Perasto

"Of the villages on the shores, perhaps Perasto is the prettiest, or rather was so: for, on account of some inexplicable freak of fashion, Perasto has dropped out of favour with the Cattarese, and scarcely anyone will live there, even if paid to do so by the absent owners of the houses; one half of them consequently are already roofless and falling into ruin. The town clings upon steps cut up the nearly perpendicular sides of the stern barren mountain: Venetian castles appear above and below, and in the midst of all is a most beautiful lofty campanile, of light and elegant design. Many fast-decaying bits of Venetian architecture are readily discerned even from the water.

Perasto stands in the centre of the eastern end of the fiord, between the two arms of which the largest runs southwards to Cattaro, and the other bends round to Monte Cassone and Risano, famous for the costumes and fine arms of the men. To the left of Perasto are two very picturesque rocky islets, each holding a convent: in one of these is the portrait of the Blessed Virgin painted by St. Luke - the object of hundreds of pilgrimages" (p. 103).