July

Summer is the time of the year when Skopje is getting empty. Some people go on long-awaited holidays, students are free from school and come back to their hometowns, or go abroad to work. Some others just seek to escape the hot concrete city. A lot of places, like restaurants, cafés, bars, close for long weeks. And it is difficult to imagine that a new place will come to life in this very period. And the reason is exactly – not a big crowd waiting for the door to be opened.

It was very rare, even for me, with the end of July to discover a new place on the map of Skopje. Spacious, colorful, with a dominance of lush green (the garden does the job), with benches and tables made of wooden pallets. Before entering the yard, one word – Melentie – catches the attention. To me, a word just as strange as it is beautiful.

Café Melentie, located in the city centre, yet far from street noise, is my biggest summer discovery. The heart of it is a fig tree spreading its branches over the café’s yard. Big enough to give the much needed shade in the hot summer peak.

I met Melentie’s owner, Ivan, the first day I came. He has been working in the cafe-bars for 17 years. And it was not strange to him at all that I asked for a double espresso with a tint of milk on the side. (Usually, people can hardly understand why I am not fond of a foamy coffee.) My second question was about the name of the place. Ivan’s grand-grandpa was named Melentie, and he just liked the way it sounds. The name itself is rare and originates from the ancient Greek, meaning “caring”. I looked around the yard. “Perfect name”, I thought.

The fig tree dominates the space. It is full of fruits that are slowly starting to get colors. It means that soon they will be ripe, but they already spread a sweet scent above our heads. I can’t believe that the tree stayed untouched like this and is so healthy. Recently, Skopje was touched by a storm that put down a lot of trees throughout the city. The storm also made a decent amount of rooftops and other materials whirling around, wrecking chaos. In general, it caused a lot of damage and the consequences were still visible everywhere. And this fig tree was just there, striving. “Fig and walnut are one of the strongest trees to be”, said my friend. Thank the heavens, I couldn’t imagine this yard without the fig tree.

The next visits in Melentie were opportunities for more conversations with Ivan. But these visits were also deep breaths taken in the middle of the hot summer in the city. Because August was just about to show how hot it can get…

August

It’s August 6th. Today Melentie is exactly one-month-old. But how old is the fig tree? Ivan says that it’s more than 30. And the house where the café is located is from 1929. Almost a hundred years old. It means that it survived the big earthquake in Skopje in 1963. (And the yard survived the recent great storm in July. The fig tree untouched.)

For now, Melentie offers space outside. Ivan is still building, renovating and decorating the interior in the house. He does everything on his own. Today, he showed me the shank he made. Solid work. He says that he grew up in a house with a yard. He is used to doing things on his own. When he moved to the city, it was natural for him that his coffee place needed to be in exactly such a house with a yard.

We go outside and I am admiring plants I can’t even name. I do recognize basil among them. And lavender. Ivan studied agriculture and he planted them. Everything has a purpose. The fig tree soon will give very sweet fruits and that’s what attracts a lot of different insects. The plants underneath are there to repel them. In the yard there are also quince and Japanese apple trees. For the next warm season coming, Ivan wants to plant tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries… That would attract not only insects, but more people too. Me being first in a row to steal some raspberries from a bush. (Just joking here). But now, Ivan focuses on preparing inside. While the yard is welcoming in the summer, the cosy interior will do the job for the winter.

I am looking at the cats running around the yard. Ivan invites them in with delicious snacks. One of them reminds me of ladybug, despite the fact that obviously not being red with black dots but black and white.

Late-August

I am having a coffee with a friend. We are discussing a book by a Polish author that we both recently read. Me in original, him in  English. It feels like Melentie is the audience of our conversation. A lady sitting next to us asks about the book title. Probably fascinated by us being so enthusiastic. We both imagine Janina Duszejko, the character from the book, being a guest in Melentie. She would love it. The herbs, the plants, the cats running around. Even the fig without its fruit is still stunning. Yes, I missed the moment when the figs were ready to eat and bombarded the yard falling. “It was chaos”, Ivan says. He gave most of the fruits to family and friends. And birds. The figs were also a nice side dish for all the coffees and cocktails drunk in the past few weeks. Highlighting the refreshing cocktails. Ivan mastered mojitos. It is my summer favorite.

“August afternoons already smell of autumn”, a quote from the other Polish author says. Maybe in Poland, but not in Skopje. It is still so hot here.

September

Summer never ends. But Melentie changes so much. Inside, there is already a cosy room with boardgames in the corner. Ivan is in the middle of the “workshop”. He is showing me tiny balls that he is making from clay. Inside, he is putting the calendula seeds. These will be perfect gifts for people who want to plant something in their gardens.

We are brainstorming what we can do to capture more warm moments in the yard before the cold comes. “Don’t worry, there is still October”, Ivan is laughing. Maybe we can do some collective ajvar-making? While the fig tree is sending its last scents to our noses, the smell of peppers is slowly spreading.

Soon summer will be slowly pushed away by autumn. And the fig tree will change its colors. It is going to be another season to remember. Sometimes in the yard, sometimes in the cosiness of inside. But in Melentie.

Ewelina Chańska