Balkan Mountains: full description

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The Balkan mountain range, Stara Planina (Old Mountains) is one of the most beautiful mountain systems in Europe. Let's learn more about its main characteristics and distinctive features.

Experiencing the Old Mountains

Stara Planina (Serbian and Bulgarian name of the toponym) - the second name of the Balkan Mountains or the Balkans, as they were called earlier. Today, the last name has been assigned to the Balkan Peninsula itself. In ancient Greek, the mountains are called ΑἶΜος, in Latin - Haemus. They are considered the largest mountain system of the Bulgarian state, the western extensions of which can also be found on the territory of today's Serbia.

The mountain range divides modern Bulgaria into North and South, crossing this country from west to east. Previously, the Balkan Mountains separated northern Moesia from southern Macedonia and Thrace. This mountain system is a natural continuation of the Southern Carpathian ranges, which are crossed by the Iron Gates (narrowing of the mouth) of the Danube River on the border of Romania and Serbia.

Where the Balkan Mountains are located, it immediately becomes clear from the name of the mountain system - it is she who gives the name to the entire peninsula, on whichlocated. Detailed coordinates: 43.2482 north latitude, 25.0069 east longitude. The total length of the mountain ranges is 555 km. The height of the Balkan Mountains does not exceed 2376 m - the mountain peak Botev is limited to this maximum.

Characteristics of the Stara Planina mountain system

Stara Planina, formed in the Cenozoic era, has a number of distinctive characteristics:

• Geological indicators: The Balkan Mountains are peaks parallel to each other with seemingly smoothed ridges. Their composition is as follows: Precambrian and Paleozoic granites and schists, as well as Mesozoic conglomerates, flysch, sandstones, karst and limestones.
• Relief description: the northern half is represented by gentle slopes, turning into foothills closer to the Lower Danube Plain. The southern ranges, on the other hand, are steeper and steeper.
• Climatic characteristics: the mountains serve as a kind of wall-climatic division between the northern and southern regions of Bulgaria. Their crests collect up to 800-1000 mm of precipitation annually; for several months of the year, the peaks lie under snow caps.
• Hydrography: in the Balkan Mountains you can find the sources of such rivers as the Ogosta, Vit, Lom, Osam, Timok - from here their channels head north to the Danube. In the east, Stara Planina is crossed by the valley of the Kamchiya River, and in the west by the Iskar River.
• Flora: the tops of the mountains are meadows, meadows. The northern slopes characterized by high humidity are coniferous (pine forests) or beech, oak, hornbeam forests, rising to 1700-1800 m. The eastern regions of the Balkan Mountains are covered with a thick cover of deciduousforests, characterized by evergreen undergrowth, a network of lianas.
• Mining: brown and hard coal; iron, copper, lead-zinc ores.

History and present

For the first time the Bulgarian-Serbian name of the Stara Planina mountain system was recorded in 1533. On the northern slopes of the Balkan Mountains, tourists can meet many monuments dating back to the era of the Bulgarian national liberation movement. The Freedom Monument stands out in particular. A number of monasteries also found their shelter in the mountains - Kremikovskiy, Sokolskiy and others.

The mineral springs of the mountains on the Balkan Peninsula have become the base for a number of well-known mountain resorts - Ribaritsa, Varshets, Teteven, etc. No less popular is the Steneto National Park and the picturesque passes: Shipka, Petrokhansky, Virbishsky, Chureksky, the Republic Pass and the gorge Iskar River.

The western region of Staro Planina is rich in karst, which is why mountain tourists tend to admire the amazing karst caves in these places: Rabishskaya (here you can also find primitive rock art), Ledenika, Syeva-Dupka and others.

Mount Botev

The highest point of the Balkan Mountains was originally called Yumrukchal (translated as Fist Mountain). For four years (1942-1946) it was called the top of Ferdinand in honor of the king who climbed to its top. After that, it was Kulak-mountain again for four years, until in 1950 it acquired its modern name - by the name of Hristo Botev, a revolutionary andBulgarian poet.

At the top of Botev there is a television and radio station, whose signals cover 65% of the entire territory of the Bulgarian state, as well as a weather station, which during the Second World War was captured by the Nazis and worked for their purposes. Today, in the latter, tourists can relax, hide from the weather, and have a bite to eat. On its walls, travelers attach commemorative plaques about their ascents.

Regions of the Balkan Mountains

Traditionally, there are three districts of Staro Planina:

• Oriental. It is the flattest part, diverging into separate spurs, one of which is the unique Horn of Staraya Planina. Its tip is Cape Emine, the easternmost point of the Balkan Mountains.
• Medium. The highest, picturesque and popular area of the Balkans, isolated from the other two. It is limited by the Iron Gate (Vratnik) and the Zlatish Pass. It is here that the peaks of Botev, Triglav, Vezhen, Kupena (Aleko), Ambaritsa (Levski) are located.
• Western. It originates at the Serbian border and extends to the very Zlatish Pass. Here you can admire the peak of Mijur.

Mountains of the Balkan Peninsula

In addition to the Old Mountains, the following mountain systems are located on the territory of the peninsula:

• Dinaric Highlands - western regions (Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina).
• Pindus mountain ranges - slightly south of the previous ones (Macedonia, Albania, Greece).
• Rila mountain ranges - north (Bulgaria),the highest point of the Balkan Peninsula, the 2925-meter peak Musala, belongs to them.
• The Rhodope Mountains, bordering the Aegean Sea in the southern part.
• Pirina - mountain systems of the Alpine type.

Thus, Stara Planina is not the only mountain system of the Balkan Peninsula. But it was she who gave the name to the latter, it is she who has a great influence on the climate of the whole of Bulgaria.