The ancient beech
Never-felled forest on the World Heritage list.
Спасимир — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Спасимир — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Спасимир — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Спасимир — CC BY-SA 4.0
The mountain range that crosses Bulgaria from the Serbian border to the Black Sea, some five hundred and sixty kilometres long. Its Turkish name, Balkan, gave the whole peninsula its name. Its significance in Bulgaria is more than geographical: it divided the country north and south, the haiduk rebels hid in it through the Ottoman centuries, and the Russian army crossed it in the war of 1877 at the Shipka pass in a decisive battle marked by a monument on the summit. Most of Bulgaria's national legends and songs are about these mountains.
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Central Balkan National Park protects the high **Stara Planina** — the Balkan range that gives the whole peninsula its name, cutting across Bulgaria from west to east. The park is long and narrow, running some eighty kilometres along the crest. It holds **nine strict nature reserves** — the highest level of protection in Bulgaria — four of them on the World Heritage list among Europe's ancient beech forests, meaning beech that has never been felled. The wildlife is complete: brown bears, wolves, wildcats and eagles, with more than two thousand plant species. Along it are **Bulgaria's highest waterfalls**, Rayskoto Praskalo among them, and the Botev peak at 2,376 metres. The Kom-Emine trail, the country's longest walking route, crosses it. **It is not a day trip from Plovdiv**: about sixty-five kilometres to the nearest entrance, and reaching anything inside is several hours of mountain walking. Entrances are from Kalofer, Karlovo and Troyan.
Never-felled forest on the World Heritage list.
2,376 metres, the highest point of the Balkan range.
Central Stara Planina, Bulgaria