Perast, slightly obsessed

So this post is a continuation of my day in Kotor. We took the bus which was about 20 minutes or so and it landed us on the outskirts of Perast. We climbed down some stairs (which I was beyond tired of by the time we went up and down the fortress all day), and reached the little city. I was told that I shouldn't waste my time there because it's so small and boring, but I LOVED IT! It was awesome in all of the right ways: every building was built with the Balkans charm of stone and cement, there were no tourists, there were no obnoxious signs for grocery stores, restaurants, etc. and it was later in the day so the sun was setting over the mountains of the bay. The size of the entire town was about half the size of my neighborhood in California so it was definitely conquerable in what little time we had.

As we were entering the city, there was a huge clock tower that couldn't be missed

The second we got to the city, I eyed two islands out a little ways from the shore. HOW DO I GET OUT THERE?! it became my mission to get myself out to those sweet little gems. One is called Our Lady of the Rock and has a monastery, and the other is called Saint George's island with a Roman Catholic church. The latter is the only man-made island in the Adriatic and supposedly came about when two sailors from Venice found a picture of the Virgin Mary on a rock there so they dumped a boat full of rocks every voyage they made until there was an island big enough for a church.

Here's a close-up of each of the islands:

St. George's island with a monastery

Our Lady of the Rock

We ended up getting to the islands via ferry. Well, not really ferry but "water taxi" which was a Montenegrin man who owned a motorboat and offered rides. It was nice to get a close-up of the islands and gain a new perspective of Perast from off-shore. This town is a postcard example of a little Montenegrin town and I'm so glad I went! While waiting for the bus back home, we sat at a little cafe on the shores and ordered some palacinke. Typical locals!

on the island

view from the boat