Melis and her partner were absolutely incredible. I've never seen hosts so warm and welcoming. They went out of their way to make sure my parents were going to have a wonderful stay in Istanbul. They even had purchased complimentary water, fruits, snack and wine. The apartment itself is just as the pictures showed it. Clean, everything works, and is wonderfully decorated. It's in a perfect location giving you easy access to Old and New City. Galata is a very cool neighborhood with lots of boutique stores and cafes. We would highly recommend staying here. One note is that Istanbul is hilly so you do need walk uphill to get up Taksim but its very manageable.