Our apartment is on the 2nd floor of a grand and elegant 19th century building very close to Galata Tower. It's stylish, spacious, graceful and airy, with stunning views right across the Golden Horn from the shared roof terrace a few floors up.

We also offer a selection of 'experiences' with our local guides, to help you build your own genuine and memorable perspective on the city.

Our apartment is on the second floor - two flights of original marble stairs - of a grand and elegant 19th century building very near to Galata Tower. The building entrance is on a characterful cobbled street, packed with intriguing boutiques and cafés. A few floors up on the roof-top, a shared terrace has gorgeous views across Golden Horn to the Old City.

It's about 3 minutes walk to Sishane metro station, less than 5 minutes walk to Tünel funicular and a short downhill walk to connect with the tram for Sultanahmet. Famous Istiklal Avenue is less than 10 minutes walk up the hill.

The four bedrooms are stylish: three doubles and one twin, each with chic velvet headboards and high quality crisp white linens. The bedrooms are arranged around a large central hall with seating and coat storage. The comfortable living room is very spacious and light, with a newly-upholstered vintage sofa and chairs, feather cushions and antique pieces. A double doorway leads into a separate dining room with a large oval dining table and chairs. The kitchen is chic and well-equipped with high-end appliances including dish-washer. The smart shower room is large, with a long marble counter-top and roomy shower. Original dark wooden floorboards give a warm feel and all doors are elegant dark wood originals, adding lots of character. The ceilings are extremely high giving a relaxing sense of space.

This apartment is a very big 130 m2 in total, serene and restful with lovely high ceilings and a quiet, solid grace. The bedrooms comfortably accommodate six people and a seventh/child on a fold-out bed in the living room is possible.

Guests will have the complete privacy of the entire apartment.

The roof terrace, shared with all apartments in the building, is available for your careful use at any time.

This is a small Turkish-British family project. Julia and Tarkan used to live in Istanbul then Singapore and are now balancing life between England and Istanbul. If we're in Istanbul during your stay we'd love to meet you.

Your questions and booking will be handled by us wherever we are. When you arrive in Istanbul Tarkan's wonderful family and/or our friendly team will welcome you to your apartment, give you the keys and explain about practicalities and the neighbourhoods.

We'll all help you as much as you need and we're only a phone call or email away.

Galata has a genuine, very welcoming and diverse community with an intriguing mix of cafes, restaurants, small grocery shops and artistic boutiques. Elegant 19th Century buildings line cobbled streets, with discoveries waiting around every corner. No matter where you wander, you'll always find your way back to Galata Tower, which has been a well-loved landmark for the last 700 years.

Metro, bus, tram and ferry stops are all only a couple of minutes' walk away. You can be in Sultanahmet (for the big sights of Ayasofya, Topkapı, Blue Mosque etc.) in about 12 minutes by public transport or 20 minutes on foot. In the other direction, by Metro, you can be in Şişli (for Istanbul's biggest shopping mall) in 10 minutes or Levent (for Istanbul's business district) in 15 minutes.

There are many taxi ranks around and some secure car parks too.

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.