Perast, located twelve kilometers from Kotor, was once one of the most beautiful baroque towns on the Boka Kotorska. But the earthquake in 1979 left almost nothing but rubble and ruins. The view from the fortress above the road from Kotor to Herceg Novi shows that Perast won’t deserve the tag “ghost town” for very long now. There is construction and reconstruction on every corner; real estate prices are even higher than in Dubrovnik in Croatia.

Settlement in this region dates back to the Neolithic age. Archeologists date findings back to 3500 B.C. 

With the exception of Kotor, Perast was the only town along the Boka Kotorska that never had to surrender under the pressure of the Turks. Perast developed early into a shipbuilding and seafaring center. Even the Russian czar Peter the Great sent the best of his cadets to the Boka to be educated in the nautical school.