We love our stay at Matrona's place. It's a steep climb up three flights of stairs but once you get there it is totally worth it. This is old school Airbnb, staying in a person's actual home rather than a half empty flat, so you feel like you're really living in the city and you have everything you need.
The view across the Bosphorus was beautiful and the location is amazing - two minutes from Istiklal and five minutes from the hip backstreets of Cihingar.
Matrona was lovely and responsive and very helpful and we were actually quite sad to leave her wonderful home.