Monterey and especially its neighbor Carmel are my favorite places to be in the world. Everyone has their favorite beach but I could spend days sitting on Carmel river beach, carmel beach, or asilomar.
Istanbul is the craziest traffic I have ever seen, I would never want to drive there. I'd recommend getting taxis to get where you need to go, they are pretty cheap and abundant. Most of the major sites are concentrated in one area that is pedestrianlized.