I really enjoyed my stay in Cihan’s place and would highly recommend it for the following reasons:
1. Cihan is easy-going, friendly, and accommodating - all of which make him a great host and an ideal person to share an apartment with.
2. The view from the apartment is fantastic - as can be seen in the photographs.
3. The apartment itself is bright, spacious, clean, and airy (being up so high allows for a lot of natural light to come into the apartment and the big windows provide great ventilation).
4. Küçükbakkalköy is a pleasant part of the city to live in. It's much calmer than many other places in Istanbul (there’s less noise from traffic and the environment is less chaotic).
5. There’s a bus stop nearby to the apartment building. From there I could travel to neighbouring districts (e.g. Maltepe, Kadıköy) when meeting friends or doing other activities.
6. It’s also possible to get a bus directly from that stop to Bostanci Marmaray station in less than twenty minutes. The Marmary is a super convenient way to travel in the city so I appreciated being able to get to it in a short amount of time.
Overall, having stayed in about eight different airbnb apartments in Istanbul over the past ten months, due to the reasons outlined above, Cihan’s was most likely my favourite of them all.