Croatia is a holiday goldmine for people who love islands. There are over a thousand islands in Croatia, spread over a huge coastal area on the Adriatic Ocean. From the Istria peninsular (that little leaf-shape peninsular hanging from the northern coast of Adriatic directly across from Venice) one could take a ferry to the beautiful island of Cres.
In between Rijeka and Pula is a little harbour port called Brestova. A scenic drive down the mountain will take you to the ferry port with service running every hour (or every two hours on Sundays). It's only a short 20 minutes' ride across the narrow strait, but on a good day the scenery is breathtaking. The Brestova port has a small café restaurant, gift shop, and toilet facilities.
The main town of the island (also called Cres) is a further 20 to 30 minutes' drive. It is a quaint holiday town with a marina and beautiful holiday houses. Cafés and restaurants lined the boat-filled marina, and shops selling local olive oil and gifts are aplenty. It is a great starting point for exploring the rest of the island, which has more to offer than one can imagine: beautiful villages, hidden beaches, local restaurants. Our next stop was Lubenice, a hilltop village that has only 24 inhabitants!
Ferry schedule from Brestova:
http://www.croatiaferries.com/brestova-porozina
More on the island of Cres: http://www.tzg-cres.hr/en/
I love small town, but never this small. On the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Site is a town called Lubenice, on the island of Cres in Croatia, built since the middle ages on top of a mountain that overlooks the Adriatic Sea. The drive uphill was amazing, whizzing past remnants of stone walls and fortresses. Apparently Lubenice was a fortified settlement since the Bronze and Iron ages. During the Roman period it was actually an urban centre and one of the most important settlements on the island of Cres. Reportedly it has 40 buildings and 24 residents now.
The island of Cres is not to be missed when you are in Croatia. Not too many tourists, with a beautiful seaside main town and a lot of small old towns scattered on the island. Cres and Krk are the biggest islands of Croatia - a country that has over a thousand islands.
The purpose of my trip was to visit Lubenice, and I had to catch the ferry to Krk immediately after. The next time I am in Cres I will try to visit some of the other villages as well.
我到過不少歐洲的小鎮，但是從來没有見過一個像Lubenice 這麼「小」的小鎮。與其說Lubenice 是一個「鎮」，倒不如說這是一個小村落。根據最近的統計數字，Lubenice 現在只有四十座建築物及二十四個居民，是一個名副其實的「小鎮」。
Lubenice 位於克羅地亞一個叫Cres 的島嶼，始建於中世紀，屹立在一座山丘之上，面向整個亞得里亞海。我乘搭可以載車的船到Cres 後，一路駕車往山上走，眼睛不由自主地盯著沿途令人驚嘆的壯麗景觀。根據歷史記載，自青銅器時代及鐵器時代已經有人在Lubenice 定居，在羅馬時期它更是附近的「市中心」；雖然現在Lubenice 已不像古時候的繁榮興盛，但是當時的面貌一直保存到現在。在Lubenice，你不會有很多事情可以做，因為那裏没有餐廳，没有商店，没有人來人往的街道；但是你正正就可以藉此靜靜地欣賞那裏的淒美和孤清。
克羅地亞是一個擁有上千個小島的國家，Cres 及Krk 是其中兩個最大的島嶼，島上四處滿佈古鎮小村落，歷史遺跡到處可見，它們是你到克羅地亞行程上不可錯過的一部份。
Here is a bird's eye view on Lubenice:
There are many ways of reaching the island of Cres. You can see that it is not that far from Rijeka. Here was the route I took:
The island has about 3000 inhabitants total, 24 of which live in Lubenice. During the summer Lubenice would be a bit livelier, but during low seasons don't count on finding restaurants or shops in Lubenice. Your best bet is Cres the main town.
Lubenice is nominated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2017
