New hangout places around Prishtina display elaborate statues. These statues, depicting human and ancient deities, in various déshabillé states, with wings or spine-chilling weapons, are popping up a lot lately. They seem to be the en-vogue thing. So I have devised a game of my own: on a makeshift map of favourite bars and restaurants, I highlight the ones with statues to collect “swanky points”. You can collect those points too, and I will tell you where to start.

The tree-lined central street in Prishtina that goes by its unofficial name “small cafes street” is a favorite hangout area. Other than the trees and the blackbirds flocking on the branches, it boasts some of the city’s most attractive clubs, cafes, and restaurants. A recent addition to its ever-changing style and offer is Maya lounge bar. A copse of plastic mock-up trees swathed in subtle psychedelic lights at night half-covers three larger-than-your-usual-Kosovo-guy statues of ancient Mayan gods. Sculpted in minutiae features, I see in them a chieftain, a warrior, and a healer. The wall where the sculptures rest gives off the feeling it is a portal to another time and place, to another dimension, where the gods of old walk the Earth among us, the mortals. I love to have a weekly vodka sour or mojito at Maya, in the company of the three silent deities.