Vitosha Mountain

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Vitosha is the most visited Bulgarian mountain. It is situated so close to Sofia that is one of its symbols. Very few cities in the world possess such a natural advantage.

Vitosha has high and beautiful peaks, thick woods, many tourist sites, sufficient snow fall ensuring stable snow cover, pure air, hundreds of kilometers of well marked tracks, well preserved nature, clean water, wonderful ski facilities, rich history. Adding to all these its closeness to the capital city of Bulgaria - this explains why is this mountain visited and loved so much. Also there are many lodging places, two Gondola lifts, numerous chair lifts, catering facilities, mountain shelters. All these are concentrated mainly along the northern slopes of the mountain, facing Sofia.

Vitosha is a typical dome-like mountain. Its highest peak is Cherni Vrah - 2290 meters.  The mountain consists primarily of granite rocks, but there are karst rocks as well especially in the Southern part. A unique natural phenomenon are the so-called "stone rivers" (moreni) - piles of huge rounded granite stones on many of the river valleys reaching up to 2 km in length and 50 m in width. Especially expressive and beautiful are the "Moreni" in the area of Zlatnite mostove (Golden Bridges) that is one of the most popular tourist area, located at an altitude of 1400 m. above sea level, in the Northern range of Vitosha. In old times this was a place where gold was washed out of the sands, hence the name of the place. Zlatnite Mostove is a starting point to Cherni Vrah (about 3 hrs.).