An easy and summer route through the beautiful cities of the Bay of Kotor.
An easy and summery route through the beautiful towns of the Bay of Kotor.
Duration – the whole day
Distance: 70 km one way
What to bring: a camera, sunscreen, comfortable shoes.
Key points: Perast (42.485253, 18.700286), Risan (42.51162, 18.696477), Lipci (42.496949, 18.655998), Kamenari (42.466838, 18.675106)
What's interesting:
*Amazing views from the highway to the Bay of Kotor.
*Perast is one of the coziest and most beautiful towns in the Bay of Kotor, right across from the Verige Strait.
This strait is the narrowest point of Boka.
According to legend, in the 14th century, the townspeople of Perast blocked the strait with chains (chain = veriga) to prevent pirate ships from reaching Kotor.
The idea was effective: the pirates were routed.
Since then, the strait has been called Verige. In the 17th century, a school of navigational sciences was opened here, where, at the request of Peter I, Russian nobles were trained in maritime affairs. A townsman of Perast, a famous naval commander of those times, Matija Zmajevic, became an admiral of the Russian Baltic Fleet after many years of service.
Architectural landmarks of Perast:
- Bujovic Palace - now a city museum
- Church of St. Nicholas
- Bell tower (55m) - once the highest on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. From its very top, a magnificent panorama of the entire city and the bay opens up.
The bell tower can be climbed by anyone from May to October (entrance fee).
*Gospa od Skrpjela – opposite Perast. Once upon a time, there was a reef on the site of this island, which barely protruded above the water.
According to legend, two sailors from Perast in the 15th century found an icon of the Mother of God on this rocky ledge, which healed one of them from an illness. The icon immediately became revered. And on the site of the reef where this valuable find was found, it was decided to build an island with a temple.
*St. George Island (ostrvo Sv. Dorde) – opposite Perast. You can get to it by boat, but the island is not always open to visitors, since it is the private property of a Benedictine monastery.
