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Valun, Lubenice and Martiniscica
The Kvarner Gulf
About eight buses a day leave Cres Town for Mali Lošinj, a spectacular journey at times as the road hugs the island's central ridge before descending towards the sea at Osor. Eight kilometres south of Cres Town a minor road heads right towards the sparsely populated western side of the island. After 5km a side road descends to VALUN, a tiny fishing village with colourful houses crowding round its harbour, a quiet shingle beach and ultra-clear waters - it's very popular with weekending Italians, but remains more or less free from development. The tourist office just behind the harbour has rooms, and there's a very attractive small campsite 100m east of the harbour right on the beach. For eating, Konoba Tosjuna has a terrace right on the harbourfront and is a good place to try the local Škampi (shrimps) and creska janjetina (Cres lamb).

Roads lead southwest fromValun to LUBENICE, 5km away, a windswept village occupying a ridge high above the shore. Almost medieval in appearance, it's like a more extreme version of Beli - a depopulated cluster of half-ruined stone houses. The square at the entrance to the village, from which there's an invigorating view of the rugged western coast, hosts alfresco classical music concerts every Friday evening in July and August, and there's a pair of idyllic, secluded pebbly coves far below the village, though they're only accessible by boat or via a very steep and tiring path. There are only three Cres Town-Valun-Lubenice buses a week, so you'll need a car to explore thoroughly.

Back on the main road to Lošinj, you'll see Lake Vrana appear below and to the west, an emerald-green ellipse of fresh water that supplies both Cres and Lošinj - but for this lake, both islands would be utterly dry, and you can't swim here due to its importance as a source of drinking water. Shortly after you pass the lake, there's a turn-off to the right (west) running down to MARTINIŠĆICA, a small village 9km off the main road with a long shingle beach. Modern and lacklustre in comparison to Valun or Lubenice, it nevertheless boasts a well-organized if over-large campsite, just west of the village on the Slating peninsula, with pitches set close to the shore between shrubs and pines.


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