The main square and the streets immediately south of it hold a string of espresso bars and kafanas that operate on the Macedonian café model: open from early morning for thick Turkish-style coffee and burek, busy at noon with workers on lunch breaks, and then busy again from five in the afternoon until late. The pace is unhurried and the expectation is that you will stay a while.
Macedonian kafanas have a different energy from the café-bar hybrids further west — they are social spaces where conversations go on for hours, local rakia appears without being ordered, and the television in the corner is usually showing football or the news simultaneously. Order a macchiato or a domaća kafa (home-style coffee) and join the slow rhythm of the afternoon.