Perast in Montenegro

The town of Perast boasts 16 churches, 17 Venetian-style palazzi, and one 55m bell tower belonging to the church of St Nicholas. From the shoreline, the views down the coast to Kotor are exceptional as boats bob up and down just offshore. Perast was at its peak in the 18th century under the Venetian Republic, when it had as many as four active shipyards and a fleet of around one hundred ships.

Close to Perast is the artificial island of Our-Lady-of-the-Rocks built on top of a reef, whose top was just 1 metre above the surface of the water, before the people of Perast had started throwing rocks and sinking old shipwrecks on top of it. After around 200 years, a plateau of approximately 3,030 square meters had been created allowing the building of a church. The church has received many donations and has both a gallery and a treasury. It is well-known for housing 2,500 golden and silver votive tablets which people from the area donated to the church, in order to avoid various human disasters occurring. There is even a festival on July 22nd each year where locals row over to the island with stones and add them to the island to maintain its presence in the bay, a sign of devotion if ever there was one.