Honestly, Serbia is probably the last place you'd expect to hear the call to prayer echoing through the streets and see women in headscarves everywhere.

But Novi Pazar shatters all those stereotypes. Most of the residents here are Bosnian Muslims. I mean, I saw fewer women wearing headscarves in Beirut than I do here.

And Ramadan? It's impossible to miss. At sunset, a loud cannon blast announces to everyone that it's time to break the fast for the day.

By that point, restaurants are packed with people ready to eat. For a restaurant, serving food to a completely full dining room all at once is quite the challenge. So they get creative with set menus—each customer picks a combo they like. Otherwise, there's no way to keep up. I even saw some places that shifted their schedule to evenings: they operate from 3 PM to 2 AM.

When I was heading up the stairs to my Airbnb, I noticed something interesting—there were shoes sitting right on the landings outside people's doors. And when my host showed me the apartment, he took off his shoes before crossing the threshold. I was curious, so I peeked into a couple of the neighboring entrances. Same thing there too!