I stayed eight nights.
I took the Havaist bus (route 12) from IST to the 'Aksaray Metro' stop, which took about ninety minutes in heavy traffic. and cost the equivalent of about 3 USD (52 TRY at this time). Radi met me there, and we walked (about 20 minutes) uphill to the apartment. I thought we might take a taxi, but she commented that taxi drivers might not want such a short trip. This seems odd, I thought taxis were for short trips, but seems consistent with what I've read about Istanbul taxi drivers. Might be better to use a taxi from the airport if you have a lot of luggage in tow.
Along the way, she pointed out the 'BIM' market, which is a chain that has most food items you might want. (There are other kiosk-sized markets around, but with limited choices.)
It's easy to access the ground-floor unit, but finding the building is slightly tricky the first time. The diagonal walkway from the main street sidewalk to the entrance is *behind* a building with 'Danis Group' on the front.
Radi's apartment is incredibly beautifully furnished, as can be seen from the pictures. Cleanliness beyond reproach. Kitchen is nut huge, but supplied with all utensils and many condiments, even multiple versions of salt! I used the washer several times, it functioned well. There is a small enclosed space to hang clothes for drying just off one of the bedrooms. The tub of the shower is large and round, which takes a little flexibility to get into. (Mind the shlight change in floor level between the bathroom and hallway.) Hot water was plentiful and never varied while showering. Radi showed me how to adjust the water heater if I needed hotter water, but it was always fine as it was.
The air conditioning was very effective.
I liked staying in Aksaray. Many, hotels around, but not a western tourist ghetto like Sultanahmet. There are sights to see just outside your doorstep. A large mosque is just across the street. with an expansive adjacent shaded park. Also near is a Roman aqueduct remnant. A small, few-hundred-years-old, graveyard is just at the entrance to the building. The tramway to the popular tourist sites is a ten minute walk, and it takes maybe 10-15 minutes to get to Sultanahmet.
Walking around in the evening, I never felt unsafe. There are enough eateries nearby, though the density is not as high as the other places.
I am super hyper sensitive to noise, and this is my primary criterion for any place I stay. If I can't retreat from the day's activities to a quiet place to think ,plan, and get a good night's sleep, then I'm not happy. The apartment is extremely quiet most of the time, with some qualifications. The windows are double-paned glass which helps to suppress noise. There is no ambient level of street noise, nor much noise in general from the vehicles in the parking lot which you can see in some photos. There is, however, some sort of storage/office area just beneath the apartment, which has an entrance below the living room window. It seems that the city vehicles in the parking lot deliver water and other goods, that are stored in that below area. Nothing is audible from this area below the apartment. But here is one person working down there most of the day and until late evening. He sometimes has conversations with the drivers when they come to pick up the goods just outside the entrance, very close to the window. These conversations are muffled by the windows, but still are somewhat audible. Not a deal-breaker for me, but somewhat annoying at times. Also,the one wall the living room shares with a next-door unit is not very soundproof, so you can hear conversations if they get loud. This happened on a few occasions, but didn't last too long. If someone upstairs dragged a table or chairs across their floor, you would hear that happening. Oddly, the bathroom was actually the place with the most noise (during the work day), coming from some sort of workplace across from where the bathroom window opens. (This bathroom noise was never audible anywhere else in the apartment.) None of these noise sources were audible from the back bedroom where I slept In fact, the bedroom window was open behind the curtains for a few days before I noticed. I slept very well every night I was there. If you are primarily here to be out sightseeing during the day, then much of what I detailed this paragraph will be of little concern.
Regarding money-for-value, I award seven or eight stars.
In sum, I feel fortunate to have picked this place for my first visit to Istanbul.