Pasha Place Apartment – Living In Istanbul On A City Break

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Over a few posts in the next couple of weeks, we want to take you on a little tour of a particular corner of Istanbul; Galata…

Galata is an area we’ve always liked, but it’s a neighbourhood that we’ve really come to love over the last few days, purely because we’ve got to know it a little better…

Staying In Istanbul – A City Break With Istanbul Place Apartments

And who is going to enjoy this little tour we’re doing? Well, hopefully, all of you reading this, but…

• If you’re curious about Istanbul, yeah, you might like it.
• If you’re pondering somewhere to stay the next time you visit Istanbul, yeah, you might like it.
• If you have a bit of a thing (obsession) with older properties that have been refurbished and decorated in keeping with how you think things ought to be, ohhh, then you might wanna keep reading…

Because we’ve just been staying in Istanbul at one of these properties. And, you know us; throughout this little tour, there’s gonna be Galata street food and a few bits of daily life thrown in, too.

This week, we were in Istanbul – and, for us, we’ve had our best stay for a long, long time.

We can’t compare it to our first visit ever…if you’re anything like us, your first time staying in Istanbul will always something standalone, truly special…but this time was different.

You live and learn with cities – they can be frustrating, challenging, rewarding and amazing places, all thrown into a mix of a few days.

Each time you dip into them, you can get any or all of that mix. But, at the beginning and end of each day, you end up at the place where you are staying; and hopefully, this is your little comforting haven.

We stayed in Pasha Place apartment, this time. This was our (not little, at all) comforting haven.

It’s the place that has given us a deeper feel for Galata. And it’s also the place that’s given us an appetite-whetting curiosity for seeing more of the insides of the buildings we love around this area.

For a few (too short) days, we ‘lived’ in an apartment (Pasha Place) on one of the floors of one of the high, elegant 19th century buildings that are such a feature of Galata – and we don’t mind telling you, we were in our little gushy element for every day we were there.

Istanbul Place Apartments are married couple, Julia and Tarkan, and we’ve followed each other online, via various social media outlets, for quite a while, chatting and saying, ‘we must meet for a drink sometime,’ and such like.

When they saw we were heading to Istanbul for the Istanbul Half Marathon, they offered us a great deal to stay in one of their places if there was a vacancy… Errrm, yes please. We’re there!

They knew we had somewhere to stay if this vacancy didn’t happen but – thank you, amazing-accommodation-gods – the vacancy was confirmed on the morning of the night we were due to set off.

This area of Istanbul – the area that is now Beyoğlu – is on the European side of the city.

In places, it enjoys views of the joining of the Golden Horn with the Bosphorus, it overlooks world famous sights such as Topkapı Palace, Sultanahmet Camii (the Blue Mosque) and Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia).

Our Pasha Place apartment, enjoyed all of these views!

Just perfect! What on earth were we doing staying here? But we were here! And, aside from the views, what is also a joy is the decor of these buildings.

When we first saw them online, we loved Istanbul Place apartments because of the decor we saw in the photos for each dwelling.

It fits, it’s sympathetic yet modern, they use local tradesmen and labourers to support the local community. Those tradesmen work with the original fittings where possible, and sometimes return fixtures to their rightful place.

As for decor, we met Tarkan a couple of times while we were staying in Istanbul, and we were full of questions for him. One was about the interior decor and design – and that’s down to his wife, Julia.

Again, all furniture is locally sourced from dealers around Istanbul; it’s a mixture that all fits together beautifully in each apartment.

In our apartment, it was antique and modern in a huge space – and all of that is mixed with wonderfully high ceilings, entrances with double doors, original wooden flooring, ornately tiled entrance/dining area, huge sash windows…and through those sash windows; those views, those views…

But, for us, apart from relishing in the sheer beauty and height of the rooms we were in; wow! how we slept – so comfortable, nestled in our crisp cotton bedding.

When we brought wine and beer home on the first night (we were too tired to go out anywhere), we both suddenly said, “Oh no. Bet there’s no bottle opener.”

So many times we’ve stayed somewhere in the past when this has happened. But not on this occasion.

There was everything we needed or could think of – including a cafetiere and even a cezve for making Turkish coffee.

In the lounge of our Pasha Place apartment was a small breakfast table situated in the bay window area.

This overlooks all the views you can see in the photo slideshow, and we’d use it for breakfast and drinks. As well as that, it became Barry’s laptop area.

My laptop area became the sofa. Funny how you automatically start to feel at home and unconsciously find your own little ‘me space’…even if it’s only for a few days.

Istanbul Place Apartments – Useful Information

• As well as working with local tradespeople and sourcing local furniture, Istanbul!Place also like to offset their carbon footprint. For each confirmed booking, they plant a tree. You can read more about this in the About Istanbul Place page.
• Pasha Place apartments is in the Galata neighbourhood of Beyoğlu in Istanbul.
• It comfortably sleeps 6 people – 2 double bedrooms and one twin bedroom.
• The Galata neighbourhood is host to local grocery shops, butchers and street traders where you can buy goods from for eating in the apartment, as well as restaurants and bars etc, should you fancy a night out. The people behind Istanbul Place apartments are very keen supporters of the local community.
• All photos in the slideshow were taken by us while we were staying at Pasha Place apartment. The outside views are taken from the bay window in the lounge. 2 of the bedrooms enjoy similar views.
• As well as Pasha Place apartment, Tarkan and Julia also have several other holiday apartments in the area. If you want to view some now, check availability or book, click here to Book An Apartment With Istanbul Place apartments.
• We loved staying in Istanbul this visit and will definitely book with Istanbul Place apartments again next time we do a stint in Istanbul.
• And finally, thank you so much to Tarkan and Julia for looking after us both in person and online. It made our stay special!

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