I review in my own standard manner:
1. Is it safe? Apartment is in an area that is scruffy and down at heel. We walked around at night and the area felt ok. The door to the building is locked and you access with electronic key. The apartment has a double lock. So overall we felt acceptably safe.
2. Host . Ali was host for us. Excellent fellow, he met us and explained apartment and even gave us an Istanbulkart before we could get our own. He arranged transfers to and from airport for us. We were very happy with Ali.
3. Location. It’s 15 minute walk to the hippodrome so it’s position is excellent. Similarly 10 minutes to grand bazaar. Supermarket is only 100 metres. It’s not well located for metro or trams yes it’s close but up steep hills so easy if walking but not if with luggage.
4. Facilities. Everything in the listing was in the apartment.
It was cold while we were in Istanbul. Apartment was nice and warm . Two large radiators supply enough heat. We could see no method of controlling them from apartment except on or off. So we left them on and that kept place at a comfortable ?22degrees?
Kitchen has everything but limited space. So we found perfect for breakfast and a lunch but would have been cramped if we had tried to prepare dinner.
Shower hot. Everything worked.
The floor/ceiling above is thin so you can hear people above as they walk around. But they seemed conscious of it and were respectful.
5. Cleanliness? It was spotless perfect.
6. Value? Good value
Recommend? Yes we do recommend as a great location for discovering (on foot) the major sites of Istanbul.
We really enjoyed hearing the call to prayer each morning. Yes it woke us up but in a very pleasant manner. It felt terrifically authentic and caused us to appreciate where we were.