Valun Village

A single row of pastel fishermen's cottages curving around a horseshoe cove between two brilliant-white pebble beaches, Valun is the small-village fantasy of coastal Croatia. Cars are banned from the tiny old core; you park at the top of the hill and walk down twenty minutes through olive groves. The village's most precious possession is kept in the little parish church of St. Mary: the Valun Tablet, a 12th-century tombstone carved with inscriptions in both Glagolitic and Latin — the oldest such bilingual monument known, and a key document in Slavic literary history. The stone commemorates three generations of a local family (grandmother Juna, her son Bratohna and grandson Juna) and hints at the peaceful coexistence of Croatian and Latin-speaking Romance populations on the island. Down at sea level, the twin beaches of Valun and Zaglav (five minutes' walk apart) offer some of the clearest water on Cres, backed by pine woods that provide midday shade — a rarity on Croatian pebble beaches. Two small konobas on the harbour serve exceptional grilled fish; book ahead in July and August. Best reached by scooter or car from Cres town (25 minutes); avoid arriving by bus, which drops you at the top of a very steep climb back.