Gourmet Coffee

The cafenets of Constantinople and Damascus were the prototypes of the great Western coffee houses. Simple and comfortable with prints and rugs decorating the walls they were located in cool pleasant open squares, often with a view onto a water way or landscape. These represented a welcome refuge from the scorching desert. Friends met there to talk and contemplate life. Backgammon and chess were played in coffee houses and it is said the game of bridge originated in the coffee houses of Constantinople.