Kotor is an elegant medieval city located in Montenegro. This walled town is situated on the Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska). Kotor’s old town, its fortifications, and the bay are UNESCO World Heritage.
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Kotor has a long history, and some of its structures exist from the 12th century.
Perast
Perast is an old town in Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It is situated a few kilometres northwest of Kotor.
Perast lies beneath the hill of St. Elijah (873 m), on a cape that separates the Bay of Risano from that of Kotor, and overlooks the Verige strait, the narrowest part of the bay of Kotor. The average yearly temperature in Perasto is 18.3°C, and the number of sunny days is 240 (or around 2,500 sunny hours per year).
Near Perast there are two small islands: one is called St. George island, and the other called Gospa od Škrpjela (Our Lady of the Rock), and each has a picturesque chapel. Gospa od Škrpjela is particularly interesting given that it is the only artificially built island in the Adriatic, with an area of 3,030 m²
The city’s sixteen Baroque palaces were mostly built in this period, as were its seventeen Catholic churches and two Orthodox churches. The old city does not have a defensive wall, but instead it has nine defensive towers, the most important of which is the tower of the Holy Cross. These were built by the navy of the Venetian Republic in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Perast was at its peak in the 18th century under the Venetian Republic, when it had as many as four active shipyards, a fleet of around one hundred ships, and 1,643 residents. At that time the most beautiful buildings arose in this fortified town. Many ornate baroque palaces and magnificent dwelling-houses decorated the town of Perast, full of typical Venetian architecture.
The population has since decreased to 430 in 1910 and around 360 today.