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The 'Balkan mountain range' (Bulgarian and Serbian: Стара планина, ''Stara planina'', "Old Mountain") is an extension of the Carpathian mountain range, separated from it by the Danube River.
The Balkan range runs 560 km from eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea.
The highest peak on the Balkan peninsula is Musala in the Rila mountains near Sofia (Rila range), with 2,925 m, closely followed by Mount Olympus in Greece and Vihren (Pirin range).
The highest peaks of the Stara planina itself are in central Bulgaria. The highest peak is Botev (2,376 m), located in the Central Balkan National Park (established 1991).
Close to it is Kalofer, the birth place of Hristo Botev, a Bulgarian poet and national hero who died in the Western Stara Planina near Vratsa in 1876 in the struggle against the Ottoman Empire. Also close to Botev peak is the Shipka Pass, the scene of the four battles in Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78 which ended Turkish rule in the Balkans. Close to the pass in the village of Shipka there is a Russian Orthodox church, built to commemorate Russian and Bulgarian bravery during pass defence.
Stara Planina is remarkable for its flora and fauna. Edelweiss grows there in the region of ''Koziata stena''.

Contents

Passes

Peaks

See also

External links

Passes

There are paved roads crossing Stara Planina at the following passes (listed from west to east):

★ Petrohan Pass: Sofia - Montana

★ Iskar Gorge (Iskarski prolom ): Sofia - Vratsa (also railroad)

★ Vitinya Pass: Hemus motorway (A2), Sofia - Botevgrad

★ Beklemeto Pass: Troyan - Karnare

★ Shipka Pass: Gabrovo - Kazanlak (also railroad)

★ Pass of the Republic (Prohod na republikata): Veliko Tarnovo - Gurkovo

★ Vratnik Pass: Elena - Sliven

★ Kotel Pass (Kotlenski prohod): Kotel - Petolachka (''Pentagram'') crossroads

★ Varbitsa Pass (Varbishki prohod): Shumen - Petolachka crossroads

★ Rish Pass (Rishki prohod): Shumen - Karnobat

★ Luda Kamchiya Gorge (Ludokamchiyski prolom): Dalgopol - Karnobat (also railroad)

★ Dyulino Pass (Dyulinski prohod): Varna - Aitos

★ Obzor Pass (Obzorski prohod): Varna - Burgas, future Cherno More motorway (A3)
In earlier times the mountains were known as the Haemus Mons. Scholars consider that ''Haemus'' (Greek '' 'Aimos'') is derived from an unattested Thracian word
★ saimon, meaning 'mountain range'.

Peaks

★ Midžor 2,169 m is the highest peak in Central Serbia

★ Botev Peak 2,376 m (named after Hristo Botev)

★ Vezhen

★ Kom

★ Buzludzha

★ Levski (named after Vasil Levski)

See also

★ Rhodope Mountains, Dinaric Alps, Šar mountain, Pindus — other major mountain chains in the Balkan region

★ Balkans

External links

★ Regional tourist association

★ Stara Planina