Perast, looking towards the Bell Tower of St Nicholas church
Perast (pronounced Per-ast, rather than Pe-rast) is a pretty town on the coast of the Bay of Kotor about 30 minutes by road from Kotor town. The town is effectively a single street along the winding shoreline with a few short streets going uphill from it. The town is mercifully bypassed by the main road around the Bay and we were dropped off at one end of the main street and our exploration consisted of strolled from end to the other.
Actually, the first thing you
see are two islands a short way off-shore. (The view below was taken from the top of a church tower, so it's not the view you see initially.) On the right is Our Lady of the
Rocks, where a church sits on an artificial island dating from the 15th
century. A steady stream of small boats ferries visitors over to see it.
To its left is St. George’s Island where there is a monastery dating from the 12th century and a cemetery for distinguished Perastians. It is surrounded by stone walls, and hidden from view by high cypresses.
The first thing of
note on the main street was the lovely Baroque Bulovich Palace, now the
town’s Museum. This is the facade ...
... and here is a view back towards the Museum with the mountains behind.
As we continued along, we passed the tiny 16th century church of St John the Baptist, hemmed in by other buildings.
Soon there is another small church, the 18th century St Mark's. Note the Lion of Venice on the main facade. It sits at right angles to an impressive former palace, now a hotel.
A little further on we come to St Nicholas, which is quite small, with a single nave and no aisles. The bell tower is very impressive however ...
... and we especially liked the blue clock.
I naturally decide to climb the tower and gained this unusual view looking up.
From the top there is a nice view of the islands (see above) and a good one of the ruined castle, high above the town, which was built in 1570 and reinforced in 1620).
Continuing long the waterside path we passed a derelict palace ...
... quickly followed by the 18th century Bronza Palace.
We were very struck by these curved windows, which we noticed on other buildings in this part of the town
This was our final view back.
Conditions: warm and mostly sunny, a couple of short showers.
Rating: four and half stars. A delightful town.
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