Visit-Montenegro.com : Shark Has Escorted Him to the Shore

Ulcinj – Slovenian film-director Marijaz Fistravec from Maribor reaches Ulcinj’s Velika plaza beach yesterday, in company of his assistant Marko Valente. Fistravec left Trieste at the end of April.

It will be most difficult for him to decide how to fit everything he went through during the last four and a half months into 50 minutes, which is the originally planned length of the documentary he will make about his unusual journey.

Matijaz, who has won many numerous prestigious awards for his documentaries back home, says that his adventure included playing with dolphins and sea-turtles, as well as deer living on one of the islands he visited. But also - a sudden encounter with a shark…

“This has been an unforgettable and brilliant experience in a year when I celebrate my 50th birthday. I am pleased that I have shared this experience with my son, Marko”, Matijaz says, while sipping red wine in the restaurant of Gojko Bevenja at Velika plaza. He emphasizes that his trip had five stages.

“First stage was the trip from Trieste to Brestovo in Croatia, while the second one lasted from Brestovo to Biograd. Third stage included a trip from Biograd to Island of Solta, while the forth one has been the route from Solta to Sucuraj at Island of Hvar. Fifth part has been the journey from Sucuraj to Ada Bojana.

I have rowed actively for some 30 days. I did not go into cities. I have spent the nights in the bays and on the beaches”, Matijaz says, as he goes through his photos taken at Istria, in Zadar, at Croatian islands, at Cape Prevlaka, in Boka, Budva, Old Ulcinj…

His sudden encounter with a shark has been, in Matijaz’s words, both unpleasant and funny.

“At the end of the first stage, as I docked at Brestovo, I spotted people who were waving at me from the beach and the peer. Since it was 6 June, which is my birthday, I thought those people might be my friends who had come from Slovenia to surprise me.

Only when I have come closer to the shore, I realized that those were the people I did not know and that they were not waving to greet me, but to warn me. I turned around to see a fin of the shark, which was more than 2, 5 meters long. I got chills. Luckily, this shark settled for ‘escorting’ me to the shore and then left”, Matijaz recalls his unusual experience.

“I am not saying this just because I am here, but I really did make the best shots here, in Montenegro.

I am impressed with Mamula, Boka, part of the coast around Petrovac. Here, I went through something amazing. Just 50 meters away, we had to fight the waves. Here, we are sitting at Mister Gojko, who treats us with drinks and food and the sea is flat and calm”, Matijaz says honestly.

In his words, he decided to do nothing in the year when he turned 50, but it turned out that this new experience made him change his mind.

“Film will be entitled “Trieste – Tirana”, but the journey will end at Ada Bojana. If we reach an agreement with Albanian border-police, Marko will shoot the last shot beside one of the bunkers at their territory and this will be the closing shot in this film”, Matijaz says, adding that his mean of transport, sea-kayak, which is equipped to spend long time at sea, is quite a trendy sport in Western and Northern Europe.

“Sea kayaking, which allows journey across seas, down the rivers and lakes, is becoming very popular across Europe.

I have no doubts it will soon become a hit with you as well, as you have much to offer”, Matijaz is convinced, as he plans to return to Maribor with Marko today.

Paying as Much as Abramovic

Matijaz finds one of his memories still hard to believe. It happened at Brioni.

“I had to pay Euro 200 for the docking of my kayak, which is exactly the same amount which Roman Abramovitch has paid for his 68-meters-long yacht”, Matijaz said, still puzzled how this was possible.

Another picture is carved in Matijaz’s memory, the one which he lived through near Zadar:

“It’s been raining, hard, and there’s been a thick fog around me. I could see no further then several meters ahead. As the water sprayed my face, I had the feeling I was within some kind of cloud”, Matijaz recollects.

(10 September 2008)

By: S.ADROVIC