MPJ

I have no sailor material in me. At all. I don't mean qualified skills that are fascinating and easily acquired through study and experience. I mean literally and physically, my body is simply not built for the navy. I realized that when I entered those 4D/5D theaters for the first (and the last) time, about dozens of years ago. I remember anxiously waiting for that sophisticated motion ride system built into movie theater seats to come to my city, and when it finally arrived, I was among the first in the tickets line... And I was first to get out of the small theater with a terrible motion sickness thundering throughout my entire body. I should have guessed what was going to happen after seeing the title of the short film had the word "rollercoaster" in it. I fully recovered more than 24 hours later. After that, I never stepped into any movie theater with more than 3D label on its front gate. Sometimes even in those I check if the chair is fixed solid.

To be honest, I knew the outcome would be like this because it has happened to me many times at sea during summer vacations, and every time I promised myself the dancing boat floors will never see my foot again. However, in my case, it's just that all those self-promises are easy to reject when new experiences and adventures knock on the front door. In that spirit, when my good friend Lasse, the head of Rackpeople, one of the leading IT company in Copenhagen, asked me to join the cruise around Saronic Islands this May in Greece, without thinking I said yes. How could I say no to seeing all the wonders of the Saronic Gulf, it's crystal blue waters, the amazing history of Ancient Greece and the place where Themistocles' outmatched fleet defeated the forces of King Xerxes and drove the Persian army back to Asia never to try again to conquer the Greek mainland.


The cruise started on the island of Hydra. I boarded a catamaran yacht, medium sized but impressive in every way. Fortunately for me, the first two days of the cruise passed with extremely calm seas and enjoyable spring weather, which is usual for Saronic Gulf in this time of the year. As for the island itself, two things immediately caught my eye. The residential area is so compact that there is simply no room for any type of motor vehicles, and by law, cars and motorcycles are not allowed (except for garbage trucks). To travel outside the port town, the only means are horses, mules, donkeys and water taxis. The second site was bastions on the port entrance with lots of cannons still pointing toward the sea. They originated from the 18th century in order to protect the island from assault by the Ottoman fleet and pirates during the Greek war for independence.

At first, I thought that the island's name is connected to the legendary myth of Lernaean Hydra, the multi headed water monster who was slayed by Heracles in his second labor, but unfortunately, very little is known about ancient times of the island. The name in Greek is simply derived from the word "water" (ὕδρα). Although, in classical Greece, Lerna was a region of springs and a former lake near the east coast of the Peloponnesus, which is close to the island of Hydra, just across the strait and in ancient myths represented as one of the entrances to the Underworld.


The next destination and where we spent the first night was the well known tourist destination, the island of Poros. It lies on the other side of Argolis, the eastern part of the region of Peloponnese, where it acts as a Saronic Gulf's southern arm. The Poros' main port is separated from the Peloponnese only by a 200m wide sea channel, and my main impression in the morning was that poor little ferry, which is breaking the perfect silence connecting Poros with the town of Galatas across the strait every half an hour. Sometimes carrying only couple of people across. I'm sure a future bridge would be something worth building.

Fortunately, and I mean it when I say it out loud, we had ex-Royal Danish Navy sailors at the helm of every boat. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have running exercises in the morning, and if we hadn't had a morning run, we wouldn't have passed through the phenomenal narrow streets of the small town that stretches through the entire hillside by the marina. Running (and sometimes walking while catching our breath) down and up the small streets and countless stairs from the harbor to the famous clock tower, made me think and better understand the life in such small towns where you can feel the ease of living life to the fullest.


The next day was absolutely the best one on the cruise. It started with the sailing competition between the two boats. In the best spirit of the teambuilding activity we competed in sailing between Poros marine and the Moni island, the strange islet in the middle of Saronic Gulf, that absolutely hates humans, but lets get back to that later. One would think shutting the engines down and sail to speed of, in some occasions less than one nautical mile per hour and sail only by using maps, compass and wind arrow is ridiculous but it is complete opposite. It requires full team effort and cooperation, just like in tech companies and it was one amazing experience. From the navigation part, through speed and time tracking, steering the ship and hard work with two sails, everything had to be synchronized and precise and when inexperienced IT people do it, the result is exceptional and filled with all possible sailing phases, from challenges in understanding the basics of sailing and navigation to all the comical moments we went through but also all those proud moments when you realize you've done something right.

As for the Moni island, half of it is rocky and barren, but what was most interesting was its other half. The only inhabitants of that part are a family of wild peacocks, deer, wild goats including Cretan Ibexes and of course many squirrels. Humans are limited to the only seasonal beach accessed only by sea, included us that day. The animals are not afraid of humans and wandered free even on the skirts of the forests where ruins of human's tryouts to inhabit the Moni are visible all over. The old men of Aegina island across the bay tells various stories about the history of the island that always include curses, inexplicable destructions, three fires, and an ongoing struggle between the divine forces and human stubbornness. Telling in whisper, they say that always when people tried to inhabit the island, no matter if that was in Byzantine period when they tried to turn the island into a dairy farm or during the 1970s, when the island served as an organized camping spot, it always ended in large fires that devastated the little isle to the full.


But, the sightseeing of the Moni, after the cruise competition wasn't the end of the day. It continued with one amazing lecture given by Erik, the second ship captain about leadership, relations between competence and confidence among team members and all the connections between tech companies and sailing. The epilogue of the competition itself was unclear and ultimately not important, what was matter the most is great spirit and team building closure which ended in singing popular songs led by the first ship captain Lasse, who surprised us all with his musical talent which was not left unrewarded even by the people on the neighboring yachts with thunderous applause.

Unfortunately, in the spirit of the Moni island hatred for people, that night came really nasty weather from nowhere. In the morning it turned into small windy rollercoaster that woke me up with the first sunshine. I came on deck to find a spot where I could pass it as best I could but soon it was the 4D movie theater all over again. Only this time it lasted several hours and I sadly realized that the cruise for me is over as I knew I would need more than a day to recover. After couple of hours of 'pros and cons' measuring, with great regret I opted out myself from the remaining of the trip. After all, being on the boat is all about being part of it, otherwise is something else entirely.


At the next marina, a taxi took me to the nearby port town of Methana where I missed the last ferry by an hour, so I went strait to the first hotel where I took the night to recover. There, I witnessed a worm hospitality by the hotel owner, something only in Greece I felt before, especially in my childhood when we were visiting the country frequently on family vacations. Serbia and Greece have this unusual friendship between two countries from the time immemorial. There was no part in the history of two countries with any animosities between the two, let alone any conflicts or wars. So it was always a pleasant joy seeing a sincere welcome and smile on people when I say from where I am coming from. Anyhow, when she heard I am Serbian, with the warmest smile she said 'I will give you the best Seaview in Methana'. And the best it was.

It turned out Methana is not an island at all. The best I could describe, it is a 'wannabe island' peninsula. It has an island shape but connected to Peloponnese with a narrow land bridge. Methana is entirely of active volcanic origin with the last eruption occurred in 3rd century BC. Due to the pressure of the plate of North Africa, which slid under the Asia and European plates, there were active tectonic movements on the line of the Aegean islands of which are Methana, Milos, Santorini and Nisyros. As it seems, the future of volcanism in Greece is not yet written, and Methana is one of the volcanoes that unfortunately has not yet said its last word. The last great eruption in Greece was Minoan super-volcanic catastrophe that reshaped the island of Thera in the middle of the second millennium BC and devastated entire Mediterranean for years.


As a central island of the Saronic Gulf, Aegina shared rich history of ancient Greece with other independent states. It was inhabited since the Neolithic and was at the peak of power around the 7th century BC and after, due to its strategic position. Aegina economy was strong and competed with Athena with silver coins as a currency recognized in other states. They were rivalries for many years and Aegina even made a close collaboration with Persia until the battle of Salamis (480 BC) when the island ultimately sided with Themistocles. The rest of the history of Aegina's independence was full of turmoil but it's glory at the end faded out through numerous invaders and occupations in the face of Macedon, Romans, Venice and Ottomans. Today it is a holiday and weekend resort for Athenians and tourists worldwide. Just next to it, Agistri, a small pine-clad island, with pristine beaches and crystal-clear waters, shared the history of neighboring Aegina Island and considered being part of its statehood. It was unfortunately not a part of the cruise. Perhaps in the years to follow.

Finally and historically the most famous island is Salamina, where already mentioned battle of Salamis took place two millenniums ago. It is the largest Greek island in the Saronic Gulf and due to its close proximity to Piraeus it is not the best choice for a vacation time. If we add the fact that the northern part of island is a home for the largest naval base of the Hellenic Navy it is clear that the island is not as popular a tourist destination as the other islands, but it is far from lacking destinations worth attention. If I happen to visit it in the future, on the top of my list would be monuments dedicated to Salamis' ancient battle and the Cave of Euripides where the playwright Euripides came to write his tragedies. The man was described as a misanthrope who avoided society by lurking in that cave but even so his 19 plays that survived the time since then are still performed and studied today over the distance of more than two millenniums.


If I were to try to sum up the past week and describe my first cruise longer than a day in three words, it would definitely be "an extraordinary experience". Especially the part about learning new things about sailing and trying to be part of a team in close cooperation with colleagues. Being in Greece for the umpteenth time is also special to me and having opportunity to talk to locals is another dimension of the travel. Spending most of the time at sea limits that part of the experience, but in this case it was intentional and focused on teambuilding which is perfectly fine. I am sure there are many methods to achieve this and sailing is definitely among the top five.

It is hard to pinpoint the exact period in human history when religiosity we are all familiar today emerged and started to form itself with all of the colorful myths, supernatural stories, vivid deities and numerous super powered entities. It happened probably at some point around 10.000 BC in the same period of time when humans slowly progressed from being pure hunters and gatherers into next stage of civilization and started to build modern settlements with domesticated animals and cultivated plants. No doubt, religiosity, superstition and spiritualism existed all the way from the beginning in the history when our ancestors started to paint cave walls but only Neolithic revolution and invention of agriculture gave us enough free time to start daydreaming and to think outside pure survival. If we compare all previous beliefs with vignettes, we can safely say that the evolution of religiosity after Neolithic revolution began to fill volumes of graphic novels.


According to the theory, slowly after the beginning of the Holocene period, the first large prehistoric population of Eurasia that spoke Proto-Indo-European languages was formed. They were the ancestor of Indo-European languages and the source of Proto-Indo-European mythology from which all pagan religions arose in different areas of Europe and Asia. This is why we can easily compare different deities and see all the similarities they inherited from the proto times. Take for example gods of lightning, thunder and weather in general. The deity of these properties emerged in all different mythologies and Norse Thor, Greek Zeus, Roman Jupiter, Slavic Perun, Hindu Indra, Hurrian Tar and Hittite Tarḫunna and many others were no doubt based on Proto-Indo-European deity called Perkwunos.

The similarities do not end with the deities but also with other colorful characters from old myths. Last week I stumbled to one amazing piece of art in Churchill Park at Kastellet citadel in Copenhagen. It was 114 years old sculpture of Valkyrie by famous Norwegian artist Stephan Sinding. It was probably the best 3d/live action street art I have ever seen before. It reflects everything about what Valkyrie really is in old Norse mythology. The word literally means "chooser of the slain" and it is portraying a female figure guiding the souls of deceased Nordic soldiers either to Fólkvangr, Freyja's afterlife, or to Valhalla, Odin's immortality hall. Old Norse literature describes valkyries either as purely supernatural or human maidens with certain supernatural powers. Both types of beings were associated with honesty, splendor and gold, but also with bloodshed and brutality in battle.


In South Slavic mythology, a similar being vila represents a female supernatural being who is sympathetic to people, but she could also be vengeful and brutal. She is depicted as an extremely beautiful girl with golden hair, dressed in long, flowing robes and armed usually with bow and arrows. She exists on a luminal plane between nature and culture, between gods and humans constantly travelling between one realm and the other to interact with the heroes and villains of the epics. Even though both valkyries and vilas developed in different religious environments it is hard not to spot various similarities between the two. The whiteness and glowing quality of the vilas is mirrored in the description of the valkyries and both figures are to be found in the sky in most of their depictions with connection to lightning and thunder.*

The warrior aspects of the valkyrie are unquestionable, they are "vowed to war" and their role is primarily on the battlefield. The mythical vile are similarly portrayed and often described as wearing armor, with bows and arrows and envisioned as powerful, supernatural warriors. There are convincing resemblance in regards to the connection between vile and valkyries and heroes in the epics. Most often this relationship is a warrior bond, but this relationship can become both sexual and malicious. Just as a vila can manipulate heroes or villains to murder those of her choosing, so too the valkyries are reputed to play deadly games with the heroes with whom they associate.*


Although the nature of the valkyries' flight is portrayed as a magical ride on horseback whereas the vile most often fly unmounted with the use of bird wings, it is not uncommon for the vile to ride horses or deer. Both, viles and valkyries are often described to gather in groups within the epics and refer to each other as sisters. It is fair to suggest that the valkyrie and the vila are rooted in the same figure, their differences lies only within cultural difference between the Slavs and the Germanic peoples. Perhaps the most likely attestable age of the two figures lies back to the 6th century CE when the south Slavic tribes were still located in the North of Europe.*

From there, we could push the date back even further to the time of Proto-Indo-European times, especially if we extend this comparison to apsarā, beings with similar traits from Indian religion and mythology. Тhe various trios of birth-fate-death-associated women in Greek and Roman folklore also appear to origin from the same source. The direct ancestor of valkyries are most likely Proto-Germanic walakuzjǭ which stands for walaz (battle wound) +‎ kuzą (choice, decision).


Historical origins of vilas include the various traditions especially Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore. The word 'vilenski' was used as an adjective, meaning "enchanted", but also became a generic term for various enchanted creatures during the late Middle English period. Nevertheless, the proto origin is no doubt the same as the valkyrie's, and south Slavic version, especially in middle age Serbia survived even the Christianizing the old beliefs and ended in colorful epics and poems of 14th century and later. Although, to be perfectly fair and precise, the mythological vila from the oldest myths and tales and folklorized one in epics and poems are somewhat different in a way that folklore is centered to human affairs, heroes, battles and supernatural beings only serve as a side story, so to speak.

Always, when I am reading or writing about old myths and tales I can't help but wonder how would one comparison be of a typical religious person from the old times and today. It seems to me that old stories were much colorful and picturesque than the ones from the religious beliefs of a singular god. Even a small things like simple walk through the woods would be different for somebody in BC times for a simple fact that from all they knew, not only natural plants and animals could be found there. For many, the forest behind the house could also be a magical gateway to the supernatural world and even the smallest unexplained event of natural behavior (like methane leak or weird animal demeanor) could be immediately linked to the supernatural. But this sounds like a nice topic for another story.

Image refs:
https://vrallart.com/artworks/milos-marko_i_vila/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Dadd...Yellow_Sands.jpg
https://www.saatchiart.com/...The-Valkyries

* A Treatise on the South Slavic Vila by Dorian Jurić 
https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/9407/1/fulltext.pdf
This article contains quotes/paraphrases from Dorian's theses

Goddess Zhiva (MPJ story):
https://www.mpj.one/2018/08/goddess-zhiva.html

Serbian Vampires (MPJ story):
https://www.mpj.one/2020/10/serbian-vampires.html

Fairies of Naissus (MPJ story):
https://www.mpj.one/2015/11/fairies-of-naissus.html

Refs
https://templeilluminatus.com/forum/topics/valkyrie?groupUrl=the-triple-goddess
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie
https://www.worldhistory.org/Valkyrie/
http://www.mcurtis.net/legend-of-keres
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vila_(fairy)
https://slavicmythologyandtales.wordpress.com/2020/08/15/vile-and-rusalki-part-2/
https://sr.m.wikipedia.org/sr-ec/ВилаРавијојла

Among all religious beliefs, the Greek pantheon of colorful gods is perhaps the best described in the history of all human religiosity. There is literally no piece of Greek land or portion of the sea or the tiniest island that has no origin in radiant old mythology. The island of Corfu is no exception as well. Apparently in the mythological history, it was one of those unnamed islands in the region of Scheria where the mighty Poseidon spent a portion of his eternity with fresh water nymph Korkyra. Their descendants, the Phaeacians as described by Homer in Odysseus' adventures inherited the island and named it to the Poseidon's lover. The final shape of the island owns the appearance to Poseidon as well when he separated Paxos from Corfu with his trident in order to create a love nest for him and his wife Amphitrite (sea nymph this time). I don't blame him, both Korkyra and Paxos are beautiful and colorful islands and he obviously knew his craft well. I understand his affection to nymphs as well, he was the sea god after all and in the aftermath of the mythological creation, he alone is most likely responsible for the origin of the human race on a total of 227 Greek islands including Atlantis, but that's different story.


However, the reality and history of Corfu is much different and much less idyllic. Being in the cross worlds in the middle ages between Ottoman empire and western civilization, the history of Corfu was turbulent to say the least. The island managed to survive and keep its Greek identity after numerous raids by barbarians and conquests by Europeans during the medieval period. The origin of first people on the island is not much known. According to Homer, they had some relationship with the Mycenaeans (Dorians) but it is not scientifically proved true. Furthermore, there was no ancient ruins dedicated to Poseidon at all. There are two ruins excavated so far, one of a temple dedicated to Hera and the other, the most significant temple built in around 580 BC dedicated to goddess Artemis which was monumental in dimensions for the time. In the above picture is its full, around 20 meters long, pediment portraying a living Gorgon (mythical creatures with hair made of living, venomous snakes, most likely Medusa or one of her sisters).


After the ancient times, the island was ruled by Romans first and then went under Byzantine empire. After the Byzantine period ended (around 1267 AD), Corfu was vulnerable to the constant pirate attacks and raids by its neighbors and crusaders and stabilizes only when Venetians occupied the island in 1386. These olive trees from the picture above are seeded by Venetians and considered to be more than 500 years old. The Venetians ruled more than 400 years and ended their rule in 1797. The most of the Venetian domination left a big remark in todays island architecture, including the large fortress. After that, the island was occupied by French followed by strange alliance of Russians and Turks, then British and finally on 21 May 1864 after the London treaty, Corfu and all Ionian islands united with Greece.


The most important milestone in the history of Corfu happened during the Turkish siege of 1716 when Venetians managed to defend the island and stopped the Turks in their advances toward Europe. Fighting alongside Corfiot’s were Venetians, Germans, Italians, Maltese ships, Papal galleys, galleys from Genoa and Tuscan, Spanish galleys, and even Portuguese forces. The Turkish failure in Corfu was a historical event of enormous importance - who knows what would happened if the result of the battle went otherwise. However, the other parts of Greece and their southern islands weren't that lucky and went under Ottoman occupation causing large number of refugees and migration toward Corfu. In the following centuries, more immigrants arrived from Illyria, Sicily, Crete, Mycenae, and the Aegean islands. Of course in this small blog story, I didn't mean to go much into historical events but I always like to learn a bit more about places we travel to. If you want to know more, reference links below are good point to start googling.


This summer, we visited Corfu and it's picturesque village of Messonghi. In the same point of history, the small village along with neighboring Moraitika were established by Cretans and Peloponnesians. With it's interesting feature of Messonghi river, small and nice beach, crystal clear waters and amazing people, this village was our host for 11 days of our vacation and we fully recommend the stay. Beside archaeological museum we also visited Serbian House dedicated to the Great War events and one nice museum called "Casa Parlante", dedicated to the ordinary life of one British aristocrat family from British rule in the middle of 19th century. The most impact on me personally was the traditional Corfu dishes called Sofrito and Pastitsada and their recipes dated back 200 years in the past. The last but not least our big thanks goes to Spyros, his family and their fine Georgina Apartments where we staid the entire time.

Refs:
https://atcorfu.com/corfu-history/
https://greeking.me/blog/visit-corfu/item/207-corfu-the-island-of-the-phaeacians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu

Part of Serbia lands below Danube river is pretty mountainous, with complex geology especially in eastern parts where Carpathian and Balkan mountains collided and over eons formed Serbian Carpathians with total of 14 independent mountain ranges in existence today. These rocks date back to the Proterozoic Eon (2.5 billion - 541 million years ago) with limestones and dolomites mainly formed from late Jurassic to early Cretaceous, around 100 million years ago. There are dozens of large caves within these mountains and many with tourist paths built to visit and admire their beauty and history. Two of them we visited last week and they both gave us extraordinary experience and impressions. 


However, the first cave in this blog story belongs to the one formed in the foothill of an ancient volcano of the nowadays mountain of Bukulja in western Serbia, although the recent paper posted a theory that the mountain is much younger (15 million year ago) and instead formed in tectonic processes. Whatever the case, the Risovača cave is definitely unique in the Balkans and probably on several occasions hosted families of Neanderthals during the Late Pleistocene era. Numerous tools from this period similar to those found within other Neanderthal sites across Europe are found here and preserved for display in local museum. Like with other groups and due to small numbers overall, Neanderthals most likely went extinct due to assimilation with modern humans in process called "bred into extinction". More about it I wrote in Neanderthals, Humans and Shared Caves.

During the same time, the cave hosted various dominant animals from the same period like cave lion, hyena and bear. This image is from the local museum of Arandjelovac and it's special space is occupied by the cave bear fully assembled from the bones found in the cave. The bones belonged to more than one animal, formed a skeleton up to three meters high which was approximately the average height for the cave bears. Those behemoths could go up to 1 ton in mass and 3.5 meters in height.


In the Balkans, during the last couple of millenniums of coexisting of Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals, our ancestors lived mainly along the rivers, especially Danube to the north while Neanderthals occupied more inland territories, no doubt in vicinity of caves like this one. There are strong evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead and most likely not in the caves themselves which is the main reason for the lack of the human remains excavated to date.

Compared to the Risovača, two other two caves, Ravništarka - named after the nearby village and Lazar's cave, after a rebel man who found shelter there in the time of Ottoman empire, stand out with their natural beauty rich in cave jewelry and mineral formations.   


Ravništarka cave is pretty long and one of those river caves with the small stream flowing it's entire length. The water dug the whole canal of around 500 meters and the mountain minerals did the rest. Numerous stalactites and stalagmites decorated the tourist path, like the one in this image in shape of a flying horse. Dozens of other pareidolia decorating wall formations are made of glittering calcite which under the LED lights give the amazing feeling of surreality. 

Lazar's cave on the other end, with it's large entrance is probably hiding more history than it is currently known. For its wide space within, it was always center of human activity ever since the copper age. During the bronze age, Lazar's Cave played the role of a hunting station, and in the iron age it became a center of metallurgy. Even in the recent history the cave attracted people for multiple reasons. Numerous legends are circulating around with one claiming that lots of Serbian soldiers hid inside after surviving the battle of Kosovo and the defeat by the invading army of the Ottoman Empire on June 15, 1389. 


Even though, the caves could be crowded with tourists, we had luck that all three were free of public at the opening hours and browsing the mysterious caverns alone added extra feeling afterwards. Somehow it felt like we traveled back in time and all the sites inside caves seen in pristine condition looked unearthly beautiful and alien.

Following photos and videos are the best we could do with modest smartphones in dark light conditions, but some of them turned out really phenomenal.

Risovača cave:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ienEnC1xypJBdNut7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwEWXtFiKhE
https://www.nmar.rs/en/risovaca-cave/

It doesn't happen often that after reading a book you can compare most of the places and some of the portrayed characters with real sites and buildings along with real protagonists from the historical story. Actually, this never happened to me before and after I've reached the last cover of 'Beneath a Scarlet Sky', a novel written by Mark Sullivan, published in 2017 I saw the rare opportunity of visiting the city where it all happened and where all the sites still stand today. Not much later and after my entire family read the novel or at least got familiar with the story, we packed our backpacks and hit the road. In the aftermath, the result is this blog post along with embedded video story as a documentary of the half a day walking tour of Milan in Italy where everything happened more than 70 years ago. In the spirit of a fair warning I advise you to read the book first before watching the video since it might spoil the reading for you or to wait for upcoming series or movie with Tom Holland in the lead role.


The novel is based on a true story of an Italian teenager Pino Lella, who lived in Milan during the second world war and within the last two years until the very end of the WW2, helped many Jewish people to escape to Switzerland over the Alps and in the final year to act as a spy for freedom fighters while being a personal driver for general Hans Leyers, Adolf Hitler’s left hand in northern Italy. Pino survived all the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation and deeply fell in love with Anna, a girl he met on the streets of Milan on the day of the first bombing of the city. He constantly dreamed about the future they would one day share.

This book tour would not be possible at all without fantastic Valeria Andreoli from BellaMilano who guided us throughout Milan beautifully almost five full hours! It was amazing to mix the real streets, all the buildings, the castle and the cathedral, hotels, the train station and even the monumental cemetery with our vividly built images of all the places we already formed from the book and Mark Sullivan's amazing narrative.


Undoubtedly, spending three days in Milan for us provided lots of more opportunities for visiting the history back to the time all the way to Leonardo da Vinci. Around the year of 1482, he moved to Milan to work for the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza as an engineer, sculptor, painter and architect. Until 1499 when Milan was invaded by the French he left behind the 'Last Supper', a famous mural painting of Jesus and twelve apostles, many paintings including 'The Virgin of the Rocks', Milan's Narvigly, the system of navigable canals to ferry people and merchandise in and out of the city, 'Leonardo`s horse', uncompleted equestrian sculpture and many more.

We were especially interested in Leonardo's engineering projects and his machines, models and sketches displayed in 'Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia - Leonardo da Vinci' and within new exhibition dedicated to this amazing man called 'Leonardo3' stationed in 'Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II', another Milan's landmark from 19th century. This second video log of Viktor's shows a glimpse of what we managed to visit and learn.


(Un)expectedly, at the end of our first visit to this great city, we have left with many more footage from what we initially planned to make with Pino Lella's and Leonardo's stories. All these are now packed in this third video embedded above and if you like to see more of Valeria and stories hidden behind Leonardo's paintings, especially the ones he did in the Sforza castle, if you want to learn what you need to do if you are in search for a good luck charm during your first visit to the legendary 19th century shopping mall or if you are eager to check out one great Italian restaurant along with couple of more places we managed to visit, this is the video definitely worth clicking to.

As for us, I am more than sure that Milan definitely didn't see us wandering its streets for the last time. The rest of Italy too.

The book references:
https://bellamilanotours.com/footsteps-pino-lella/
https://marksullivanbooks.com/

Beneath a Scarlet Sky:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32487617-beneath-a-scarlet-sky (en)
https://www.newtoncompton.com/libro/lultimo-eroe-sopravvissuto (it)
https://www.knjizare-vulkan.rs/istorijski-roman/44294-pod-grimiznim-nebom (srb)

Museums:
https://www.museoscienza.org/en
http://www.leonardo3.net/en/

Geographically lying in the heart of Balkan peninsula, a small town of Svrljig is acting as a capital of a relatively small Serbian land surrounded by exactly 38 villages that are, demographically speaking, living their lives on the edge of extinction. In just half a century human population of the area is more than halved with more and more 'haunted-like' villages containing more empty houses than those with smoked winter chimneys in which more people dies than being born. The past of the area went through numerous changes over time and was pretty colorful to say the least. Like everywhere else, ever since the written literacy spread its wings only millennium ago, history of Svrljig is pretty well documented ever since the grate Schism of 11th century and we pretty much know what was like living here down to that time.


But history goes even further in the past - to those times we know little about and all we have is a ruin here and there we can try to understand and build a time frame and story behind it. If you want to explore such sites and build a speculation or two standing in the middle of a stone pile that once were a dignified wall of ancient villa, military tower of thermae, Svrljig is a perfect place to start with. Moreover, if you want to experience a nature at it's greatest and to stumble to sites of pure beauty just next to the modern ruins of almost empty villages and barely standing houses in contrast, you are just where you want to be. If you are a 6th grader with your own Indiana Jones hat and modern GoPro camera, even better.

Historically and in every way considered, the grand jewel title of all the Svrljig adventurous travels goes to gorgeous Niševac gorge. This was the prime location of the ancient life, lying just next to the Roman main road connecting Adriatic sea and Danube river wide enough to carry a luxury chariot without heavy disturbance from the built stones and strong enough to support the passage of the heaviest army of the time (there's the evidence of First Cohort of Cretans stationed around here). The gorge was an ancient spa once with strong mineral springs with healing properties perfect for a settlement once existed and named Timaco Maiori (Timacum Maius). The road and the town was recorded by Tabula Peutingeriana - ancient Roman road map within it's seventh section along the way of ancient cities of Lissus, Naissus and Rataria. The mineral springs and wellheads no longer exists today due to violent geological events in previous millennium or they are just depleted by now but the beauty of the ancient site is still alive and it is not hard to imagine how it once looked like.


The ruins goes even further in time in this area with archaeological evidence of Paleo-Balkan tribes. Before Romans, this area was once home of Triballi, a Thracian tribe that lived in the same times as Celts, Scythians and Illyrians in the prehistory of Southeastern Europe. Along with all the other extinct Indo-European people and their languages of the Balkans, Triballi fully dispersed during the Hellenization, Romanization and Slavicization of the region over the eons. It's maybe harsh to say but most likely Triballi, just like other people who lived here and build their settlements ever since the Neolithic, are now only part of our genes and heritage we have no substantial knowledge of.

But to get back to the travel itself, we had luck this summer, since the railway was closed and traffic free due to maintenance and rails replacement and while hiking Niševac gorge, 1.5 km long canyon carved in calcium carbonate rocks from Mesozoic period, we took the chance and stood on the Milutin Milanković bridge, 15 or so meters above ancient river, designed in the dawn of the first world war by one of the most famous Serbian scientists.


The river name originated back to the Triballi people who was first to name it Timahos, which is just one of the words from extinct Indo-European language which more or less means 'black water'. This particular stream is just one of five rivers that bind together into one of the biggest tributary of mighty Danube. The Romans used to call it Timacus or Timaco and the name stayed until today with Serbian version of Timok. Our next stop of this summer travels was exactly 25 kilometers upstream, not far from the spot where the river springs into life. The place is called Pandiralo and it is literally one of the kind natural phenomenon where Timok sinks into cave and appears again about 750 meters later with around 30 meters of difference in altitude. The legend says the cave goes even further under the mountain and connects other streams as well but this is still unknown to this date. It was also one of the kind opportunity to create three messages in the bottle which Viktor thrown into pit and hopefully, when water rises they will sink with the river and maybe somebody will find them in the future. Who knows, maybe they will appear somewhere unexpected.

Finally and unrelated to the river we also had a short trip to Samar cave entrance (Milutin’s Cave in the village of Kopajkošara on the slopes of the Kalafat mountain, some 15 kilometers west of Svrljig) and natural Popšica pool close by. The cave earned its nickname after Milutin Veljković, a well known Serbian speleologist in his time, who starting in the year of 1969, spent 464 days in the cave breaking the world record in bivouacing in an underground space. While we didn't enter the cave as it requires special equipment and guided help, still we had unique experience of the site for which we are hoping to visit again for more thorough investigation including passing through entire cave from end to end but I am afraid this is little bit above the pay grade of 6th grader and will have to wait for a year or two.. Or three.. Or even more.


Svrljig neighborhood and the town itself is one of those inspirational destination with power to hook you for years of returning trips and the beauty lies in wilderness of the whole experience. There is no fences or limited areas here and the only guide is yourself and your wanderlust gene. The food in restaurants is divine and the mountain air comes with healing abilities if you stay long enough. Svrljig area extends to the east to the famous Balkan mountains, the backbone of the largest peninsula of the southern Europe with more sites that come naturally enriched with variety of elements including uranium ore.

I am definitely affected by the Svrljig geography and history as well to the level that one of my science fiction stories included this particular area as the main plot for Arty's adventure. If you are eager to explore the story, it is based on "Serbian Kryptonite", the Jadarite mineral with chemical formula similar to the formula invented for the fictional substance kryptonite in the 2006 film 'Superman Returns'. The story is the final chapter of the FAR-T1 novel you can find on the blog.

Location and Character of Timacum Maius
https://www.academia.edu/5901475/.../Location_and_Character_of_Timacum_Maius
Tabula Peutingeria
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Extends_of_the_Tabula_Peutingeria.png

Tabula Peutingeriane VII (nowadays Serbia)
https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Peutingeriana_Serbia.jpg

The First Cohort of Cretans, a Roman Military Unit at Timacum Maius
https://www.academia.edu/.../The_First_Cohort_of_Cretans

Samar Cave Adventure
https://naturetraveloffice.com/en/avanture/caving/avantura-samar/

Samar Cave, a forgotten jewel worthy of Guinness record
https://www.itinari.com/samar-cave-a-forgotten-jewel-worthy-of-guinness-record-knx9

In pre-Christian mythologies of the western and northern tribes and their pagan beliefs, female deities were not uncommon. Take for instance old Gaul's Matres or Valkyries of the old Norse mythology and of course all the goddesses from the history of all polytheistic religions around the globe. But perhaps the most interesting of them all are, you guessed, the fairies. They are not actually deities per se and rather belong to the spirit realm of the afterlife and dead, but still you can find them, in one form or another, in almost all religious legends and myths. The city where I was born, the valley it resides and the river that splits it in half are no different. The history of this area is, metaphorically speaking, very colorful and full of wonders, all the way to the beginning of the Neolithic era, and over the centuries this valley literally saw lots of different cultures and deities. One of them, originates way back to the Celtic Gauls and their tribe named Scordisci who lived in this neighborhood almost 24 centuries ago. They were the one who named the river and the first settlement as Naissa/Navissos, which pretty much means river and town of fairies. Whether or not this area in the BC was flooded with fairies or perhaps the geographic of it resembled to their beliefs, or even the very "Celtic Otherworld" was pictured and portrayed like our own neighborhood, the name survived for centuries and despite numerous conquerors and different cultures, the fairies staid in the name and the 'spirit' of the town all the way till today. Perhaps first document that 'officially' coined Celtic's name was published in Alexandria by the famous Claudius Ptolemy in his master piece 'Geography' (around AD 150) in which he mentioned Ναϊςςός (latin: Naissus) as 'first among four largest towns in Roman Dardania'*.


When I said the town inherited not only the 'fairy tale' name, but also the spirit that it still living in legends and myths, what I really had in mind was one particular spot on the northern hill named 'Metoh' and outskirt of the town where almost entire millennium stands a ruin of an old temple built on that particular spot by one of Byzantine emperors in 11th century. The official name of the temple was 'Holy Trinity Church' but over time it earned prefix 'Rusalija' which pretty much originated from old Serbian folklore, and, no doubts, connects the church with Rusalkas, mythical water nymphs or a female spirits from old pagan Slavic mythology. In some of Slavic languages, Russian included, word 'rusalka' translated to English literally means 'mermaid'. This variation of immortal creatures from the spirit world are completely opposite from the 'Tinkerbell' kind of fairies - instead, they could be very malevolent and dangerous young undead girls who died in or near a river or a lake and spend eternity haunting the waterway. With their long red hair and beautiful appearance and singing, they lure young men into the depths to their death. In Serbian stories even hearing their song results in immediate deafness. They are the most deadly one entire week, 50 days after Easter, which comes in late May or early June every year. As it seems, legends say that they are only afraid by wormwood and garlic, so try to have them with you if you are true believer.


Well, we didn't have any garlic in our pockets last November when we visited the church and I truly hated my curiosity when I read about Rusalkas before we drove there. Sometimes it is extremely wise to read about horror myths after you visit the spot where this malicious fairies live. Firstly, the site was eerie - the church is abandoned and to get to it you have to drive through the old graveyard people seem to visit only once a year, during 'Holy Trinity' week. Secondly, the weather was way to windy and spooky and I had to engage all my driving skills to enter the church yard - the car simply didn't want to enter due to poor quality of the stone entrance and kept rolling backwards. Thirdly, it was almost a sunset, part of the day usually identified with 'twilight hour'. When we finally got inside, my wife refused to get out of the car and in a couple of minutes of intense bravery only Viktor and I went out to take couple of photos. Needless to say, the feeling was truly cheerless and the only bright of the site was the view. The location was perfect and we glimpsed entire city with large orange sun on the horizon and I finally took one of the best sunsets in our collection along with great shots of the little temple itself. Confidentially speaking, if Viktor didn't bring his plastic gun-toy, we would probably stay less time listening that spooky Rusalka's song ... or heavy wind whistles... or whatever it was.. Although, I would be feeling much safer with couple of garlic cloves ... Ahem ...


However, besides city and river names, history of this area in BC is not very well documented, archaeologically speaking and even though there are plenty of evidence and finds, before Ptolemy reference, nothing is certain. But the names are always interesting and as they survive millenniums there are many speculations of their origin. Celtic 'Navissos' is no doubt related to fairies, I mean even the word 'fairy' is coined by ancient Gauls, in nowadays France, and the root is in the Old French word 'faerie' which means 'enchantment' or 'under the spell'. However, even before Celtic invasion of Balkans in 3rd century BC, this land was populated with various forms of societies and civilization. It lays on the cross roads between north and south and west and east and as I described in post Constantine & Naissus, it was always under siege or some sort of raid. Due to this geographic misfortune, one tribe never managed to rule this area for, relatively speaking, long period of time. Before Celtic tribe of Scordisci who staid here after Celtics retreated from invasion of Greece, the land was occupied with people of Dardani, who originated either from estranged Illyrian tribe or, how some scholars suggest, directly from ancient city of Dardania, located next to the city of Troy, as described in Homer's Illiad, who moved to the Balkans millenniums before AD. Even before Dardani's rule, at some point in 4th century this area was raid and occupied with Triballi tribes and if you add Greeks and Romans and constant threats from Gothics and Huns from the north and far east you'd get the picture of how unwise was to settle around here in ancient times. Anyhow, the point is that almost everybody managed to spend some time here and to contribute a little in those violent times. Or to be precise, to contribute in everything but changing the original name that staid the same from the very beginning.


So lets try to summarize the names from all those conquerors over time: Navissos, Ναϊσσός, Naissus, Nais, Niş, Niš, all of them related to fairies in different languages. Perhaps the most interesting connection with the name is during Greek ruling, especially from the golden prosperity times of Macedonian expansion in some point of centuries before Christ. In Greek mythology exists famous mountain of Nysa, which was the traditional place where the rain nymphs (Hyades), raised the semi-god Dionysus, who was one of those bad guys from the Olympus - the god of wine, ritual madness and religious ecstasy and to quote Wikipedia, Dionysus represents everything which is chaotic, dangerous and unexpected, everything which escapes human reason and which can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods. I guess, there is no need to add that one hypotheses of the location of Nysa (which is still unknown if it's not made up) is within ancient Tribalia or .. pretty much .. this neighborhood again. Tribalia and triballian tribes were located entirely in nowadays Eastern Serbia which borders with Niš valley and it's northern-eastern mountains. By the myth, and just like their half-sisters, sea-nymphs Pleiades, rain-nymphs Hyades were transformed into a cluster of stars that was afterwards associated with rain. So if you look up in a bright starry night and see The Hyades in the constellation of ‎Taurus, which is the nearest open star cluster to the Solar System, remember that their five brightest stars might have been living just around within my north neighboring mountains in their ... fairy existence.


Of course, Greek mythology doesn't end this story about origin of the name of my birth town with fairies. Even in the Scandinavian mythology there is a 'Nis', dwarfed male fairy in Danish Jutland (Nisse god-dreng - Nisse good lad**) who offers his help to run household and help people if, of course he is pleased by treat (groute) every evening. In the end, I am sure that Niš, or old Naissus, if you will, is one of the rarest cities on the planet with real fairy-tale in it's name origin and I would really like to see a tribute to fairies, even to the evil Rusalkas in form of some sort of street art or museum or something that could show modest traveler, tourist or web surfer not only the history of one town's name but also a hint of how once our ancestors pictured spirit world and their interaction with people. If this happens anytime in the future, this post will definitely get it's sequel with hopefully great photos and more stories.

Inage credits and direct refs:
*** https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/arts...rusalka.html
* http://www.poesialatina.it/_ns/greek/testi/Claudius_Ptolemaeus/Geographia_(lib._1-3).html
** http://www.celtic-twilight.com/otherworld/fairy_mythology/scandinavia3.htm
http://www.guideforthearts.com/renee-fleming-to-star-in-the-title-role-of-rusalka/
http://celticruins.blogspot.rs/2014/06/fairies-haunt-springs-wells-and-rivers.html
http://www.niscafe.com/grad-nis/
Refs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusalka
http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html
http://celticruins.blogspot.rs/2014/06/fairies-haunt-springs-wells-and-rivers.html
http://celticruins.blogspot.rs/2014_06_01_archive.html
http://www.panacomp.net/serbia?mesto=srbija_sveta%20trojica%20matejevac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scordisci
http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7653/2006/0350-76530637007P.pdf
http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/AnatoliaDardania.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nysa_(mythology)

Genetics is, relatively speaking, a very young science. After discovery of DNA only couple of decades ago it stopped being solely statistical and psychological study of heredity and ever since then it was given a very important component in its labs - a microscope. In simple words, we are now able to dive more deeply into the world of genes and their government of human body and behavior. In this short time we learned a great deal of human genetics and how it works. Many genes are already identified in relation to how we act and interact with others and our environment. Let's discuss some of them that already earned cool nicknames in relation of what they are capable of or what we think and suspect they do.

The mixture of genes we own are given to us by our parents, which they inherited from their parents who were gifted with the same from their own mothers and fathers and so on. What is finally our DNA composed of, basically defines us and not just our looks and physical properties but also our behavior. For example there is a 'wanderlust gene' some of us have it dominant that drives a person toward adventurous behavior and everlasting desire for travel and search for unknown. The other example is a 'warrior gene' that in many cases explains somebody's aggressiveness and violent behavior. There's even a 'god gene', a molecule identified with a power to direct a person to be superstitious and religious. Imagine what happens if these three genes become dominant in a single person who by the chance becomes the leader of a country with the worldwide influence?


In regards to human behavior, the main question is what has dominant influence, the environment or genetics of a person? The best results of course are given by statistical study of separated identical twins who after reunion shown many similarities in personalities even though they were raised in different families and environments. However we should not underestimate environmental influence simply because if behavior came to be the result of complex multiple genes doing, they could not have detectable effect due to environmental impact. For example even if you have a warrior gene, it's influence could be buried if you are raised in loving family without much violent disturbance from the others. Even more, in such scenarios it could help you with more positive influence than negative, for example in your sport's career it is always better to act with sort of allowed aggressiveness.

With disclaimer in mind of me not being a genetics scientist please find more info in referral links throughout this post and instead, in today's spirit, let me introduce half a dozen of cool identified genes or candidates in many cases, responsible for various human key behavior.

Wanderlust gene
DRD4-7R
The key word here is dopamine, a hormone and neurotransmitter responsible for many different features in our brain (including autonomous movement of muscles). However in this particular case, dopamine is released in hedonistic situations, when we experience something nice and pleasurable. The more hedonistic person we are, the smaller thing or event can trigger enough release of a dopamine in our brain, like taste of enjoyable food or reading a book or seeing a photo. Other people have lower sensitivity to dopamine and for those (up to 20% of population) who contain DRD4-7R gene which is a variant of DRD4 dopamine receptor, eating pleasurable chocolate is not enough to release level of dopamine in order to receive a hedonistic reward. These people always seek more from their environment, because they need more stimulation in order to hit a satisfying level of dopamine. If their environment is not enough they take risks and move to another, much like nomadic people do or all those large migration of people in the history who move to another area without obvious reason even though the environment they were initially inhabited was as good as the new one. If you ever said aloud that you like very much to travel to various different places no matter what, remember it might be DRD4-7R talking.


Refs:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-truths/the-wanderlust-gene/
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/explainer-what-dopamine
https://www.verdict.co.uk/drd4-7r-wanderlust-gene/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-there-really-a-wanderlust-gene

Warrior gene
MAO-A
MAO (monoamine oxidase A) is the name of the enzyme which acts in nerve cells (neurons) of the brain as a recycling factor for neurotransmitters and in process of oxidation it brakes down serotonin, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine among all the brain chemicals it deals with. Signals transmitted by serotonin regulate mood and emotion, epinephrine and norepinephrine control the body's response to stress while we already know that dopamine controls physical movements. MAO-A gene is responsible for MAO regulation and in people who have a variant of the "warrior gene" (low-activity form of the gene called MAOA-L) less MAO is produced, which means that less of the neurotransmitters are broken down which in turn leave higher levels of unwanted neurotransmitters in the brain. For all we know from various past study, higher levels of these brain chemicals produce higher levels of aggression and as a result these people feel less or none empathy for others and they basically don't hesitate to use any form of anti-social behavior including violence to achieve their own goals whatever they are.


Refs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_A
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/MAOA#
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/.../triggering-the-warrior-gene-in-villain-or-hero
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090121093343.htm

Creativity gene
COMT-DRD2
If you are able to produce something that is both novel, useful and closely related to human development whether it belongs to individual or societal level, you are among people with creative mind won on genetic lottery. Similar to the hedonistic process in our brain, according to several researches in previous decades, dopamine is also the key hormone responsible for creative process, more accurately dopamine levels in multiple brain areas enhance interaction between frontal and striatal dopaminergic pathways (dopamine neurons location in brain) which is believed to lead toward creative thinking and reward after something new is either achieved or produced. While responsible genes involved in dopamine transmission and generation of just enough dopamine levels needed for creativeness is still ongoing process, two genes are the most promising candidates - COMT and DRD2, both their single involvement in the process as well as in their prior interaction.


Refs:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3995040/
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-dopamine-producing-areas-brain-creativity.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4718590/

God gene
VMAT2
Unfortunately, due to the sensitive subject, research in regards to spirituality is not covered enough and more or less conducted by a single experiment. The target were monoamines - the main brain chemicals, including serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, that are connected with regulation of fundamental functions such as mood, creativity and motor control like we already saw with previous genes. They are also the main target for many antidepressants drugs and narcotics which in turn can cause addict to experience transcendence or experience beyond normal and even physical level of existence. In similar but much benevolent fashion a variation in a gene known as VMAT2, in that single study, was identified to be responsible for all test subjects who experienced self-transcendence compared to others that didn't have that particular variant. Whether or not this is enough to call this gene a 'god gene' is debatable but it does prove that brain chemicals encoded by specific genes can in fact affect spiritual realm with people. In addition to external chemicals that might induce spiritual thinking and religions experience we also should not exclude parasitic influence such as Toxoplasma gondii which I already mentioned in post Who's Behind the Wheel?


Refs:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2262126/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7147-genes-contribute-to-religious-inclination/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_gene
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialSciences/ppecorino/.../Genetic-Basis-for-Religion.htm

Love gene
OXT
Hypothalamus activity includes production of hormone oxytocin encoded by OXT gene. The 'love hormone', how it was named after its features and properties, is also linked to social behavior. Activity of the OXT gene and production of the hormone can vary from people to people and those with low activity struggle more to identify emotional expressions of others including people in their relationships and family members. Perhaps more than with other genes, OXT is tested in correlation to the process called DNA methylation, in which methyl groups are added to DNA segments without changing their sequence. In life this can be triggered by environmental influences and bad lifestyle factors such as smoking or diet. In turn when methylation increases on the OXT gene, less oxytocin is produced and this impacts social behavior to the worse. Like with anything else and especially with genetics, balance could be the key word and further research could lead to potential treatments that could effectively fix social disorders.


Refs:
https://www.voanews.com/a/mht-love-hormone-gene...oxt-oxytocin/3387692.html
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/...people-form-healthy-lasting-relationships-study.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin

Mad Scientist gene
DARPP-32
The coolest name for the gene goes to... DARPP-32, a variation within a gene that, not surprisingly is also capable to affects levels of dopamine hormone, this time in the area that influences feelings of anger and aggression. The twist with this gene is in the fact that a particular variant is also associated with increased performance in a number of cognitive tests, including IQ and memory. Actually, three out of four people inherit a version of the DARPP-32 gene, which by improving information processing in the prefrontal cortex of the brain in simple words allows and improves the brain's ability to think. These two effects combined will not give us mad scientist per se, but it does explain strange behavior and fears of some people with high IQ from the past. I am not saying that Tesla's strange fear of shaking hands or Einstein hatred for socks is granted by this gene but I am sure the genetics lottery in one way or another is the one to blame in high percentage.


Refs:
https://www.bionews.org.uk/page_91056
https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/genius-little-crazy/995625
https://www.medicaldaily.com/.../mad-scientist-stereotype
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1784004/

Smoking and drinking genes
CHRNA5, OPRM1
There are several genes associated with smoking, nicotine dependence, and lung cancer but among them the variant of CHRNA5 is the most prominent candidate. The process is identified as nicotine-stimulated dopamine release in the striatum (a cluster of neurons in the subcortical basal ganglia of the forebrain), a region vital to the development of substance dependence but also reward learning center. Combined, people with this particular variant are more likely to overcome casual and environmental intake of nicotine and become heavy addicted to smoking. Similarly, OPRM1 gene has been associated with subjective response to alcohol with heavy drinkers. The 'G variant' of this gene may lead to a greater susceptibility not only to addiction to alcohol but also to a variations in pain sensitivity and addiction to opioid substances.


Refs:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/chrna5
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4000030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23240711
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5152594/
https://drbrucekehr.com/oprm1-gene-test-addiction-genetic-testing/

In conclusion, let's get back to the beginning - the genetics and especially study of human behavior is merely at the beginning of understanding all the processes that governs our brain on the smallest levels within organic chemistry. However, we don't need any science to attribute human behavior with strange ability to give nicknames to everything and anything. Genes are no exceptions and hopefully you have identified some of them shaping what you are and how you behave. I know I have.

Image refs:
https://www.eturbonews.com/238528/non-stop-travel-destinations-for-the-adventurous/
http://knrunity.com/post/general/2016/post-787.php
https://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/warrior-based-training.html
https://blog.lifeway.com/explorethebible/blog/why-young-adults-need-bible-skills/
https://www.thebump.com/a/ways-for-dad-to-bond-with-baby
https://www.inverse.com/article/7576-best-mad-scientists
https://coach.nine.com.au/latest/red-wine-and-smoking/

Refs:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/.../what-behaviors-do-we-inherit-genes
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3052688/
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/heredity/environmental-effects-on-phenotype/a/genes-environment-and-behavior
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_study