Reasons to stay.
1. The amazing Cuneyt. I was to arrive in IST airport at 10.55pm. The plane was two hours late taking off – congestion they said! I arrived at 1.30 am and caught the bus. I sat on the front steps of the local mosque at 3.00 am and within literally three to four minutes Cuneyt's young “assistant” arrived and brought me to the apartment. (We had texted each other three or four times along the way)
2. The location. It is in the heart of the old town – and not a tourist type street. Yet you walk to all mosques, museums, gardens, restaurants quite easily and the tram-line is only about 10 minutes walk – but up-hill: old Istanbul, new Istanbul, all of Turkey seems to be built on hills.
3. The balcony. Sitting with a cool beer in the evening watching the warm sun go down was such a pleasure.
There are no grumbles. Mosques piping up with morning prayers at 4.30am became part of a much wider insight into Islam. And seagulls embarking at daybreak on another day of feeding their young is the same across the world.
Thank you Cuneyt. Thank you Istanbul.