Croatia: Cres and Losinj

3rd-8th August 2017

After an early start to get the car to the garage and see a man about a tire, we were finally able to head off, car fixed (the photo of said happy car below was taken at a different point of time, when we cheekily parked next to someone else touristing along in a car from the same company as ours!)

Out of the islands I have visited in Croatia so far, Hvar and Kortula remain my favourite, however Cres is also a lovely island, and was in fact our next destination. Every Croatian island has its own feel to it, though there is something uniquily Croatian that I can't pinpoint, but one feels upon entering the harbour of any island here, the aquamarine water, the sun beating down on your head, the little boats bobbing in the water, the architecture, houses spilling down to the ocean.

Pronounced Tres (as far as I could make out), this is the largest of Croatia's islands and was once part of the Venetian Empire (those Venetian's really got around). Nowadays, the tourists seem to mainly be German and Italian, and the main money-making avenue is of course tourism. Wikipedia tells me that the Russians have been buying up land here too and alarming locals.

 The island is also full of olive groves and sage however, which is also part of the islander's livelihoods (and make for beautiful landscape and scents!)                                      

To visit Cres, we hopped on a ferry going via Krk - another island which is also beautiful I'm sure, however is known for hoards of tourists, therefore we skipped it. 

 Cres town is one of the main places to visit on the island, however we started our first night in Ustrine, and it was a brilliant decision! Sticking to our trusty booking.com (which in these parts of the world gives you lovely houses belonging to locals, rather than impersonal hotels) we have always been able to find the most interesting places. 

We ran into a spot of bother first facing the common Croatian problem that villages either have no street signs at all, or all the streets in the village have the same name (which surely renders naming the street useless). Our second issue upon finding the place, was that as we had booked the accomodation very last minute, our host had no idea we were coming, and spoke only Croatian and German. Luckily her friendly English and Croatian speaking neighbour helped us out, and we were soon settled. Although the apartment didn't have Wifi or air conditioning. it was absolutely worth it for a night considering the views! My deep and abiding love of air conditioning will soon make itself known on these travels.

The first thing one must always do when on a Croatian island is go to the beach (preferably for a swim) which we happily obliged. The great thing about Ustrine is the beach entrance is gated off across the road, and therefore can only be accessed by residents (which we were for the night!) We smugly made our way down the private road to our beach - nothing can beat a Croatian beach (except perhaps a Greek one!) We then traipsed back to our wonderful apartment, admired the views, and watched the sunset from the balcony, whilst enjoying bruschetta three ways - traditional, with thyme and white wine mushrooms, and peppadews (a sweet but spicy South African pepper) with hummus - washed down with our holiday drink of choice; Rosé.

The next morning our adventures on Cres really began (but first, a swim and laze at the local beach before we checked out of our apartment!)

We headed for Valun, a fishing village which was super picturesque, with little boats bobbing in the harbour. We had to park outside the town and walk in, but this just added to its charm. 

A walk around the rocks led to a secluded pebbly bay which we had all to ourselves! We lay in the sun, reading, sweating and swimming, and generally having a lovely relaxed time.

 Our next destination was Cres town, where we had a nice modern apartment waiting for us (and air conditioning thank goodness, as I was turning into a puddle). Cres town was busy, but very pleasant for a wander. 

The next morning we bought aqua shoes to combat the many sea urchins, and a snorkel for maximum water enjoyment. If I kept every snorkle I bought each time I went on holiday I could start a collection - but alas, I never do. We had planned to go to the village of Beli, known for an endangered vulture species, but it was a fair way and I was more tempted by beaches than birds, so we headed back to Valun for a picnic day at the beach!

This was unfortunately cruelly thwarted by a swarm of wasps, so instead of eating, I read my book and relaxed (read: hid from the wasps) in the ocean.
Our next stop was Lubenice, a semi abandoned fortified town with incredible cliff views. It was so hot however we didn't linger long, just enough time to take in the views, be amused by the only museum - on sheep breeding of all things - and then move on to Losinj, the island connected to Cres by a single bridge.

Vali Losinj was one of our most memorable stays - our accomodation was incredible for one thing, with air conditioning, a full house with a big kitchen, and an amazing courtyard! We were so close to the harbour we could hear a live band playing from our courtyard - it doesn't get much better than that!

 It felt similar to Cres town, but it was smaller and quieter, and the better for it. Unusually for us, instead of rocking up to a restaurant for dinner, we had in fact booked a place in advance at a fancier than usual place, but boy was it worth it. 

 Bora Bar, a truffle restaurant run by a Tuscan chef - need I say more? Well, I will anyway. We started with truffle butter and bread, washed down a delicious Rosé (of course). I had an incredible zucchini carpaccio with pecorino cheese, slivered almonds and a balsamic reduction. I was also able to try some of the other dishes and the truffle pasta was just excellent. Surprisingly, the truffle and honey panna cotta was also delicious. It turns out I really do love truffles!

We loved our accomodation so much we asked if we could stay another night, but it was unfortunately booked up, so we found one with the tourism office. It was nowhere near as nice, but that's what you get for last minute planning!
We decided to go with a Lonely Planet recommendation for a secluded beach about a thirty minute walk away. Usually Lonely Planet has some pretty good ideas, but this one was disappointing, as it was an extremely steep scramble down, and turned out to be rather murky water full of boats.There was a cool abandoned house there though, with no road at all - and a big house too, not just a shepherd's hut. I wondered how they would have gone there and back (by boat?) and who lived there, and how long ago?
After a breather we decided to head back, but forty minutes of step uphill walking in over 40 degree heat was pretty hellish and left me feeling incredibly sick. The others were great though, even when I felt like puking. Thanks family, you da best. 

Our second beach attempt for the day went much better, as it was a little local inlet only five minutes from our accomodation - we sat in the shade of the pine trees and used our oh so snazzy aqua shoes to walk down the cliff side to swim.
That night we made bruschetta again and played rummy and drank rose. If it weren't for owning aqua shoes, I would almost feel posh.

After all our beach exploring the day before we had a very relaxed day. It felt like the heat wave had finally broken, as the temperatures were in the low thirties which made an extremely pleasant change from the 40s!
 As we had our accomodation for two days, we made pancakes for breakfast! In the afternoon we ventured into Mali Losinj, which was another pretty town, but bigger and much more touristy. I preferred Vali. Looking back on those long hot days, I remember the slow lunches sipping rose and playing rummy outside, the pastel buildings and the merciless, scorching sun.
 Early mornings and evenings were my favorite, when the light was softer, and the day cooler, this was the best time for exploring, and we did just that, going for a last walk into town by twilight. 

Before we knew it, we were off for the ferry, headed back for the mainland. We stayed the night in Senj, but the only thing I can remember about that place was the supermarket having only one type of rose, and it was a strange orange colour - it tasted more like white port, but we drank it anyway of course. Onwards!