You don’t set your foot in it by chance, but only when provoked by a strong desire, or very often by alcoholic impulse. It’s a place where the intelligence gathered, where the most beautiful songs and poems were written, where numerous negotiations were concluded, from marriages and multi-million dealings, to drawing up national borders and making decisions about entering a war. Kafana! A mixture of a bar, café, and a restaurant, kafana is a distinctive phenomenon of Serbia and Belgrade as its part. The first kafanas were opened in the city of Meka in the 15th century, but the first one in Europe was opened by the Turks in 1522 in a building in Dorcol, nowadays one of the prettiest Belgrade neighbourhoods. Not until three decades later, contemporary Istanbul gets its first kafanas, whereas London, Marseilles, and Vienna get their own only after a hundred years or more. By the end of the 19th century, Belgrade had one kafana on every fifty habitants. Kafana has its own unofficial definition which says: "It is a traditional Serbian memorial, a place of great fun and even better rakija ( Serbian brandy ), a place where people go inside not knowing anyone, and walk out with four best men!"

Kafana "Albanija" ("Albania")

Together with the clock that stood in front of it, it was for decades the centre of assembling of Belgrade bohemians and passerbys. Very ordinary in appearance, the house that had depicted the object of ridicule was "Eldorado for all renters", as one great Serbian writer described it. It was a meeting place of various social layers, from personnel to road sweepers. In 1940 the first Serbian skyscraper was built at the very place, inheriting the name of the old kafana.

Kafana "Znak pitanja" ("A question mark")

It is placed in the one of the oldest houses in Belgrade which was built in 1823 by a merchant who opened a kafana in the house groundfloor. Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic , the maker of the contemporary Serbian language, is mentioned as the most famous guest at the second half of the 19th century. Having changed a few owners, in 1885 it was bought by a merchant who called it "Kod Saborne crkve" ( "At the Orthodox cathedral" ). The name caused priests’ revolt, so the owner had to change the name. He temporarily put a question mark above the door which should have been there until a new name was worked out. After 125 years, that question mark still stands above the kafana’s entrance, which name bears even today.

The first good morning you usually hear is from Dragan and Gorica via very popular radio station B92. They are in front of their microphones already at 6 AM while you are trying to understand how is even possible that someone is in such a good mood and full of energy that early in the morning. Buses are quite filled at 7.30 AM, so you can see bunch of people with earphones on. Great majority of them is listening to Dizanje ( Getting up ), the most popular radio show in Belgrade. If you hear someone laughing, you will probably turn around and ask yourself: " Why are they laughing if travelling alone and not talking to anyone? Perhaps they’re mad? Or maybe they’re just listening to Dizanje? "

I took a short look at my watch and it was a quarter to 11. " Guys, we’ve got 15 more minutes till our next class ", I said out loud, but it was a clear sign that we should order more coffee. Next time I took a look at my watch it was half past 11. We shrugged our shoulders and stayed the whole day at the café shop vis-a-vis our faculty. This is how an average student's day in Belgrade looks like. Every faculty has its own canteen or a café shop nearby, which are supposed to have a practical purpose – to drink a coffee in the pause between two classes, or to eat something and go back to your academical duties. Still, this rule is often being broken and it is the faculty where we drop in between drinking two coffees. The atmosphere at Klub studenata tehnike or KST ( The electrical engeneering students’ club ), Piramida ( The Pyramid ) at the Faculty of Philology, CK at the Faculty of Political Sciences or at the The Faculty of Dramatic Arts canteen is indescribable. Just as one professor once wrote: How to explain the taste of chocolate to a man who had never tasted chocolate in his life?

Belgrade is the only place in the world where the café shops in the city centre are bursting at the seams during the work days between 9 AM and 5 PM, i.e. working hours. That picture would not be so strange if all those people were tourists. However, it is the generation of healthy people able to work, which are still doing nothing, and yet have enough money to drink the most expensive drinks at the most pricey places. The question keeps showing – where are they getting the money? – but for now there is no answer. During day, jam is especially present in traffic. Because our city has no subway, arriving from a point A to a point B sometimes requires a half an hour, sometimes even a whole hour, and sometimes even more. If you are meeting with your friends, girlfriend or boyfriend at the Republic Square at 4 PM, don’t be furious if they’re late, although is very possible that you’re going to be late, too. One way or another, you are going to meet on time, but not on the agreed one

We got home at 6 AM. There was again this guy that I met last time, it’s just that then they played live rock’n’roll, and now just some D’n’B was on – you’re going to think that the girl is talking about some of the numerous Belgrade nightclubs or float-boats, but she is actually talking about her night spent at the Palace park. Just like in any other club, in the summertime in this park gathers a big number of young people, and they talk, make out, sing and play some instruments. Sometimes it is so cramped, that you have to break through to the bench where your friends are sitting, but is not the rare case to meet them a few hours later because you came across or met someone new. It is very alive out there. We supply ourselves with drinks and snacks from the nearby shops, and that’s why we are able to drink a lot more with the money we possess than we could in any nightclub. Surrounded with many people, music and warm summer night, some catch dawn in the Palace, while others move to one of the clubs.

Noise, crowd, various smells and scents are the characteristic of the meeting place of doctors, farmers, lawyers, drivers, professors, auto mechanics, apprentices, managers, workers, secretaries and craftsmen. In the 90s, its main activity was the resale of foreign currencies and subscription tickets for public transport, and today it smells of the fruit, vegetables, and some unbathed citizen. Kajmak ( the one made by peasants and incomparable with any other type of cheese ), slanina ( which when translated word-by-word makes foreigners think of something completely different from our slanina ), paprika ( the main ingredient of the traditional Serbian meal called ajvar ) are just some of the things you can find at our markets.