STAY AWAY IN THE SUMMER and IF YOU CARE ABOUT BEING IN A SAFE AND QUITE NEIGHBORHOOD.
Elvan's place was spotlessly clean, although we had to wait about 2 hours past the promised check-in time for her to clean the apartment. Communication was also very easy and quick. Having mentioned the positives, I want to now get to why we only stayed at her place for 2 nights even though we had booked the place for 21 days (please note that we left Elvan's place even though she did not agree even to a partial refund. The place was so unbearable that I felt like I owed it to my mom who was traveling with me to get her out of there as soon as possible). Although the apartment looks nice on the inside and Elvan has decorated it perfectly, it was unbearable to stay due to the heat, numerous insect bites, and concerns for the safety of the neighborhood. About a month before the start of our trip, we had asked Elvan about how hot it gets inside because I was worried that my 60+ year-old mother who is on hormonal therapy for breast cancer and constantly has hot flashes will feel hot in the apartment. Elvan assured me that the place feels "cool" with the two fans on and all the windows open. So, I trusted her word and did not cancel the reservation when I still had time to do so. When we arrived, the place was unbearably hot, but I thought that after a while, with the fans on and the windows open, it might cool down as Elvan had explained. But it only got worse as the temperatures outside went up and we could not sleep at all that first night. My mom and I also tried sleeping on the floor because the floor felt a bit cooler, but it was truly unbearably hot. My mom was feeling restless and on the verge of passing out. I'm usually not very sensitive to the heat but even I was very frustrated with how hot and airless the place felt. Other problems that were caused by the heat and lack of air circulation inside included the presence of all kinds of insects (we all got painful bites that first night that we were scratching for the whole trip), and exposure to a serious case of domestic violence, screaming, and police activity right outside the window because we couldn't close the windows or we would probably pass out due to the heat. So, the next morning, after only about 1 hour of sleep throughout the night, we got up and went around the city to find another place. I found a place and asked Elvan for a partial refund which she refused. I explained to her that I think she misrepresented her apartment and that my mom could not stay at her place due to the heat, but Elvan did not seem to care much about our concerns. But the place was so unbearable that even though we were not getting a refund, we decided to leave. The only problem at this point was that the new place we had booked was available the next day and so we had to try to sleep at Elvan's house one more night. After many hours of tossing and turning due to the heat, we feel asleep around 3 in the morning but woke up around 5 to the sound of a broken water pipe in the bathroom. So, again, just 2 hours of sleep, a few hours of trying to close the main water valve to stop water from spreading in the whole house, and early morning communicating with Elvan to try and prevent serious damage to her apartment. Overall, it was a truly unpleasant experience and I hope no one else has to go though the same thing.