Yesterday I went to a traditional Turkish Kiraathanesi Called Gönül. This time with another flatmate of me, who explained me that the word Kiraathanesi means something like 'a place to read'.
When I entered the place it was already 11 pm., but the place was still very crowded with many people who were playing enthusiastically their games.
The owner of the place invited us to a table with him.
He took his time to answer my questions. I asked him for example why there are no women in places like this. He said that it's not common for women to come here. This place is more like a men's club, where they can speak out loud about there work and home situation. Women are not really forbidden to enter, but it's just not happening. This culture of meetings for men dates back from the Ottoman's time and is until now one of the Turkish traditions.
The men in the bar play many different games such as Tavla (Backgammon) and Okey (in Belgium known as Rumikub). The owner noticed that most of the time, the loser of the game has to pay the bill. In real those losers are most of the time in debt with the owner. But because they all know each other, it's not a big deal.
After this explanations it was time to take some pictures. The owner proudly showed every corner of his bar.
And everybody in the place wanted to be on the picture. 
He also putted my attention on his snack bar, because that's very exclusive in bars like this.
At the end I realised that this bar isn't quiet different from the bar for homeless people. It's just the same concept and also the people looked the same for me. So I wonder why their has to be a place for homeless people apart from the traditional Kiraathanesi.
I finished my (free) drink and went home to sleep.
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