The place was great, and really easy to get to anywhere from that location — between Galata Tower and Taksim, but off Istiklal, so not too loud at night. There’s a bunch of restaurants and little shops just up the street towards Istiklal, and it’s easy to get trapped there, sipping coffee, and forgetting to go see the sights. It’s also an easy walk to Tunel, take the tram down to Karikoy, and getting to museums or ferries is easy from there. In the other direction is Taksim, and public transit to everywhere that isn’t Karakoy, including the funicular to the Kabatas ferries. All in all, a pretty great location. It’s not a slick neighborhood, but the neighbors are genuinely friendly folk, the kind of spot where everyone looks after each other and kids run around in the street a lot.

It’s very close to the Dervish House Museum as well, which didn’t seem as well trafficked as many of the others, but was great. It’s also part of the MuseumKart deal, which is absolutely worth doing. There’s also a major Sunday market across from the end of the street, with amazing food, spices, clothes, etc. It’s not a tourist thing, most of the people shopping there are locals.

The place is very new. It’s a good private nook. There’s a balcony, but it’s easy to lock out the sights and sounds of the city, put on the AC, and have lunch or read a book. We ran into a couple glitches with appliances, but Verda and her husband were by very quickly to sort things out. One warning: if you’re not comfortable with stairs, it’s not a great location, they are a fairly narrow spiral.

All in all, Verda went out of her way to make sure our stay was comfortable and untroubled — on down to insisting I needed to leave 30 minutes earlier than I’d planned on the Havitas if I wanted to make my flight on time. She was right, of course.