Minoa from the main street

©Jennifer Hattam/Lonely Planet

Minoa

The Bosphorus Suburbs


Big windows, warm brick accents, and colourful tiles make this cafe-bookstore a welcoming place to linger over a coffee and cake, a sandwich or salad, or perhaps a glass of wine and a cheese plate. The books and magazines for sale include a well-selected range in Turkish and English, with a focus on fiction, food, design and art.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The Bosphorus Suburbs attractions

1. Palace Collections Museum

0.2 MILES

Occupying the warehouse-like Dolmabahçe Palace kitchens, this museum exhibits items used in the royal palaces and pavilions during the late Ottoman Empire…

2. National Palaces Painting Museum

0.23 MILES

The Veliaht Dairesi (Apartments of the Crown Prince) in Dolmabahçe Palace are now home to the palace's collection of paintings. Highlights include the…

3. Beşiktaş Çarşı

0.26 MILES

The beating heart of Beşiktaş, this bustling backstreet area packed with shops, restaurants, bars, cafes – and the neighbourhood’s youthful crowd – is…

4. Dolmabahçe Palace

0.26 MILES

These days it’s fashionable for architects and critics influenced by the less-is-more aesthetic of Bauhaus masters to sneer at buildings such as…

5. İstanbul Naval Museum

0.29 MILES

Established over a century ago to celebrate and commemorate Turkish naval history, this museum's architecturally noteworthy copper-clad exhibition hall…

6. Tomb of Barbarossa

0.29 MILES

In the square opposite the İstanbul Naval Museum is this Sinan-designed tomb of the admiral of Süleyman the Magnificent's fleet, Barbaros Heyrettin Paşa …

7. Maçka Park

0.41 MILES

On a sunny weekend afternoon, you’ll find this slender green oasis in central İstanbul full of picnicking families, canoodling couples and slackline…

8. Çırağan Palace

0.76 MILES

Not satisfied with the architectural exertions of his predecessor at Dolmabahçe Palace, Sultan Abdül Aziz (r 1861–76) built his own grand residence at…