Tickets and Tours for Our Lady of the Rocks Experiences

Our Lady of the Rocks is man-made. It sits off Perast in the Bay of Kotor, beside a second islet that formed naturally. The two are the picture everyone takes of this coast.

How an island gets built

It starts with a reef and an icon found on it in 1452. Sailors dropped a stone on the way home. They kept it up for centuries, and sank old ships on the spot as well.

By the seventeenth century there was ground enough to build on. The church went up in 1632. The island has needed topping up ever since.

What is on it

• The church. Blue-domed, seventeenth century, with a small museum beside it.
• The votive silver. Plaques left by sailors for safe returns, hundreds of them on the walls.
• The embroidery. A tapestry a local woman worked for twenty-five years, using her own hair as it greyed.

The fašinada

On 22 July every year boats go out at sunset and drop stones around the island. It is not a reconstruction for visitors. The island needs the stone, and the ritual has never stopped.

Practical

• Getting there. Small boats run from the Perast waterfront in season, five minutes each way. There is no bridge.
• Entry. A small charge for the church and museum, separate from the boat fare.
• Time needed. Half an hour on the island covers it. Most bay tours build in exactly that.
• Season. Boats run spring to autumn. In winter crossings depend on weather and the museum keeps short hours.
• Dress. It is a working church. Covered shoulders and knees.