Imotski | Dalmatia

Many of the buses that pass through Omiš from Split are bound for IMOTSKI, a provincial town set amid stony hills hard up against the Hercegovinian border. Unfortunately these buses don't follow the Cetina gorge route, but it's a highly scenic ride nevertheless, climbing over scrub-covered mountains south of Omiš before ploughing through fertile valleys thick with vineyards. Buses drop you at the eastern end of town, from where it's a short walk downhill a main square hemmed in by green-shuttered stone houses. However most visitors come to Imotski to gawp at the two lakes on the outskirts of town, reached by following Ante Starčevića westward from the square. A ten-minute walk brings you to the first of these, the so-called Modro Jezero or Blue Lake, which occupies a monstrous hole in the karst formed by the collapse of underground caverns. The depression is 290m deep, and fissures near the bottom keep the lake fed with water whenever the local rock is saturated with rainfall. In dry summer weather the water level drops dramatically, revealing a deep basin with sheer cliffs on one side and steep scree-covered slopes on most others. A path switchbacks its way down into this veritable moon-crater of a place, offering several vantage points en route before arriving at the water's edge.The going is rough and gravelly, so don sensible footware (and try and ignore the locals nonchalantly traipsing down in their flip-flops). Fifteen minutes' walk further west from the Modro Jezero, the Crveno Jezero ("Red Lake") is if anything an even more gob-smacking sight, owing its name to the fact that it gets less sunlight than the Blue Lake, and reflects only the sombre russet and grey hues of the surrounding cliffs. The lake stands at the bottom of a pit some 300m wide and 500m deep - water usually fills the lower 250-300m.You can't get down to the water's edge, but you get a marvellous view of this awesome hole in the ground from the rim of the depression.
There are plenty of cafes on Imotski's main square and along Šetalište Stjepana Radiča, the street that leads off it. The Imota hotel, Stjepana Radiča 15, has been subjected to long periods of closure due to ownership disputes, so ring in advance before setting your heart on staying there.

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