Now it has become their second home. Members of Koha Ditore's banished staff can be found here, along with Albanian poets, painters, actors and musicians who have fled their homes. When night comes, the cafe fills up, with tables outside and near the sidewalk prized the most. The menu is in Albanian, of course, but there are copies available in German, Macedonian and English. Grilled lungs can be ordered here, as well as the Albanian cognac Skenderbeu, named after a legendary Albanian freedom fighter.
Albanian music plays on the intercom.
Conversations are hushed. People are aware of who is sitting nearby. Even before the bombing, this was a place people would come. Before, it was tourists. We are busier now, a little busier, but now you see the soldiers and the journalists.