Croatia , Bosnia, Montenegro-05/11-5/19/2019

Bay of Kotor & Perast, Montenegro -5/17/2019

Kevin is flying back to Albany, New York today so we had to wake up early as his flight is at 7:30Am.  We drove him to the airport and dropped him off around 6:0AM, said our goodbyes and we hopped back in our the car direction Montenegro.

The road is totally empty as it is still very early in the morning.

 

Our first stop is Perast and the drive is an hour and 13 minutes. 

To drive to Perast we have to drive by the Bay or Kotor.

 

The bay of Kotor is  17 miles long with a shore line of about 67 miles long.   Beautiful vista along the way....

 

The bay is surrounded by two mountains: the Orjen to the west and the Lovcen to the East. 

 

Aerial view of the bay of Kotor.

 

There are two islands just south of Perast, St Georges island, a cemetery which is not open to the public and the artificial island called 'Our Lady of the Rocks'.

The one of the left with tall pine trees is called Sveti Đorđe (St. Georg Island) and the one on the right is Gospa od Škrpjela (Our Lady of the Rocks), and each has a picturesque chapel.

 

This is Sveti Đorđe island (Saint George in English).

 

 Close look at Sveti Đorđe Island (St. George Island).

The island contains Saint George Benedictine monastery from the 12th century and the old graveyard for the old nobility from Perast.

 

This is the 2nd island Gospa od Skrpjela (Our Lady of the Rocks)

It took over 200 years to drag rocks to build this island, and another 300 years to build the church in honor of the Lady of the Rocks. The church became a holy place for sailors, as they went there to pray before they embarked on a long journey, perhaps never to come back, as many ships were lost in storms or pirate attacks. They made vows to donate treasures if they came back safely and usually after the journey, they made silver tokens on which they carved the motifs from the sea battles and storms they survived. There are now over 2000 of these silver tokens displayed on the walls of the church on the island. 

 

View of the Bay of Kotor from the shore.

 

Perast

We are now in Perast a really small town with only one main street.

 

The town sloped down from the highway to a narrow waterfront road named Obala Marka Martinovica that runs along its length.

 

The length of the town is 0.6 mile end-to-end, Perast’s shore is lined with Baroque palaces and graceful churches.  

 

Perast was once a powerful maritime center. It reached its height of wealth and power in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it was part of the seemingly-unconquerable Venetian Empire which ruled the Bay of Kotor from 1420 to 1797.

 

View of the bay of Kotor

 

 

Perast is unique because the town has kept its traditional look, meaning there’s no modern architecture, all the buildings are built in the traditional style.  Most of the houses are made of stones.

 

Boat rental area

 

In the distance you can see a cruise boat with thousands of people descending into the town of Kotor which is where we are heading to.

 



There is only one road in Perast and this is it!.

Traditional stone house in Perast.

 

Built to last...

 

 

This is the center of Perast with Saint Nicolas church's bell tower in the back ground.

 

Smekja Palace, 18th century.

 Smekja palace is the largest palace in Perast. It is completely built of stone from the island of Korčula. The palace has a ground floor, two upper floors and a belvedere. On the level of the first floor there is a large terrace along the entire facade, and on the second and third floor there are balconies with balustrade.

 

Smekja Palace's terrace.

 

Church of Saint John the Baptist.

It was first mentioned in documents in 1595 and belonged to the medieval “Confraternity of the Wounds of Jesus Christ”. .

 

The church was not open so we could not get in.

 

St. Nicholas Church located on the main square.

 The present church was built in 1616, although it is said to have replaced an earlier church dating from 1564. 

The bell tower

 


Main square in Perast with Saint Nicholas church in the back.

 

Statues of important men in the main square.

 

 

 

Now that we have seen everything in town, we are searching for a place to have breakfast.

 

This is the pier from the Grand Iberostar hotel where you can have breakfast and enjoying the view of the bay.

 

It was around 8:00 am still very early so there are barely anybody here.

 

Enjoying my first cup of coffee in the morning.

 

Hoa does not eat much for breakfast so I ordered and omelet with mushrooms, ham, and cheese.

Our bill came out to around 6 Euros for 2 coffees and an omelet.  This is so cheap compare with Dubrovnik and this is at a 4 star hotel.

 

View of the bay of Kotor

 

Chinese tourists are trickling in for a boat tour.

 

Next... Kotor

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