Alev's place was great! My boyfriend and I stayed there for five days. Alev has the top two floors of her building with two beautiful balconies looking out towards Galata tower. The directly surrounding neighborhood is amazing! You can either walk a block towards the Bosphorous to go to a NYC East Village kind of area with lots of delicious restaurants and cafes with people on the patios at all hours of the day, or walk about ten minutes northwest to Istiklal street (and at night, the really hip area around Babylon if you want drinks or dancing). You can walk ~10 minutes down the hill to the tramway which takes you to Sultanahmet for 1.75 lira. Alev's place is a peaceful oasis centrally located. (Also Alev is a great hostess. She has lived in San Francisco and speaks English.)

A couple things to note: You climb a ladder to the second floor of the place where the bedroom is; this was no problem for us (we're both 23) but something to note if you can't climb ladders :). Also, the second floor has slanted ceilings with the highest point being about 6.5 ft high, so if you're tall, you might want to minimize the amount of time you spend in the bedroom and hang out downstairs or on the balcony instead.

Loved the place and our time in Istanbul! It is a beautiful city; can't wait to go back. We would stay here again. Thanks, Alev!