Istanbul: The Stay

If you've been keeping up with the blog or following on Facebook, you know Will and I have recently spent some time in Istanbul.  After a completely unforgettable trip, I've got lots of pictures, tips, and adventures to share.  I'll try to intermingle the traditional Acrylics and Icing topics (home reno, DIYs, recipes, pug goodness, etc.) with the travel posts for a while to keep everyone from getting bored... but just a warning, expect some "Turkish Delight", if you will, over the next few weeks :)

To begin: Where we crashed.  After discovering www.Airbnb.com a few years ago, we haven't strayed.  It's a great resource for unique stays in fantastic locations without the hotel cost.  If you remember from our New York trip, we used Airbnb.com to find an apartment for the long weekend.  The same applied to Istanbul.  

We tracked down the perfect studio overlooking Galata Tower in the New Town of Istanbul, and couldn't have asked for a better setting.  We paid less than $100/night to be near a number of attractions, feel like we were locals (there's nothing greater than pulling out your apartment key when other tourists are reaching for their plastic Hilton keys), and living only a couple of stories above a kebab stand that remains open until the wee hours of the morning.  And by "wee hours", I mean, we never went to sleep before the kebab stand.  Helloooo midnight snack!

We've had a lot of people ask about how safe Airbnb actually is.  Although terrible things can happen no matter where you go, Airbnb attempts to make the home-renting experience as safe as possible.  For example, previous residents of Airbnb apartments can review the listings to discuss their stays.  Will and I have never stayed in an apartment that had not already been reviewed multiple times.  This ensured that we weren't the first to check out the place.

Browse the site.  I can't emphasize how much more meaningful our travels have been using listings from www.Airbnb.com (and while it may seem like it, this posting has no endorsements from the site).  

Check out our place...

This is the view from the Galata Tower.

This is our view from the apartment, of the Galata Tower.

Tiny, but ultra functional.

Will, attempting to figure out the tiny washer.

The mosque near our apartment.  The "call to prayer" could be heard here multiple times daily (as holds true for all mosques in the country),  including at 5:30 AM.  Despite being woken at such an early hour, I must admit it was a pretty incredible experience.  You'll see video of that later :)

Checking out the view upon our arrival.

Happy?  Yes, happy.

Window view.

Nighttime window view.

Morning window view.

More trip details to come :)