We truly enjoyed our stay at the Balat Art House for nearly two weeks. It was not the first time we went to Istanbul - which is just a fantastic place in general and we love it, but in particular we decided to choose Balat this time and we were not at all disappointed. The neighborhood is a most colorful and friendly place, with a unique local charm, plenty (generally alcohol free) restaurants, vitamin (fresh juice) shops and perfumed coffee shops everywhere, and art and antique stores and the welcoming Balat residents in their beauty and diversity, and their beautiful, loved and friendly cats. From Balat and Fener Iskelesi we caught the ferry to Karakoy anytime we wanted to reach the rest of Istanbul (which in itself is a very low-cost and highly pleasant experience crossing the Golden Horn at all times and especially at sunset, which is actually when we often decided to get going, given the intense heat of these days). So, we made Balat our home in the Art House of Carolina and Gioia, and we were not disappointed, not only for the niceness of the place but also for the friendliness and coolness of the people. A special mention goes to Gioia, who is the gifted artist who, among others, beautifully decorated the Art House with her paintings, and to all her other artistic friends we had the chance to meet on the beautiful rooftop terrace for a nice improvised dinner under the moon, with very tasty sea bass, bream and cattlefish grilled by Gabriele, another artist from Sardinia. We had a positive human experience, great time all the time, and we and we look forward to going back