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The Bay of Kotor |
How often does it happen that you have planned to visit a
place and as a bonus, you get to something more than what you had expected? This
is what exactly happened this winter when I was travelling in Croatia. I learnt
that I could visit Montenegro an adjoining country with the existing Schengen
multi-entry visa. So without much ado, while I was in Dubrovnik with my family,
we booked for a trip to Montenegro.
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The streets of Perast |
It was a cold morning when we reached the
pickup point at the Dubrovnik Cable Car station and at the precise time, a
station wagon with an elderly driver, a petite guide with three more passengers arrived. After
introductions, we handed over our passports to the lady as they would be required at
the border entry points. After a short
drive, the wagon picked up two more passengers, a Japanese couple. The seating
capacity was now full and excited as we were, the vehicle lunged onto the open
highway with a breathtaking scenic view. We passed by Cavtat, a small town and
continued for almost an hour. The girl who was the guide spoke in fluent English and kept narrating about the places we passed and highlights of the history of the region. The car kept climbing up and down the slopes with
orange groves for miles and small rivulets and tiny houses in small villages
till we reached, Debeli Brijeg, the border check post to enter Montenegro. It
took about 15 minutes at the border post to get the passports stamped.
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Our Lady of the Rock Church |
We had been driving for more than an hour and
the vehicle veered around. My left was wide open in amazement at the sight of
the huge Bay of Kotor that lay ahead of us.
The semicircular bay is surrounded by a drive
almost 35 km long with shimmering blue waters. As the car skirted around the
coast we could see long stretches of floats protruding out of the water. The
driver narrated that there were nets underneath to harvest oysters.
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Stretches of Oyster Farming |
In the
middle of the bay was n island that had a fairy tale setting with Our Lady of
the Rock Church located on it. It s imposing structure is visible from a distance.
The island can be visited by the boats that regularly ferry the tourists to the
island. The island Gospa and Skrjela( Our Lady of the Rocks) is one of the two
gorgeous islands in the Bay of Kotor. The other island Sveti Djordje is also
called as ‘the island of the Dead Captians’, because according to the legend
one French soldier, by shooting cannon towards Perast hit the house of his
beloved girl and killed her. That legend was the motive for the masterpiece ’The
Island of the Dead’ by Swiss painter Beklin.
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The Museum |
The island of Our Lady of the Rocks was artificially built
by seamen from Perast and Kotor by ferrying stones on their boats and piling them at the
site. According to a legend after a shipwreck neat this island the seamen found
an Icon of the Holy Mother with a Christ on the sea rock and pledged to build a
church on the island. The church was built in 1630 and till to date, the island
is maintained.
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The Bell Tower |
Perast is surely one of the strangest and the prettiest of
tiny places in the Bay of Kotor.It is also one of the quietest places in the
region. Its narrow streets and baroque style abandoned palaces testify the
richness of culture from the times of Reinassance.
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A Palace in Perast |
Perast was considered to be a town of sailors. There are 16
preserved palaces in Perast , and among them is a Baroque palace called Bujovic,
at the entrance of Perast. Other palaces are Bronza, Sestokrilovic, Mazarovic,
Pavalovicini, Martinovic, and others. All of them represent 12 brotherhoods(clans)
of Perast.
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Smekja Palace |
A once lively town with flocks of seamen and boats moored in the bay,
today it has a population of about 500 people living there. One can see ladies
selling wine made of Pomegranate and handknitted woollen caps and sweaters. During
the summers a number of tourists throng the place and the festival of Fasinada takes place when a
number of boats carry the stones to the Island of Our Lady of the Rocks.
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The interior of St Nicholas Church |
Located in the heart of the little town is the Romanesque old
St Nicholas church built in 1616AD. Next
to the church is an unfinished church and a bell tower that was built in 1691
AD and was the highest at 55m in the Adriatic region.
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The relics inside St Nicholas Church |
The church now houses a
museum and relics and numerous items donated by Archbishop Zmajevic’s family,
who had also donated the bell inside the Bell Tower. The old costumes and
relics have been maintained very well.
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Another Palace in Perast |
Later we strolled on the streets soaking the beauty of the
place and admired the lovely picturesque setting. The fun was to continue as
the driver greeted us when we returned back with a huge smile and said, ‘All
set for Kotor’. We nodded in affirmative so let us continue the journey to
Kotor in the next post
PS All pics are mine. Next week will continue the journey in Montenegro to a new destination Kotor
So beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot
ReplyDeleteIntetesting
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Ashok for your kind comment.
DeleteI love visiting these little, charming European towns on your blog. :) The ride in a station wagon with just a few other travellers and a guide must have been a great experience.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the pictures and the travel account. :)
It is such a pleasure to see your comment Divya, that I try to paint the picture as I saw. The guide and the driver were very good and knew exactly what to tell and show:)
DeleteWill try to take you to some more places in next few posts.
I had been to Perast recently in Sep 2019, and was totally blown by the beauty of it's majestic mountains and sweeping views. It's certainly one of the beautiful places in Montenegro!
ReplyDeleteThank you Anu for that kind comment. Perast is a beauty and am sure it must have been a memorable trip for you too.
DeleteI loved Perast when we visited! And that whole coastline is just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteCould'nt agree more Lady Fi!
Delete