Country Article / Postcards
Captain Island
Date: 09/26/2006
With its Venetian heritage and maritime past, Perast is one of the most sought after villages on the Boka Kotorska.
International Living Postcards--your daily escape
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006
Perast, Montenegro
Europe’s southernmost fjord, the Boka Kotorska cuts inland for 18 miles--and it’s drama all the way. Dark, lofty peaks look down on a succession of bottle-stopper bays: The Bay of Herceg Novi, the Bay of Tivat, the Bay of Risan, and the Bay of Kotor.
All around these bays are small villages with stone harbors. Many retain the traditional, but small developments are starting to appear in larger villages such as Baosci (the off-plan price for a two-bedroom, 745-square-foot apartment in a new development here is $169,000).
British and Irish buyers love the towns and quieter fishing villages here and in the Gulf of Kotor near the Croatian border.
“They fall in love with it straight away,” says Ivana Vukicevic, manager of the Kotor office of Dream Property Montenegro. “With its character, its history, its beauty.”
Settled by the ancient Greeks, and then the Romans, you can’t fault the area’s historic credentials. The showpiece village here is Perast, another UNESCO World Heritage Site with a Venetian heritage. Although it has but 300 houses, in its heyday it was one of the region’s most important maritime settlements. Peter the Great of Russia sent his seafarers here to learn navigation.
A number of homes formerly belonged to wealthy ship captains, which may explain why Perast is one of Montenegro’s most expensive locations for property buyers. Most properties with sea views here cost $350 to $470 per square foot. But you can buy for less--a two-bedroom, 700-square-foot apartment in an old Venetian-style building costs $240,000 with Dream Property Montenegro.
Shimmering in Perast’s bay are two small islands. On the island of St. George is a monastery and graveyard sheltered by cypress trees. Sea captains buried here are remembered by stone busts on Perast’s main square.
The twin island of Gospa od Skrpjela is an artificial island, home to the pale blue domed church of Our Lady of the Rocks. For $6 return, a chatty Serbian student called Marko ferried us out on a small boat. If legend is true, the island and its church took 300 years to build in early medieval times--in the case of the island, with boatload upon boatload of rocks. Upon returning from each successful voyage, fishermen and mariners laid a rock.
One wall of the chapel gleams with silver panels donated by mariners who had taken vows to donate treasure. A tiny museum is crammed with all kinds of curious votive offerings. As well as religious statues, the offerings include household items such as oil lamps, cooking pots, water pitchers, and even old sewing machines.
Steenie Harvey
Roving Europe Editor, International Living
P.S. A couple of caveats about the Bota Kotorska. Although infrastructure improvements are being made, the waters of the fjord aren’t as clean as along the Budva Riviera and the rest of the Adriatic coast. According to UNESCO, sewage discharge from the cities of Kotor, Herceg Novi, and Tivat still goes into the bay. Marko warns that the Bota Kotorska is miserable in winter. Heavy rainfall, little sunlight. The soaring mountains seem to control the light levels. South-facing villages (like Perast) receive far more daylight and sunshine than opposite villages across the Gulf, which look north.