'If Europe still has any tourist reserves, Bulgaria is the first of them.'
Professor Bernecker, Director of the Institute on Tourism, Austria.
So this year you have decided to spend your annual holiday in Bulgaria. That's fine! You are very welcome, and we hope you'll come again next year!
The People's Republic of Bulgaria is a small state in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula between 41° and 44° latitude North and 22° and 28° longitude East. It occupies an area of 111,000 square kilometres and has a population of 8,730,000. Bulgaria borders to the north on the Socialist Republic of Romania (the boundary line runs along the Danube River and then over land), to the west – on the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, to the south – on Greece and Turkey, and to the east – on the Black Sea.
The relief of the country is a happy combination of sea coast, picturesque mountains and verdant plains. The predominant Drown colour on your map gives the impression that it is a purely mountainous country, although this is npt so, despite the fact that in Bulgaria there are no fewer than sixteen mountain massifs. We must first of all mention the Balkan Range, which was called Hemus in ancient times. This range, the longest in the country (555 km) cuts it into two halves as it runs from west to east and has given its name to the whole peninsula. It is the living history of Bulgaria – because in its progressive settlements and in its forests the people have fought many battles for their freedom. Fifteen of the peaks of the Balkan Range rise above 2,000 m, and the highest of them Mount Botev, is 2,376 m high daily ephesus tours. The highest mountains in Bulgaria (and in the whole Balkan Peninsula) are the Rila Mountains (with Mount Moussala – 2,925 m)and then come the Pirin Mountains with Mount Vihren — 2,915 m. East of the Pirin Mountains extends like a choppy sea the massif of the Rhodopes (with Mount Big Perelik -2,192 m). From among the other mountains we must mention the Sredna Gora (Central Mountains), running parallel to the Balkan Range (the two ranges enclosing the well-known Valley of Roses); Mount Vitosha – near the capital, Sofia; the Strandja Mountains (in south-eastern Bulgaria), Belassitsa, Ossogovo (in the southwestern part of the country), etc.
Danubian Plain
Of course, side by side with the brown patches on the map of Bulgaria there are also green ones. They stand for our plains, lowlands and valleys. The most important ones are: the Danubian Plain (between the Danube and the Balkan Range) and Dobroudja — two granaries of Bulgaria; the Thracian Plain (in southern Bulgaria), which got its name from the Thracians who inhabited it in antiquity and which is renowned today for its vineyards, vegetable gardens and tobacco plantations; the Valley of Roses, which we have already mentioned; the Kyustendil Plain – Bulgaria's orchard, etc.
There are also many rivers in Bulgaria, but most of them are seasonal and carry little water most of the time. The largest river, excluding the Danube, is the Maritsa. It springs from the Rila Mountains, crosses the Thracian Plain, and flows into the Aegean Sea. The rivers Toundja and Arda are tributaries of the Maritsa. The Strouma and Mesta also flow into the Aegean. Among the Bulgarian tributaries of the Danube the most important are the Isker, the Ogosta and the Yantra, and the rivers Kamchiya and Ropotamo flow into the Black Sea.
Since the lakes on the Danube bank were drained (only Srebuma Lake was left as a reservation) Bulgaria now has three kinds of lakes: coastal, in the limestone mountains and Alpine. The largest coastal lakes are that of Blatnitsa and of Shabla, the Varna and Gebedje and the Atanassovsko. The most important among those in limestone rocks is Rabisha Lake, and the high- mountain lakes are mainly in the Rila and Pirin Mountains (in the Rila Mountains alone there are 189 corrie lakes and in the Pirin Mountains 176).
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