The Source of the Bosna and the meaning of ZMIJE

Beautiful Vrelo Bosna -- the source of the river for which the country is named and a popular park in suburban Sarajevo

Dona and Rosemary get a carriage ride after long hike to the park and careful negotiation with drivers for a price

Instead of hiking in the mountains with Hawley visiting, for a treat instead, we took the tram out to Ilidza and walked about three kilometers down an avenue lined with chestnut and plane trees to the spot at the foot of Igman Mountain where cold springs bubble up into the start of a river. It is stunningly pretty -- as one guidebook puts it: "a natural park in which there are many springs and streams which form pools and small islets. The source of Bosna is a morphological, hydrological, botanical and a horticultural phenomenon and one of the favorite excursion spots in Sarajevo Canton."

It does have a couple of drawbacks.

Snakes, for example. Zmije. We encountered two of them on the road, fortunately dead, crushed by the horse-drawn carriages that ply the boulevard Central Park like. I felt very homesick for my mother and sister because Miranda went nuts, getting all hysterical and frantic. People stopped to soothe her that they were dead and they were just little black garter snakes anyway, but this was no consolation for her.

The episode gave me something to write about in Bosnian class this week .

The place was frightfully littered. All of Sarajevo is dirty but in this pretty little place bottles, cans and paper in the plants and the streams were inexcusable. I want Green Peace to come to Bosnia and do something really useful -- pick up the place.

And the mines were kind of disturbing. I mean if you are clearing areas of mines after a war you'd think a big public park always full of kids and the source of the city's drinking water would be one of the FIRST places you'd start. How this place 10 years later remains a posted area I don't understand.