Little church on the man made islad with beautiful legend behind it. Interesting little museum beside the church. Amazing views of Perast from the boat. Worth seeing while in Montenegro.

The story is that two brothers who were fishermen saw a picture of Mary and baby Jesus on a rock floating in the sea. They rescued the picture and took it to their home. Soon after one of the brothers who was sick was cured. They then decided to build a church where the painting had been found. But first they needed to build an island. So each time they went out on their fishing boat, they dropped a rock in the spot. The tale spread and other sailors did the same. It took over 200 years and the brothers had long passed away but an island was finally created and the church was built on the rock. The picture that had been found, was placed in the church and is still there today behind the beautiful altar. As sailors stopped by, they left a silver plate for a safe journey and those silver plates still decorate the church. The church is very beautiful especially the altar and the ceiling which is filled with paintings. The museum is upstairs. There is a portrait upstairs of Mary and Jesus embroidered by a captain’s wife with very fine needlepoint. She used her own hair to embroider the angel’s hair. It took her many years to finish the portrait and one can see her original black hair that was used and then her grey hair. There are also quite a few other items upstairs such as pottery, dishes, rifles, pots and pans, and such. You also can take some pretty nice pictures of the little town of Perast from the window. All in all, this is well worth the visit and I would visit Our Lady of the Rock again.

Our boat tour stopped on Lady of the Rock for one of its stops. The Orthodox Church has an entrance fee. There is a small gift shop and toilet for 1 Euro. Don’t think you need to spend more than 15 min since the man-made island is very small.

We had a hire car and the minute we parked some men came over saying we had to pay 8 euro for parking or it was free if we did the boat trip to Our Lady of the Rocks. We asked how much that was and they said 15 euro per person (3 of us being us and our adult son). I said the trip is usually 5 euro and they laughed saying that is an old price, everything has gone up. I went back to the car deciding we would just quickly take some photos and leave, when one of the men said ok 30 euro for 3 people to park the car as long as we wanted and the boat trip to the island. As this was our only opportunity to visit the island we decided to just pay the 30 euro although I am sure we were ripped off . A tiny little put put boat turned up to the dock and took us out the island, he then just putted off saying he'd be back in 30min. The island only really needs 15 minutes tops, there is a little lighthouse, church (entry is 3 euro) a shop/toilet. We waved our boat down after the 15 min and he took us around the second little island and went back to the town. We then walked along the promenade of the town, grabbed a ice-cream and went back to the car, all up was about an hour.

We drove in with a rental car to just see the island. Parking is very hard and unless you want to do the tour, avoid the boat tour monopoly on parking. We were able to find a spot on the side of the upper road and avoid the tour guys. We walked down to the shoreline and were able to get a taxi boat to the island for 5 euro a person (tour guys charge 20 - 30). The island itself is really only worth 20 - 30 minutes. Not a ton to see but it's a nice picturesque place. We spent about an hour to hour and a half in Perast and felt like we saw it all!

Catholic Church built in the 1400s. The island itself is man made - rocks and sunken ships. Amazing art and stories of mariners who pilgrimage to Our Lady asking Protection or thanking her for coming safely home. Read up on the icon over the altar - May even have been a miracle or two here. You can go behind the altar to touch an original stone, second floor houses more tributes to Our Lady and a nice little shop. You need a boat to get here, and that's part of the fun.

As we were driving from Dubrovnik to Mostar, we saw a sign for Perast. We thought, why not? So we pulled off the road and walked around a little bit and then saw the island and the church, “Our Lady of the Rocks”. It looked so intriguing and unusual, that we decided we would find our way to the island. We walked down to the water, not seeing any kind of public transportation, but several small boats. And when I say small boats, I mean, maybe five people could fit on it. So two men, one older and one younger, yell to us from the boat and ask us if we want to go to the island in extremely broken English. This is where sometimes you just have to say yes comes in, so we waved them over. They helped us in the boat and told us it would be five euros to row us over to the island. We hand them the five euros and we are off. There was nothing in the boat, but these two men, who were barefoot, and we’re only wearing, tiny little swimsuits. They were extremely Sunkissed and barrel chested and had an edge to them like they had seen some stuff in their lifetime. It ended up that they were both Serbians who absolutely hate Croatians. The older one told us about being in the 1994 wars and how he was required to serve. Mind you, this was on maybe a 10 minute boat ride to the island. We tried our best to ask how we would get back to Land, and they said they would just watch for us and when we came back out of the church, they would take us. And by the way, the five euros included both ways! The island and the church were magical. It was authentically Montenegrin. Nothing was in English and no one really spoke English. We looked around the museum/church and took in all the beauties of the fjord that we were in, in the bay of Kotor. After staying there for about half an hour, we went out to look for our ride, and Shernoff, there they were. They rowed us back toland, said goodbye and started looking for others that they could take over. It was such a unique, interesting experience, and then to realize that the island was man-made from sailors, and local people who drop rocks and sink ships in order to make an island. Don’t lose the opportunity to check out this cool little island, and shop local when it comes to getting over there!

Various operators along the waterfront in Perast offer trips for 5 euros return. Entry into the church is a couple of euros. This is well worthwhile for a short scenic cruise with great views of Perast. We went early, soon after the boats start at 9am or so, in order that there would be no crowds or queues in August. However, the light for the views to Perast would be better in the afternoon due to sun direction. The church itself was interesting to explore, but what we enjoyed the most was the views.

Lovely boat trip on a speed boat to see Lady of the Rocks. You have to pay 3 euros to go into the church extra we did not do that. You only stay there about 15 minutes before you go to the town of Perast for a 40 minute look around. Boat trip is only 20 euoros so good value.