go to a taxi stand) on Barbaros as well.

One thing I liked about the neighborhood was that there weren't many tourists. The drawback was that not many people spoke English, but that was fine by me! The whole point of staying in an Airbnb is to get a feel for the city, which you definitely will do when you stay at Efe and Mehmet's flat!