Breakdown of Mogliśmy jechać prosto, tymczasem woleliśmy błądzić po malowniczych górach.
jechać
to travel
móc
to be able to
góra
mountain
prosto
straight ahead / directly (from)
Questions & Answers about Mogliśmy jechać prosto, tymczasem woleliśmy błądzić po malowniczych górach.
Why use tymczasem here instead of za to?
Both connect contrasting ideas, but they have different nuances. Tymczasem emphasizes a surprising contradiction or a choice that goes against expectation ("we could have taken the easy route, yet we chose to wander"). Za to is used for trade-offs or compensation, like saying one thing was bad, but to make up for it, another thing was good.
Could we say mogliśmy pojechać prosto using the perfective verb?
Yes, absolutely. Using the perfective pojechać would focus on the completed action of taking that route. The imperfective jechać focuses more on the process of driving straight. It is used here to nicely mirror the other continuous, ongoing activity in the sentence: wandering (błądzić).
What exactly does the preposition po add in po malowniczych górach?
When followed by the Locative case, po is used to describe scattered, aimless, or widespread movement across a surface or area. While w malowniczych górach would simply mean the action happened in the mountains, po emphasizes wandering all around or all over them.
I have seen błądzić used to mean "to make a mistake." How does it mean "to wander" here?