You can count on your fingers the number of restaurants in Podgorica, Nikšić and Cetinje where you can eat sea fish. That is, fish that is from our part of the sea, and not the one that arrives from the other side of the world, thawed. This is the best indicator of how alienated Montenegro is from the sea, even though everyone loves the sea, what would they say they love it in a story. Those who love the sea usually also love fish. Whoever has the sea, can have fish on offer, but there is not enough demand. The math is clear. Something is not right here.
Maybe we like the view of the sea, from the mountains. Or to rent out apartments on the coast. Because obviously we still haven't fully accepted the sea. It's one thing to go on vacation to the sea, and another to enjoy the sea in winter, when it's raining and when it's humid. The sea, first of all, needs to be understood.
We don't have our own Tom Bebić who would dedicate himself and poetry to the sea. There isn't either Milan Milišić to write a collection of stories Otoci. The sea serves us as covers in music videos. These are some songs compiled to cover everything from patriotism to tourism, and all the shots look like they are from shutter stock. Usually there is a shot from a drone, the colors are bursting and we admire the sea more through the screen than watching it live. There is no guilt, only regret for a missed opportunity. It's a pity that we have the sea, and we almost don't pay attention to it.
Great gratitude for the affirmation of Montenegro as a country that has a sea (at all) should be expressed to the group Who See. Their several albums have made a special connection, because the sea can be heard from every song. The movie Ivan Marinović "Alive and Healthy" also has a sea for one of the main characters. Everything in the story revolves around our great blue, but unpretentiously, Mediterranean, with a lot of spirit, rightly so. Marinović has a great flair for the Mediterranean, and our specific share in it. As a director, he promises, many more good stories and films are expected from him.
However, the love for the sea is palpable. If we read Yuki Mishima “The Sailor Who Betrayed the Sea”, or anything from Hugo Pratt, also Brodsky, Hemingway, these are odes to the sea, thank you notes, declarations of love and the discovery of mysteries.
In our country, little is written about the sea because there is nothing to say. We have so many poems, books and essays about mountains. The rigidity of the rock suits us better. But we have self-styled Mediterranean poets like I mentioned in the previous column. It is a complete failure, but it is at least interesting to see how the poet tries his best to sound like a Mediterranean poet. He felt the emptiness on the stage, so he became distracted. In the symbolic sense of poetry, he can't even swim.
That's why there are monumental books, like that one Mediterranean Breviary Predrag Matvejevića. He sailed to the bibiloteks of the world to tailor that magical ode to the sea. It is also interesting Another Venice in which he explained everything in detail, including the wooden pontoons from Istria, which still hold the city today.
If there was any kind of strategy at the state level, if there were any strategy at all, let's start from the idea that Montenegro should finally learn the sea. Little by little, as if the country is learning to swim. Because Budva is concreted, Petrovac is sealed, Ulcinj is chaotic, Kotor is under threat, and Bar is in disrepair. Other birds would sing to us to stick to the sea, as they stick to that blue of some other country. Not only do they extract food and money from that resource, but they also use love, energy, creativity and all that to build an image!
Bonus video:
