Day 3: Perast Just Relaxing
Weather Update:: Sunny. High 14c
Elevation Above Sea Level 16 Metres
Day 3. I booked another night to make sure I would not be rushing around trying to see what I wanted to see. I'm in Perast on the Adriatic Sea 14kms from Kotor a coastal small town nestled below the mountains with fabulous views. Perast is a city settlement in the municipality of Kotor in Montenegro. According to the 2003 census, there were 349 inhabitants (according to the 1991 census, there were 449 inhabitants) since 1971 there has been a steady decline in the number of people living there. Perast reminds me of when I was in Yugoslavia up in the Julian Alps, with its church on an island in the middle of Lake Bled. I really enjoyed my day trip to Perast it was peaceful with not many tourists which was a blessing, in summer it would be unbearable.
Perast lies at the foot of the Sveti Ilija hill (873 m), opposite the Verige strait in Boka Kotorska . It was named after the Illyrian tribe Pirusta, and the prehistoric remains found in the Špila cave above Perast testify to the very early settlement of this area. From the earliest days, Perast was oriented towards the sea and seafaring. As early as 1336 , Perast had a shipyard that operated until 1813. It received the status of a municipality in 1580 and retained it until 1950.
However, Perast experienced its greatest prosperity in the 17th and 18th centuries, when about a hundred Perast ships sailed the world's seas. Since one of the most famous maritime schools was located in Perast, Peter the Great , on the recommendation of Venice , sent the sons of famous noble families to Perast to study with the famous mathematician and navigator Marko Martinović . Data show that during 1697 and 1698, 17 Russian princes sailed on Marko Martinović's ship.
It seems that in the low season many of the attractions are not open so I cannpt show you.
Our Lady of the Rocks , an island in front of Perast, is an artificial island made at the end of the 15th century where, at least according to tradition, the Moršić brothers found an image of Our Lady on a rock in the Risan Bay on July 22, so in 1452 the people of Perast decided to build a Roman Catholic church of the Virgin Mary on that spot. Stones were piled around the rocks and a small chapel was erected . Then, in Fašinada , a traditional custom, they piled up stones for centuries, sinking dilapidated boats and Turkish ships, so that over time the island's surface area expanded. Today it has an area of about three thousand square meters and the Church of Our Lady of the Rocks is located on it.
Our Lady of Škrpjela
Our Lady of the Rocks (left) and St. George's Island (right)
Today's church of Our Lady of the Rocks, after which the island was named, was built in 1630 by the Venetians and is one of the most important historical and cultural monuments of Boka Kotorska .