Martin Matanovic

June 11, 2024

Letters from Somewhere No.043

Prague (Czech Republic)

And then the unexpected happens. I like this city. It's strange how quickly my opinion changes. Maybe it is the sun, which shows everything in a different light. Maybe it is the exercise in the fresh air, which calms me down and somehow opens my eyes and my heart. And maybe it is simply because I look at the world and the environment in which I find myself without judgment.

I am still in this wide spectrum of feelings that swing from one end to the other. They go from fear and worry to self-confidence, inner strength and deep hope when looking at the near future. A future in which the variable of uncertainty remains very high and the goal remains a vague idea.

In a state of openness, there is room for spontaneity and surprises. This is what we feel when we stroll through the streets of Vinohrady and stop at an inconspicuous door with the sign Amazonia Café Step In Klub. Coffee is always an attraction for me. Because good coffee is hard to find. 

What we don't find here is coffee. They no longer have it. But they do have cocoa, the beguiling scent of incense and sandalwood, a quiet atmosphere, meditative music, and P, who greets us, invites us in, and leads us in a long conversation to the Gate of Knowledge. I know this gate, I've been here before, but it's been a long time since I opened it and went to the other side. 

When we leave - I have no idea how long we were there - I take another building block for my new feeling of lightness. I resolve to devote myself again to the inner storms in quiet sessions. To listen to them and let them go. But I also resolve not to let my mind drive me to something that speaks to me more from the past and is not the end of a thread of thought of a grown realization. 

If this journey to this city is to have only one destination, then I have received it in this room with P on this warm early summer day. 

About Martin Matanovic

I work, travel and live in different places in Europe and write about it in this newsletter.