Our Lady of the Rocks is the image of the Bay of Kotor: a little church with a blue dome and a bell tower floating on an island just off Perast. The island is artificial. Legend says that sailors found an icon of the Virgin on a rock here in the fifteenth century, and from then on local seamen dropped stones and sank old ships around it until an island grew; the present church dates from the seventeenth century. Every July locals still row out to throw stones into the water in a ceremony called the fašinada. Inside, the church is lined with paintings and silver votive plaques given by sailors, and the small museum holds the island’s most famous treasure, an embroidery a local woman worked over many years while waiting for her husband to return from the sea, using threads of her own hair.
How to get there: small boats leave from the Perast waterfront throughout the day in season, and the crossing takes only a few minutes. Boat trips from Kotor and around the bay also stop here. There is a modest charge for the boat and a small fee for the museum.
What to expect: the island is tiny, so a visit takes half an hour to an hour. Its neighbour, the natural island of St George with its old Benedictine abbey and cypresses, is usually seen only from the water.
Making the most of it: come in the morning before the tour boats arrive, then spend the rest of the day in Perast, climbing the bell tower of St Nicholas for the view down onto the two islands. In the low season boats are fewer and the schedule more flexible, so ask on the waterfront.
What to expect
The experience
A short boat ride from Perast to a tiny island church and its small museum.
Best time
Morning, before the tour boats arrive.
How long
About an hour including the boat.
Tips
Carry cash for the boat, look for the hair embroidery in the museum and dress respectfully in the church.
Quick picks
- Best for
- Everyone: the most famous picture in the bay is even better up close.
- Families
- A boat ride and a tiny island make an easy, short outing for children.
- Couples
- An early boat across, then lunch on the Perast waterfront.
- Pair with
- Perast and a Bay of Kotor boat tour.
- Time needed
- One hour.
Good questions
How do you get to Our Lady of the Rocks?+
By small boat from the Perast waterfront, a crossing of a few minutes, or as a stop on a boat tour from Kotor.
Is Our Lady of the Rocks a real island?+
No. It was built up over centuries by sailors dropping stones and sinking old ships around a rock.
What is the fašinada?+
A yearly July ceremony when locals row out at sunset to throw stones around the island, continuing the tradition.
Can you visit St George island too?+
St George, the natural island next door with an old Benedictine abbey, is usually seen only from the water.
What is the hair embroidery?+
A piece embroidered over many years by a Perast woman waiting for her sailor husband, partly with her own hair, now in the museum.
