Posts

Showing posts with the label travel

Uranium Bike Tour

After the Second World War, another tide of the arms race slowly but surely began to develop in the world. With the first nuclear power plant built in Obninsk back in 1954 in the former Soviet Union, it became clear that atomic weapons and the nuclear industry overall would mark the second half of the twentieth century. Today, about 80 years after the first nuclear reactor ever built, "Chicago Pile-1", the current numbers for the commercial use of nuclear power indicate that 50 countries operate about 220 research reactors with as many more operating power plants in the majority of these countries. The military numbers are expected to be even higher, and the fact is that nuclear submarines and ships can be equipped with multiple nuclear reactors on board. Some of the aircraft carriers can have up to eight of them.

The AI representation of cyclists on the 'Uranium Bike Tour' :-)

Of course, all those nuclear reactors require nuclear fuel to operate. In most cases, it is enriched uranium (U-235) isotope produced from the uranium concentrate powder called yellowcake, which is an intermediate step in the processing of the uranium ore and usually produced directly in the mines. During the 1960s, world demand for uranium ore skyrocketed, and many countries joined the ride. Serbia was no exception. The only deposits of uranium-oxide-rich ore in Serbia were found near the small town of Kalna, some 50 km east of my current place of residence, and in a short period of time, shrouded in secrecy, the uranium mine operated fully and produced a respectable number of yellowcake (UO₂) and even a significant amount of metal uranium as well. **

In the beginning, even the miners believed they were digging ore for the production of copper and gold. Only three people in the mine knew the truth. After four years of production, the mine was closed, the pit buried, and the operation moved to a more profitable location. The old mine is still there, inaccessible as it is, and the old buildings are still standing but locked and sealed. The soil and aerial environment are tested regularly, and even though the radioactivity is slightly above normal and most likely deadly deep in the ground, on the surface the entire area is a safe environment to live in. However, many believe that the story of the site is not over and that more ore veins are still waiting to be found.

The 'Uranium Bike Tour' path and elevation

In the meantime, due to the expansion of tourism in the Balkan Mountains, recently the road has been rebuilt, and it is now perfect for cycling. The local cyclists, both professional and amateur, and those, like my son and me, who are considered to be enthusiasts, love the path for testing the limits, entertainment, and health. Last weekend we spent more than six hours on our wheels enjoying a pretty hard and elevated track, which is 58 km long and more than 400 meters elevated from the starting point and the highest point on the way. We call it the "Uranium Bike Tour", and it's something we started to do last year. In the image above, there are both trajectory and elevation lines. It starts from the city of Niš, passes through the small town of Svrljig, through several villages on the way, and across the phenomenal landscapes almost the entire way.

The video below is made out of a GPX file of the entire track, created by Fabien Girardin's amazing tool from his Rumbo* website. As for the track itself, and to be completely honest, we didn't go all the way this time because we rode our heavy mountain bikes with fat tires, which are not the best option for this kind of trail, but when we turned off the asphalt to get to this weekend (family) destination, the dirt road ride was almost effortless.


The 'Uranium Bike Tour' GPX video illustration*

Geographically lying in the heart of the Balkan peninsula, just 27 kilometers away from Niš, a small town of Svrljig, which we passed three hours after departure, is acting as the capital of a relatively small Serbian land surrounded by exactly 38 villages. The entire complex of its southern mountain range is called 'Svrljig Mountains', and the track is following the path just next to them. The highest peak, Zeleni vrh, has an elevation of 1,334 meters above sea level and was the impressive site just next to the road on the 40th kilometer of the tour.

In just half a century, the human population of the area is more than halved, with more and more villages containing more empty houses and those in which more people die than are born. Rural environments in this part of the world are more or less the same, and while cities are becoming larger and larger, the economics and agricultural fate of small villages are grimmer by the year. To me, it's far away from elementary logic, and I only hope this trend will change in the future.

The landscape from the village of Vrelo, near Svrljig

The same goes for the final destination of the tour, the once small town of Kalna, which flourished in those half a decades when the mine was active and where 800 miners lived in prosperous mining settlements, is now almost a ghost town with nothing but memories of the good times 60 years ago. The last remaining mine worker in Kalna, who was a locksmith in the mine at the time, Hranislav Grujić, and who is now in his late 80s, remembers the good times: "When we pass the tavern, the waiters laugh: "Here are the miners; it's going to be a good day!"

But there were incidents as well; after all, working with the yellowcake is not the safest job in the world. He remembered the time he was in contact with the ore: "They bathed me with a hose in a special chamber, and they set fire to all of my clothes. I was sent on paid leave for two weeks, even though I felt fine. I just had a bit of a headache and felt faint. But it was nothing terrible, really."

At the entrance of Svrljig (Сврљиг, cyrillic) town

Anyhow, 'Uranium Bike Tour', the cycling route we lovingly named it, is actually not for the faint of heart. And when I said it, I meant it literally. With a huge elevation change along the way and maybe a slightly longer route than usual, it requires endurance and strong muscles as well as professional equipment. At the end, it demands commitment and love for this kind of achievement. When we were on the path for the first time, somewhere in the middle of the journey, Viktor asked me how I felt. After all, I am not in my prime years, and he wanted to know if I was okay. It was a simple question, and I wanted to give him a good answer. So I thought about it a little longer than usual.

"I feel free", I said.

And that's the simple truth of how I feel when I get on my bike and ride into the countryside outside the city.
 

Saronic Islands with Rackpeople

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 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 ticket line... And I was the 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 a 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 would 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 door. In that spirit, when my good friend Lasse, the head of Rackpeople, one of the leading IT companies in Copenhagen, asked me to join the cruise around the 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.

Bastions with old canons at the Hydra entrance

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 vehicle, 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 was connected to the legendary myth of Lernaean Hydra, the multiheaded water monster who was slayed by Heracles in his second labor, but unfortunately, very little is known about the 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 view from Poros Clock Tower

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 the Saronic Gulf's southern arm. The Poros' main port is separated from the Peloponnese only by a 200-meter-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 a 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 phenomenally narrow streets of the small town that stretch 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.

Rackpeople at the Moni island and photos from the mainland

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 the Saronic Gulf that absolutely hates humans, but lets get back to that later. One would think shutting the engines down and sailing to speed of, in some occasions, less than one nautical mile per hour and sailing only by using maps, compass, and wind arrow is ridiculous, but it is the 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, including 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 tell 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 the 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 island to the full.

The spirit of Rackpeople after a long but a great day

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 mattered the most was 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 a 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 a couple of hours of 'pros and cons' measuring, with great regret, I opted out of the remainder of the trip. After all, being on the boat is all about being part of it; otherwise, it is something else entirely.


The Seaview from the hotel Methanion

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 the two countries from 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's always nice to see a genuine smile on people's faces 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 is connected to Peloponnese with a narrow land bridge. Methana is entirely of active volcanic origin, with the last eruption occurring in the 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 the Minoan super-volcanic catastrophe that reshaped the island of Thera in the middle of the second millennium BC and devastated the entire Mediterranean for years.

Aegina port seen from the ferry

As a central island of the Saronic Gulf, Aegina shared the 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. The 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 the already-mentioned battle of Salamis took place two millennia 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 vacation time. If we add the fact that the northern part of the 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 millennia.

Concept art of the Battle of Salamis by artist Court Chu*

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 the 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.
 

Norse Valkyrie vs Slavic Vila

It is hard to pinpoint the exact period in human history when the religiosity we are all familiar with today emerged and started to form itself with all of the colorful myths, supernatural stories, vivid deities, and numerous superpowered 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 the 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 history when our ancestors started to paint cave walls, but only the Neolithic revolution and the 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, Hittite Tarḫunna, and many others were no doubt based on a 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 upon one amazing piece of art in Churchill Park at Kastellet citadel in Copenhagen. It was a 114-year-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 as 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 bows and arrows. She exists on a liminal 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 Viles are similarly portrayed and often described as wearing armor with bows and arrows and envisioned as powerful, supernatural warriors. There are convincing resemblances in regards to the connection between Viles 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 as gathering in groups within the epics and referring to each other as sisters. It is fair to suggest that the Valkyrie and the Vila are rooted in the same figure; their differences lie only within the cultural differences 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. The various trios of birth-fate-death-associated women in Greek and Roman folklore also appear to originate from the same source. The direct ancestor of Valkyries is 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 versions, especially in the Middle Ages. Serbia survived even Christianizing the old beliefs and ended in colorful epics and poems of the 14th century and later. Although, to be perfectly fair and precise, the mythological Vilas from the oldest myths and tales and the folklorized one in epics and poems are somewhat different in a way that folklore is centered on 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 one comparison would be of a typical religious person from the old times and today. It seems to me that old stories were much more colorful and picturesque than the ones from the religious beliefs of a singular god. Even a small thing like a simple walk through the woods would be different for somebody in BC times for the 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 a 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

 

Corfu Between Tales and Reality

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, 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 the freshwater nymph Korkyra. Their descendants, the Phaeacians, as described by Homer in Odysseus' adventures, inherited the island and named it after Poseidon's lover. The final shape of the island owes its 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 for 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 a different story.


However, the reality and history of Corfu are much different and much less idyllic. Being in the cross-worlds in the Middle Ages between the 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 the 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 proven true. Furthermore, there were 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 ancient times, the island was ruled by the Romans first and then went under the 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 stabilized 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 for more than 400 years and ended their rule in 1797. Most of the Venetian dominance left a big mark on today's island architecture, including the large fortress. After that, the island was occupied by the French, followed by a strange alliance of Russians and Turks, then the 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 Tuscany, Spanish galleys, and even Portuguese forces. The Turkish failure in Corfu was a historical event of enormous importance—who knows what would happen 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 a 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, the reference links below are a good point to start googling.


This summer, we visited Corfu and its picturesque village of Messonghi. At the same point in history, the small village, along with neighboring Moraitika, was established by Cretans and Peloponnesians. With its interesting feature of the 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 the archaeological museum, we also visited the Serbian House dedicated to the Great War events and one nice museum called "Casa Parlante", dedicated to the ordinary life of one British aristocratic family from British rule in the middle of the 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. Last but not least, our big thanks goes to Spyros, his family, and their fine Georgina apartments, where we stayed 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
 

Three Caves

Part of Serbia below the Danube River is pretty mountainous, with complex geology, especially in the eastern parts where the Carpathian and Balkan mountains collided and over eons formed the Serbian Carpathians, with a 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 the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous, around 100 million years ago. There are dozens of large caves within these mountains, and many have tourist paths built to visit and admire their beauty and history. Two of them we visited last week, and they both gave us extraordinary experiences and impressions.


However, the first cave in this blog story belongs to the one formed in the foothills 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 years 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 museums. Like with other groups, and due to small numbers overall, Neanderthals most likely went extinct due to assimilation with modern humans in a 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 lions, hyenas, and bears. This image is from the local museum of Arandjelovac, and its 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 and 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 coexistence of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, our ancestors lived mainly along the rivers, especially the Danube to the north, while Neanderthals occupied more inland territories, no doubt in the vicinity of caves like this one. There is strong evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead, most likely not in the caves themselves, which is the main reason for the lack of human remains excavated to date.

Compared to the Risovača, two other caves, Ravništarka, named after the nearby village, and Lazar's cave, named after a rebel man who found shelter there in the time of the 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 its 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 the shape of a flying horse. Dozens of other pareidolia-decorating wall formations are made of glittering calcite, which under the LED lights gives the amazing feeling of surreality. 

Lazar's cave on the other end, with its large entrance, is probably hiding more history than it is currently known. For its wide space within, it has always been the 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 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 charge at the opening hours, and browsing the mysterious caverns alone added an 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.

The 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/
 

In the Footsteps of Pino Lella

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'd 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 an embedded video story as a documentary of the half-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 an upcoming series or movie with Tom Holland in the lead role.


The novel is based on the 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 WW2, helped many Jewish people escape to Switzerland over the Alps and, in the final year, acted 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 for 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 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 the 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', an 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 a new exhibition dedicated to this amazing man called 'Leonardo3' stationed in 'Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II', another Milan landmark from the 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 much 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 of 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 a couple of more places we managed to visit, this is the video definitely worth clicking on.

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/
 

Adventurous Travels for 6th Graders

Geographically lying in the heart of the Balkan peninsula, the small town of Svrljig is acting as the 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, the 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 die than are 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 a millennium ago, the history of Svrljig is pretty well documented ever since the great Schism of the 11th century, and we pretty much know what it was like to live here down to that time.


But history goes even further in the past—to those times we know little about, and all we have are 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 was a dignified wall of an ancient villa or a military tower of thermae, Svrljig is a perfect place to start with. Moreover, if you want to experience nature at its greatest and to stumble upon 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 the gorgeous Niševac gorge. This was the prime location of ancient life, lying just next to the Roman main road connecting the 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 evidence of the 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 that once existed and was named Timaco Maiori (Timacum Maius). The road and the town were recorded by Tabula Peutingeriana, an ancient Roman road map with its seventh section along the way of the ancient cities of Lissus, Naissus, and Rataria. The mineral springs and wellheads no longer exist today due to violent geological events in previous millennia, or they are just depleted by now, but the beauty of the ancient site is still alive, and it is not hard to imagine what it once looked like.



The ruins go even further in time in this area with archaeological evidence of Paleo-Balkan tribes. Before the Romans, this area was once home to the Triballi, a Thracian tribe that lived in the same times as the 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 built 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 rail replacement, and while hiking Niševac gorge, a 1.5 km-long canyon carved in calcium carbonate rocks from the Mesozoic period, we took the chance and stood on the Milutin Milanković bridge, 15 or so meters above an ancient river, designed at 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 were the first to name it Timahos, which is just one of the words from an extinct Indo-European language that more or less means 'black water'. This particular stream is just one of five rivers that bind together into one of the biggest tributaries of the mighty Danube. The Romans used to call it Timacus or Timaco, and the name stayed until today with the Serbian version of Timok. Our next stop on this summer's 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 a kind natural phenomena where Timok sinks into a 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 a one-of-a-kind opportunity to create three messages in the bottle, which Viktor threw into the pit, and hopefully, when the 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 the 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 the 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 1969, spent 464 days in the cave, breaking the world record in bivouacking in an underground space. While we didn't enter the cave, as it requires special equipment and guided help, we still had a unique experience of the site, which we are hoping to visit again for a more thorough investigation, including passing through the entire cave from end to end, but I am afraid this is a little bit above the pay grade of 6th graders, and we will have to wait for a year or two. Or three. Or even more.



Svrljig neighborhood and the town itself are one of those inspirational destinations with the power to hook you for years of returning trips, and the beauty lies in the wilderness of the whole experience. There are 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. The Svrljig area extends to the east to the famous Balkan mountains, the backbone of the largest peninsula of southern Europe, with more sites that come naturally enriched with a 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 a 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

Traces of the Roman Naissus–Ratiaria Road
http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/

Milutin Milanković
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milutin_Milankovic

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
 

Fairies of Naissus

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 it, 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 in, 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 dates way back to the Celtic Gauls and their tribe named Scordisci, who lived in this neighborhood almost 24 centuries ago. They were the ones who named the river and the first settlement Naissa/Navissos, which pretty much means 'the river and town of fairies'. Whether or not this area in BC was flooded with fairies, or perhaps the geography of it resembled 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 stayed in the name and the 'spirit' of the town all the way till today. Perhaps the first document that 'officially' coined Celtic's name was published in Alexandria by the famous Claudius Ptolemy in his masterpiece 'Geography' (around AD 150), in which he mentioned Ναϊςςός (Latin: Naissus) as 'first among the four largest towns in Roman Dardania'*.

Kristine Opolais in Dvořák’s 'Rusalka' - The Met Opera***

When I said the town inherited not only the 'fairy tale' name but also the spirit that it is still living in legends and myths, what I really had in mind was one particular spot on the northern hill named 'Metoh' and the outskirts of the town where, almost throughout the millennium, stands a ruin of an old temple built on that particular spot by one of the Byzantine emperors in the 11th century. The official name of the temple was 'Holy Trinity Church', but over time it earned the prefix 'Rusalija', which pretty much originated from old Serbian folklore and, no doubt, connects the church with Rusalkas, mythical water nymphs or female spirits from old pagan Slavic mythology. In some Slavic languages, Russian included, the word 'rusalka' translated to English literally means 'mermaid'. This variation of immortal creatures from the spirit world is 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 spent eternity haunting the waterway. With their long red hair and beautiful appearance and singing, they lure young men into the depths to their deaths. In Serbian stories, even hearing their song results in immediate deafness. They are the most deadly for an 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 of wormwood and garlic, so try to have them with you if you are a true believer.

'Holy Trinity Rusalija' - abandoned temple from 11th century

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 these 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 the place only once a year, during 'Holy Trinity' week. Secondly, the weather was way too windy and spooky, and I had to engage all my driving skills to enter the churchyard; the car simply didn't want to enter due to the poor quality of the stone entrance and kept rolling backwards. Thirdly, it was almost 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 a couple of photos. Needless to say, the feeling was truly cheerless, and the only bright part of the site was the view. The location was perfect, and we glimpsed the entire city with a 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 to that spooky Rusalka's songs... or heavy wind whistles... or whatever it was. Although I would be feeling much safer with a couple of garlic cloves... Ahem ...

The sunset from the 'Holy Trinity' church (Metoh hill)

However, besides city and river names, the history of this area in BC is not very well documented, archaeologically speaking, and even though there is plenty of evidence and finds, before Ptolemy's reference, nothing is certain. But the names are always interesting, and as they survive millennia, there are many speculations of their origin. Celtic 'Navissos' is no doubt related to fairies; I mean, even the word 'fairy' was coined by ancient Gauls in what is nowadays France, and the root is in the Old French word 'faerie', which means 'enchantment' or 'under the spell'. However, even before the Celtic invasion of the Balkans in the 3rd century BC, this land was populated with various forms of societies and civilization. It lies on the crossroads 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 periods of time. Before the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, who stayed here after the Celts retreated from the invasion of Greece, the land was occupied by people of Dardani, who originated either from an estranged Illyrian tribe or, as some scholars suggest, directly from the ancient city of Dardania, located next to the city of Troy, as described in Homer's Illiad, who moved to the Balkans millennia before AD. Even before Dardani's rule, at some point in the 4th century this area was raided and occupied by Triballi tribes, and if you add Greeks and Romans and constant threats from Goths and Huns from the north and far east, you'd get the picture of how unwise it 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 to everything but changing the original name that stayed the same from the very beginning.

Niš downtown by the old fortress and Nišava river

So let's try to summarize the names from all those conquerors over time: Navissos, Ναϊσσός, Naissus, Nais, Niş, and Niš, all of them related to fairies in different languages. Perhaps the most interesting connection with the name is during Greek rule, especially from the golden prosperity times of Macedonian expansion at some point centuries before Christ. In Greek mythology exists the 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 Olympus—the god of wine, ritual madness, and religious ecstasy. And to quote Wikipedia, Dionysus represents everything that is chaotic, dangerous, and unexpected, everything that escapes human reason and that can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods. I guess there is no need to add that one hypothesis 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 what is nowadays Eastern Serbia, which borders the Niš Valley and its northeastern mountains. By the myth, and just like their half-sisters, sea-nymphs Pleiades and rain-nymphs Hyades were transformed into a cluster of stars that was afterwards associated with rain. So if you look up on 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.

Ivan Kramskoi, Русалки (Rusalki), 1871

Of course, Greek mythology doesn't end this story about the origin of the name of my birth town with fairies. Even in Scandinavian mythology, there is a 'Nis', a dwarfed male fairy in Danish Jutland (Nisse god-dreng, Nisse good lad**), who offers his help to run households if, of course, he is pleased by a 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 a real fairytale in its name origin, and I would really like to see a tribute to fairies, even to the evil Rusalkas, in the form of some sort of street art or museum or something that could show a 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 the spirit world and their interaction with people. If this happens anytime in the future, this post will definitely get its 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)
 

The Genetics of Human Behavior

Genetics is, relatively speaking, a very young science. After the discovery of DNA only a couple of decades ago, it stopped being solely a statistical and psychological study of heredity, and ever since then it has been 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 the human body and behavior. In this short time we learned a great deal about 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 to what they are capable of or what we think and suspect they do.

The mixture of genes we own is given to us by our parents, who inherited them from their parents, who were gifted with the same from their own mothers and fathers, and so on. What is our DNA finally composed of? It basically defines us and not just our looks and physical properties but also our behavior. For example, there is a 'wanderlust gene' that some of us have that is dominant and drives a person toward adventurous behavior and an everlasting desire for travel and the search for the 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 chance, becomes the leader of a country with 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 a statistical study of separated identical twins who, after reunion, showed 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 so, they could not have a detectable effect due to environmental impact. For example, even if you have a warrior gene, its influence could be buried if you are raised in a 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 a sort of allowed aggressiveness.

With a 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 coolly identified genes or candidates, in many cases, responsible for various key human behaviors.

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 we are, the smaller thing or event can trigger enough release of dopamine in our brain, like the taste of enjoyable food, reading a book, or seeing a photo. Other people have lower sensitivity to dopamine, and for those (up to 20% of the population) who contain the DRD4-7R gene, which is a variant of the DRD4 dopamine receptor, eating pleasurable chocolate is not enough to release the 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 migrations of people in history who moved to another area without obvious reason even though the environment they were initially inhabiting 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 that acts in nerve cells (neurons) of the brain as a recycling factor for neurotransmitters, and in the process of oxidation it breaks 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. The 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 fewer of the neurotransmitters are broken down, which in turn leaves higher levels of unwanted neurotransmitters in the brain. For all we know from various past studies, higher levels of these brain chemicals produce higher levels of aggression, and as a result, these people feel less or no 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 an individual or societal level, you are among people with creative minds who won the genetic lottery. Similar to the hedonistic process in our brain, according to several studies in previous decades, dopamine is also the key hormone responsible for the creative process. More accurately, dopamine levels in multiple brain areas enhance interaction between frontal and striatal dopaminergic pathways (dopamine neuron 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 the generation of just enough dopamine levels needed for creativity are still an ongoing process, two genes are the most promising candidates: COMT and DRD2, both for their single involvement in the process as well as for 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 was more or less conducted by a single experiment. The targets 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 antidepressant drugs and narcotics, which in turn can cause addicts to experience transcendence or experience beyond normal and even physical levels of existence. In similar but much more 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 the spiritual realm of people. In addition to external chemicals that might induce spiritual thinking and religions experiences, we also should not exclude parasitic influences such as Toxoplasma gondii, which I already mentioned in the 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 the production of the hormone oxytocin encoded by the OXT gene. The 'love hormone', as 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 person to person, and those with low activity struggle more to identify the 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 for 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 of affecting levels of the 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 scientists per se, but they do explain the strange behavior and fears of some people with high IQs from the past. I am not saying that Tesla's strange fear of shaking hands or Einstein's hatred for socks is granted by this gene, but I am sure the genetic lottery in one way or another is the one to blame in a 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 a reward learning center. Combined, people with this particular variant are more likely to overcome casual and environmental intake of nicotine and become heavily addicted to smoking. Similarly, the OPRM1 gene has been associated with subjective responses to alcohol in heavy drinkers. The 'G variant' of this gene may lead to a greater susceptibility not only to addiction to alcohol but also to 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 the study of human behavior are merely at the beginning of understanding all the processes that govern our brain on the smallest levels within organic chemistry. However, we don't need any science to attribute human behavior with a strange ability to give nicknames to everything and anything. Genes are no exceptions, and hopefully you have identified some of them shaping who you are and how you behave.

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