Where can I even start? Ekim was a wonderful host and a super cool person! I met some of her friends upon arrival which was really cool. They were all really nice and we even went out to get Turkish food together. I really enjoyed all of the food and felt very invited and like I was part of the group. I don’t speak Turkish well, but they all helped me so that I could understand what the waiters were saying. It was a great first day.
The apartment is really nice. It’s one of the most beautiful apartments I’ve seen so far. Like honestly, the artwork was AMAZING. Ekim is extremely talented and also very modest when it comes to her art work. She’s extremely talented and it’s very evident throughout her home.
The room itself was very nice and very close. I found that the heating worked very well and I was very warm and comfortable in the room. There’s a desk that faces the sea, so if you work online, you’ll have a good view and plenty of natural sunlight while you work. The wifi was really good in the apartment. I didn’t even experience a single internet outage, which was great because I experienced that in other parts of istanbul which makes working online extremely difficult if you don’t have a local SIM card. None of that happened during my stay at Ekim’s place which was great.
One thing that may be worth noting was that the shower could take a while to drain at times, but I’ve stayed in several places in istanbul and the showers always seemed to take a little longer to drain, so It wasn’t that big of an issue to me.
The area is nice and there’s a McDonald’s and a Migros near
by(Migros is a grocery store). I was able to find everything I needed there which was nice.
The street was very lively and there were quite a few bars in the area which seemed like a lot of fun, but I never got a chance to visit any of them, but they seemed like a lot of fun.
I guess one small thing that I should note is that you can kind of hear the music from the bars through the window of the room, but it was pretty faint and didn’t personally bother me at all, but I know that a lot of people wonder about things like this, so I thought I should mention just in case.
Ekim also shared some of the food that she had prepared and it was AMAZING. Not only is she an amazing artist, but an amazing cook too and I really enjoyed the things that she let me try. It was extremely kind and thoughtful of her and I was extremely thankful!
Ekim is more than just a host. She’s like a friend and I felt very at home in her apartment. Everything felt very clean and organized. She even let me extend, not once, but twice which was extremely nice! I truly appreciated how accommodating she was and would gladly stay there again!