The Search for Damjanovich Rakia

The Damjanoviches have been in Drenova since the early 1800s and probably longer. My wife comes from the family and knows some of the cousins that live in the area but there are so many. Branches of the family are all over the area, and no one even knows how they are connected. The village has a monument with one Orthodox Church, one small grocery, and two restaurants, and one only serves food in June and July. The monument lists the Damjanovichs that died in WWII. It is thought that after the war, they were on both sides of the fight between Tito and the communist and the King and the kingdom of Serbia.

We stopped at the no-food place for a drink and discovered they buy their Rakia from one of our relatives in the hills. So, of course, we had to find that. First, driving around without a clue, we ended up back at our favorite restaurant for dinner, and the pork neck was the best it had ever been. The bread is always just out of the oven, and the sausage is terrific at

So Sunday morning was the time to find the place. We go to the store to find milk for Ella, but they say they haven’t had milk for two weeks. Bummer! We get directions from the store owner and drive through a cute village next to the school my father-in-law went to. We turn here and there, asking various people where Rakia is sold and ending up finding a local older lady whore family produced Rakia.

To Be Contnued