stay!istanbul is a small Turkish-British family project. Julia and Tarkan (with Eren, our 10 year-old son) used to live in Istanbul then Singapore and are now balancing life between Istanbul and England.
Your questions and booking will be handled by us and then, in Istanbul, Tarkan’s family will welcome you to your apartment, give you the keys and explain about practicalities and the neighbourhood.
We’re all always happy to help and only a phone call/email away if you need us. You can contact us any time by emailing [email protected] or by calling +44 1905 386465.
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 people (they’re very friendly!) 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.
Do you like our project and want to tell others?
We’d love if you can spread the word about us. There are social media buttons that you can click at the bottom of every page and if you have your own website or blog you can link to ours as well: thank you.
