Since our very first visit to Kotor, Montenegro in October 2017, Kenric and I have returned in 2018, 2019 and 2020, usually in the fall or winter. October through December is especially rainy, and it gets dark by around 3:30. It’s quite a gloomy scene, but the cats cheer us up.

The very first afternoon we arrived in 2017, we dined at Scala Santa. From our apartment, Scala Santa is the first restaurant along our way into the center of Old Town. The tourist season had died down and the server was really eager for us to take a look at the menu. We weren’t ready to eat, so hoping to move on, I said I didn’t see what I was craving, which was true. He asked what it was, and said he would ask the Chef if he would make it. I felt bad for being “one of those customers” especially when I wasn’t even serious about the request.

When we visited Momo at the new restaurant he worked at this last January, he was quite surprised that we were staying in Kotor for about three months. He joked that we would have seen everything there is to see in Montenegro. We confessed that we had not visited any of the many beautiful towns around the Kotor Bay, and we had only made it halfway up the fort and had to turn around because it got too dark. Momo shook his head.

A few minutes later, he told us that the weather forecast for the following day was sunny, and that it would be a perfect day to visit Perast. He said his friend works for a tour company and could take us there by boat. Since the vet was out town, and therefore no cat-trapping, and since Momo had never led us astray, we booked Momo’s friend for a boat ride to Perast.

Besides being one of the most beautiful towns in Kotor Bay, Perast is also famous for its two islands. The Island of St. George (Ostrvo Sveti Đorđe) is home to the 12th-century Saint George Benedictine Monastery, and is where the nobility of Perast is buried. No visitors are allowed on this island.

The other island is Our Lady of the Rocks (Gospa od Škrpjela). After two fishermen brothers discovered an image of the Virgin Mary on the rocks here on July 22nd, 1452, a small Orthodox chapel was built on the rock. Over the centuries, people returning alive from voyages would drop a rock here to give thanks.

Over centuries, the island grew much bigger. The Venetians who ruled this region for about three centuries, until 1797, built a Catholic church where the chapel was. Every July 22nd, around sunset, people come to throw rocks into the water.

January is definitely off-season so the church along with the museum and gift shop were closed. The upside of it was Kenric and I were the only people on the island. It was pretty special. Our stop at Perast was short but nice. It’s such a beautiful town. Since that tour, Kenric and I have been more and more convinced that we will be staying in Kotor more and for longer periods of time, and not just for the cats.

Map of Places Visited