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Topography
For a relatively small country, almost 111 000sq km, Bulgaria’s topography is extremely varied.
Almost 30% of the country’s land mass is mountains, with more than 30 peaks over 2000m. These, and their corresponding valleys, have played a major part in the moulding of Bulgarian lifestyle and Bulgarian character – a self reliant population of insular mountain folk and arable farmers in the leas and meadows of the lowlands. The Stara Planina mountains divide the country and shape the weather. They halt the southerly track of the harsh winter steppe winds and interrupt the northerly progress of very dry heat from the Mediterranean in summer, affecting the native flora and fauna and the development of agriculture throughout the country. Each mountain range has its own distinct appeal. The Alpine peaks of the Pirin are in marked contrast to the karst (eroded limestone producing sinkholes, fissures and ridges) of the Blue Rocks and the Ropotamo basin or the gently rounded knolls of the Sredna Gora.
Bulgaria is equally rich in underground landscapes. Four thousands three hundred caves and caverns constitute a veritable hidden world that’s played an important role in Bulgarian history – protecting its population, its religion and its national heritage.
Water also plays an important role. The snows and rain of the mountains divert into numerous drinkable springs and streams – the country has rarely been short of water, as the verdant landscape suggests. Though the country has no major rivers aside from the Danube on its northern front ier it has a plethora of splendid lakes, many making for ‘chocolate box’ landscapes.
Bulgaria’s only coastlin e is that in the far east of the country, on the Black Sea. Here you’ll find splendid and renowned sandy swatches (the jewels of Bulgaria’s tourism industry), rocky peninsulas, marshes, reed beds, sand dunes, and fresh and saltwater lakes.
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