Hello from downtown Istanbul,
where I've just checked in to a $45 a night apartment.
So I'm going to show you guys, what 45 bucks a night
gets you, downtown in this city.
It gets you a sea view for starters.
You're going to see the view in a minute.
You're also going to see the local area.
It's down this little side street here.
You're also going to see yer man maybe go for something to eat.
There's a lot of kebabs and stuff like that around here.
So, should be nice.
So this little grocery shop here,
or mini supermarket, that's where I filled up my fridge
when I checked in a few hours ago.
And maybe this is where I will fill up my belly.
I dunno.
Seems to all be fresh.
It looks like it's pre-made,
but everything seems to have been made recently.
Doesn't it? Look, it's all nice.
Oh, looks authentic and local as well.
Anyway, the apartment is at the end of that street, here.
So these yellow taxis, these are the ones you want to get.
They are the cheapest ones.
That is what I took from the airport to this area.
It was 155 lira.
Maybe like $15, $16 bucks or something like that.
It's a new airport, away on the outside of town.
And this is where I'm staying.
Inside this wee bookshop.
Well, not actually in the bookshop,
but I have to go through the bookshop to go to my apartment.
It's up these stairs.
Hi brother.
Okay, so,
the unique thing about this building is, it has an elevator.
Most old buildings
around here, do not have this feature.
Home sweet home.
So this place is a studio.
So you're talking, wee bathroom and the bedroom.
There's no kitchen in this place.
It's kinda hotel style.
Except the decor,
that's not hotel style, is it? Look.
The brick work,
the paintwork,
the woodwork.
Everything's lovely, isn't it?
Let me get you a better view, from about here.
Oh, the best view is from out on the balcony, though, when I turn this camera around.
But we'll save the best for last.
In fact, maybe this is the best.
Maybe this is the best, here.
Yer man's, oh, Turkish mini bar.
Maybe we'll save that for last.
That is the best.
Lovely, isn't it?
Lovely, this place. We've got the big working desk, there.
Big, massive slab of wood.
This might be the biggest
and nicest working desk
that I've had in any hotel
or apartment,
in a long time.
I can't remember anything better than that.
I mean, look at that.
That's absolutely fantastic.
Not too keen on sitting, looking at myself in the mirror when I
sit and work at my laptop,
although I could cover that up with a towel or something.
But yeah, I'm nice and settled in.
All my clean clothes hanging up.
All of them.
And, yeah, it's just a nice little space.
Let me check out the bathroom.
I have had a shower
and I can say it's very cramped in here.
It's very cramped.
It is a wee space and they've done the best that they can with it.
Also have used this.
And,
yeah, I can tell you it's not that comfortable.
Basically, you have to kinda like stick one of your legs out here,
and another of your legs is kinda pressed against there,
but it is what it is.
If somebody was obese or like, you know, a bit overweight,
they might find it uncomfortable, but
yeah, nice little touches with the seashells and all that.
Even here, the host provided,
amenities with also little seashells.
You know, when you see things like that, you know that some care's been taken.
That the host cares.
Not like the place that I was just staying in last week,
in the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.
The host, apparently owns 17 apartments in that building.
And it's was supposed to be luxury apartments,
but they were all barren.
It was like white walls,
empty spaces, and just like an Ikea bed, just stuck there.
So that's the difference, isn't it?
When you get these, like,
what would you call them?
Commercial Airbnb hosts that just snap up a bunch of units
and turn them all into Airbnbs,
and then you get like this.
I think the lady, this is her one
you know, investment property that she
has as a holiday home, that she rents out.
And it's lovely.
Look at the care that she's taken.
Everything has been thought about.
There's even like,
even when you see little things like this,
Little sticks with little smelly things and stuff like that.
All the little nice touches.
It's lovely.
Little plants and stuff. On the balcony we've got plants as well.
Should we see the view? Should we see the view?
This,
opposite is Galatasaray High School,
and they've got their own wee football pitch there.
Maybe some future
Turkish international football players
practising on there.
And this is the street that I walked down.
You can see, so the pedestrians kind of have to share it with the cars.
Sometimes cars are coming, sometimes not.
There's just a tiny wee path.
You can see there it's enough for one space,
one person,
So, you know,
most of the time you're kinda having to be
walking on the road and dodging the cars.
But nice, yeah, got like little plants, here.
I guess I'm supposed to water these.
I guess I'm supposed to.
I'm here for two weeks, so nobody else is gonna water them.
I don't think anybody else is getting in the apartment.
But, yeah, let's check out the sea view.
I promised you, you will see the sea view
and here it is, right there.
So this, they call it the Golden Horn,
and that feeds into the Bosphorus, there.
And across from it,
it's probably not that obvious.
You're probably getting a worse view than I am, right now, with my own eyes,
with this wide angle lens,
But these are like,
there's like three, there's actually four,
I can see five massive mosques.
there, five massive mosques.
I think one of them's famous.
Maybe it's the Blue Mosque or something like that. I dunno.
But this is nice. I can stand here and watch these boats
go up and down.
They're just constantly going up and down.
Maybe I'll take a trip on one of them.
and do a wee vlog, on a wee boat trip.
That'll be nice.
Aye, but for now,
I think I'm going to go out and explore for some food.
The belly is empty.
Or maybe I should take some food out of this.
The wee supermarket I showed you,
I filled up my fridge, from there, with
Turkish Delights.
Well, not actual Turkish Delights,
but delightful things that are Turkish,
like a wee
Osmo egg,
which is looking like a
Turkish Kinder Surprise Egg.
We've got some
crispy, spicy cracker-y things.
I've got the Turkish Coke Zero.
We've got the
burger?
That looks like a cream pie.
Can't beat a cream pie.
Got the,
the Dido
chocolates.
We've got
Kokonat.
We've got, some kind of honey cake.
Some kinda
I dunno, kinda looks like a pastry with honey in it.
And some kefir.
Kefir's like a probiotic, healthy, yoghurt kinda drink.
So, yeah, keeping it nice and healthy.
Oh aye, I got this as well.
It's called a Kazandibi
and it looks like a wee Turkish milk pudding,
or something like that.
The top of it looks like caramel,
like it's been covered in sugar and then torched,
to finish it off, but,
let's dig in,
and see what it tastes like.
Oh, it's all gooey.
Oh, it's almost like a mochi, you know?
The texture,
those Japanese, kinda, glutinous rice cakes.
Maybe that's what it is.
Maybe it's made from rice flour.
Let's have a wee taste.
Mmm
Oh, wow.
Oh, that's not milk, that's cream.
That's pure, full fat cream
and sugar, and sweet.
And probably it is thickened with rice flour as well.
Oh, that's delicious.
I wasn't expecting that.
I was expecting just your ordinary, kinda like,
milk pudding or something.
Ohhhh.
Mmm
Oh, it's so rich though,
I can't finish this.
I'm gonna have to put this back in the fridge if I want to
preserve some kind of appetite for going out
exploring for food.
Oh, it's tempting though, it is tempting.
Right, half of it,
I'll cut it down the middle.
Ohhh.
I'll cut it down the middle and just eat this bit.
Mmmm
Mmm
There we go.
That's what we call a compromise, guys.