2. Bulgaria is a country situated in south-eastern E urope, bordering R omania, Serbia, the R epublic of M acedonia, G reece, T urkey and the B lack S ea.
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4. The land area of Bulgaria is 110,910 square kilometers . Considering its small size, Bulgaria has a great variety of topographical features. Even within small parts of the country, the land may be divided into plains, plateaus, hills, mountains, basins, gorges, and deep river valleys.
5. Considering its small area, Bulgaria has an unusually variable and complex climate. The country lies between the strongly contrasting continental and Mediterranean climatic zones. Bulgarian mountains and valleys act as barriers or channels for air masses, causing sharp contrasts in weather over relatively short distances. The continental zone is slightly larger, because continental air masses flow easily into the unobstructed Danubian Plain. Climate
6. Topography The main characteristic of Bulgaria's topography is alternating bands of high and low terrain s that extend east to west across the country. From north to south, those bands are the Danubian Plain, Stara Planina (the Balkan Mountains), the central Thracian Plain, and the Rhodope Mountains. The easternmost sections near the Black Sea are hilly, but they gradually gain height to the west until the westernmost part of the country is entirely high ground.
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8. Stara Planina originates at the Timok Valley in Serbia and run s southward towards the Sofia Basin in west central Bulgaria. From there they run east to the Black Sea. The Balkans are about 600 km long and 30 to 50 km wide. They retain their height well into central Bulgaria, where Botev Peak, the highest point in the Balkan Mountains, rises to about 2,376 m. Stara Planina
9. Rilo-Rhodope M assif Relatively high mountains occupy the area between the Thracian Plain and Sofia Basin and the Greek border to the south. The western parts consist of three ranges: the Vitosha Mountain south of Sofia, the Rila Mountains further south, and the Pirin Mountains in the southwestern corner of the country. They are the most outstanding topographic feature of Bulgaria and of the entire Balkan Peninsula. The Rila range includes Mount Musala, whose 2,925-metre peak is the highest on the Balkan peninsula . About a dozen other peaks in Rila are over 2,600 meters.
