Elegance and high quality with breezy sea views

We've been busy, building up a collection of lovely historical apartments in Galata, our favourite part of Istanbul. We've personally renovated most of them and stay in them ourselves whenever we can. Recently we've added a sweet flat in the UK's Cotswolds into the mix.

20 years ago we met in Istanbul, Tarkan's home city, while I was there for a photography assignment. Since then we've led international lives together, based in Istanbul, Singapore and now England, my original country.

Along the way we've raised our son, Eren, across the cultures as we've steadily grown this holiday apartment project, our second baby. We see it as a way to find balance in our family life and to always have a home in our best-loved city.

We understand from our own experiences, what makes a great city-break stay and we try our very hardest to deliver it to you in Istanbul. For this we've won i-escape's global Guest Award for 'Best City Apartment' two years running and Tripadvisor's Certificate of Excellence each year from from 2016 to 2021 (2022 isn’t announced yet!)

We’re also listed in many guidebooks.

Your questions and booking will be handled by us. On your arrival our manager Taskin and friendly team with their natural Turkish hospitality, will welcome you to your apartment, pass over your keys and explain practicalities and the neighborhood. You'll have as much or as little help as you choose and we're sure you'll soon feel at home in the cosmopolitan and very welcoming local community.

"Life is a balance of holding on and letting go" said Rumi.
We agree, do you?!

Will your stay with us make a difference? We hope so…

By self-catering right in the local community you’ll quickly become part of it, financially supporting small grocery shops and other family businesses. You’ll soon make relationships with these friendly people and develop a genuine understanding of the culture around you. We’re sure you’ll leave with special memories and more developed perspectives as a result of your encounters.

For each confirmed booking we arrange a tree to be planted in Turkey (via TEMA) to offset part of the carbon dioxide emission from the resulting flight. We encourage you to plant more trees: easily arranged during online booking.

We use local maintenance and cleaning services for the apartments and in this way we provide a good income for 2 families who lives nearby.
We do everything we can to preserve all the original features and materials in the apartments. Where new materials are needed we source them locally, prioritising products that are designed and/or made in Turkey.

Our apartments are uniquely situated amongst mosques, churches, synagogues, a mevlevi ‘whirling dervish’ hall and other sites of religious significance. We encourage guests to sense the history of religious tolerance and hopefully! to experience something of it themselves during their stay.