Beli

45°06′38″N 14°21′19″E

population: 45

Beli is a historic town in the heart of the Tramontana Forest, on the northern side of the island of Cres.
The town’s houses are situated on the top of a hill, 130 meters above sea level.

In Beli, people have lived for over two millennia. At the foot of the town is a fishing harbor and a beautiful pebble beach with small stone cottages.

You reach the town via an eight-kilometer winding road, a detour from the main island road. Along the way, you’ll pass by giant oak trees and see sheep roaming freely in search of food. In the surroundings, you’ll encounter mysterious labyrinths, traces from the Celtic era and Roman ruins, majestic griffon vultures in the sky, and playful dolphins in the blue depths.

Points of Interest

Lada's labyrinth

Lada is an ancient Croatian goddess of beauty and love who embodies the awakening natural forces. Her companions are the fairy Ladarice who, having left the world, settled among the stars. This is how the Pleiades or Vlašići came to be. This labyrinth is a replica of an ancient Roman labyrinth discovered in Pula.

Vesna's labyrinth

It is an enlarged replica of the labyrinth located in the Notre Dame de Chartres Cathedral in France. It is dedicated to the ancient Croatian goddess of spring, Vesna, the one who harmonized the heart with reason, beauty with gentleness. She is the spring deity of the earth who clothes it in the attire of buds, flowers, grass, and leaves.

Izida's labyrinth

Isis is an ancient Egyptian Mother goddess who symbolizes birth, fertility, and the richness of the earth, and it is believed that she is represented today by the Black Madonnas. As there is also a miraculous statue of the Black Madonna in the parish church in Beli, the Izidin labyrinth is dedicated to her. The villages that the paths connect are today completely devastated and abandoned, but therefore interesting like an open-air ethnological museum.