On the beach next to Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and President Jakov Milatović, and at the table with Carolyn Turnbull, all in Montenegro, which is becoming a great place to live and do business
"Doughnuts, doughnuts...", Zaza's strong voice still echoes along the promenade by the beach of the "Maestral" hotel in Pržno, as it did five years ago when I wrote the text for "Vreme" "The Silence of Saint Stephen"".
After 15 years on Pržno, this year for the first time I noticed a sign, discreetly placed on the wall of one of the stone houses. She says that one man is responsible for walking along this waterfront, born in this fishing village in 1897, when this was Austougarska.
Luka T. Mitrović paid for the construction of this Riva, one of the most beautiful places on the Montenegrin coast, from his earnings earned in the USA in 1969. He died five years later and was buried in San Francisco where he spent most of his life.
Prime Minister and President on the beach
Despite numerous new luxury hotels and beaches, "Maestral" and Pržno have retained their iconic status. That's why Prime Minister of Montenegro Milojko Spajić came to the hotel beach last week with his wife and two small children. To the left and right of him, ordinary tourists were resting on deckchairs by the sea. Only on the deckchair behind, two security guys discreetly settled down.
On Friday afternoon, when we were leaving the hotel, Jakov Milatović, the President of Montenegro, was in an almost identical position on the beach.
Nothing new in Pržno, except that this year Zaza's daughter returned to help her mother sell doughnuts, boiled corn, figs and cherries. And a kilometer further, on Sveti Stefan - a lot of news.
Sveti Stefan is working again
After five full years, Sveti Stefan, one of the most recognizable symbols of Montenegrin tourism, welcomes guests again. The opening of the city-hotel ends a multi-year dispute between the state and the tenant, and the authorities and the tourism industry expect that the return of the luxury resort will further strengthen the image of Montenegro on the world tourism market.
The news about the reopening of St. Stephen's was announced in March of this year by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, and it was just one of several good news from Montenegro in those days: Wizz Air opened a base in Podgorica, Exit Festival confirmed that it is moving from Serbia to Montenegro, a concession was agreed with the South Korean company Incheon Intl Airport Corporation (IIAC) on both airports in the country (Tivat and Podgorica) for 30 years, which still has to be confirmed by the Parliament... Of course, there is also good news related to accelerated European integration of Montenegro.
Memories
As we walk from Pržno towards Sveti Stefan, we notice that the gate of the Queen's beach is locked, the swimming pool is reserved for hotel guests. They say that the gates open at eight in the evening when you can also walk along this part of the coast and enjoy the sunset.
Kraljeva Beach is open but there is an entrance fee, as is St. Stephen's right beach (when looking at the island from the mainland), which is now serviced by the famous "Nammos" chain. It is located in the former legendary building "Pod maslinom" where we spent time in the late nineties, at the time when the first paparazzo photos were taken by our photographer Buda Ostojić for "Svet". Everyone "fell" in front of his lens that summer in 1998 - from Milo Đukanović, through Olja Ivanjicki and Milan Bek to Vuk and Dana Drašković.
For me personally, Sveti Stefan has other meanings - my wife Sandra and I last summered there when she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy with India in the summer of 2006, while the facility was still open to us "mortals". Eight years later, our magazine "Hello!" he received exclusive photos from the wedding of Jelena and Novak Djokovic, which took place on this very island.
Contract
This weekend is adjacent to the National Day on July 13, so there is no work in Montenegro from Friday, July 10 to Wednesday, July 15. It was the perfect timing for the signing ceremony between Nammos Hotels & Resorts and Smokva Bay.
This agreement announced a significant partnership for the development of Nammos Resort Montenegro, a fully integrated luxury lifestyle destination located in Smokva Bay, on the Budva Riviera between Sveti Stefan and Petrovac na Moru, which is scheduled to open in 2029.
Behind this business, as well as behind the Aman Sveti Stefan project, is Monterock International, an international holding company with headquarters in Dubai and a regulated fund in Cyprus, which has been successfully operating in various industries around the world for more than 25 years.
Its founder, the famous Petros Stathis, smiled with satisfaction when signing the contract: Sveti Stefan is working again and new investments are planned.
The Monterock International group is recognized for its presence in the sector of luxury hotels and resorts, but also for its strategic investments in the field of hospitality, food and beverage, real estate, industrial technology, green energy, media and banking.
Like from a movie
That evening I sat at a table next to Carolyn Turnbull, the demure Australian at the head of Nammos Hotels & Resorts, a woman who looks like she stepped off a movie screen from a movie still. The Devil Wears Prada. She told me that most of the staff - from the hostesses to the waiters to the musicians (a great singer and saxophonist) came from their restaurant in Dubai where the economy is "a bit slower" these days.
While the fireworks lit up the sky above St. Stephen just before midnight, I was thinking about how global events are connected, how Trump's war with Iran and the damage he has done to the Gulf emirates, primarily in the area of tourism and real estate, has had a positive effect on the season in Mediterranean countries like Montenegro and Croatia.
Montenegrin's accelerated entry into the EU has only strengthened these positive trends so that, if nothing changes drastically in the years to come, our southern neighbor will be an excellent place to live and do business.
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