Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

I’m sitting on the upper terrace at Marko’s Prevalis Nature Cottage, a house he completed 4 years ago in which everything is handmade except the couch. When we arrived yesterday Marko greeted us with hugs and warm welcome. We stayed in the unit downstairs 4 years ago. Last year we stayed in his 2  bedroom…

Our drive to Cetinje, the former capital of Montenegro and a place we had never been before, was uneventful. We chose to take the new Chinese built and funded toll road only because it is normally faster and safer than the old road that winds through a long narrow canyon. However we had not realized…

SUNDAY: We were greeted again in the morning with rakija and our choice of peppermint tea, coffee or juice. Breakfast included a stew with pork, eggs with fresh ham, homemade bread and delicious homemade pickled cabbage. I would love to get some of Bojana’s recipes. Later in the morning Mičo invited us to ride with…

SATURDAY: When we emerged from our room Saturday morning Bojana served us Serbian coffee and slatka, a traditional sweet welcoming offering, in this case made from quince and walnuts. For breakfast we had a delicious cheesy macaroni dish, more cheese, more bread, homemade pastry with spinach, tomatoes, cake, and homemade yogurt-milk eaten with a spoon.  After…

FRIDAY: The road from Bajina Bašta to Mojkovac is slow but extravagantly scenic, and the terrain varied.  Most of the way is over and around mountains and hills. Some areas are almost entirely forested with deciduous trees, some largely coniferous, and some are mixed. Some areas are nearly treeless with broad rolling fields of tall…

Wednesday we had a leisurely morning at home. Our hosts were away for the day celebrating an Orthodox holiday (of which there are many!). It was cool and foggy when we woke as it has been every morning but by 10 or so the skies cleared and we had another sunny day with temps in…

I’m sitting on the balcony at our apartment (Janovič) on the edge of Bajina Bašta just a hundred meters from the Drina river and the border crossing into Bosnia. It is chilly and damp from the low mist and fog but it’s predicted to be warm and sunny again today. A dog is making mournful…

We left the dirty house in Kruševac at about 10:30 and drove north on the little road on the west side of the Morava River for about 20 minutes until we reached the collection of houses that calls itself the village of Mrzenica. Artist Zoran Andjelovic was waiting for us in his old blue Renault…

Since we didn’t want to spend another night in our dirty apartment we booked a place for one night up the road about 45 minutes closer to our following destination. After I booked I realized it was a studio, not a one bedroom place. Because I’m a restless poor sleeper and Jim can be a…

We packed the car in Niš but before getting into the fray of traffic we paused to map out our directions on the phone, but Google maps was not responding. We were puzzled and hoped once we got into a different neighborhood the map would show up again. I was a little concerned that our…