Chepelare

General data

Name: Chepelare
Water system: Maritsa (Evros)
Water type: River
Progression: Maritsa (Evros) -> Aegean Sea -> Mediterranean Sea -> Atlantic Ocean -> Planet Earth
Climates: Subtropical
Continents: Europe, Asia
Countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey

The Chepelare river or Chepelarska reka is an 86 km-long river in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the river Maritsa.

Until 1943 the river was known as the Chaya (Чая), which probably originates from the Bulgarian word for tea, чай, due to the abundance of herbal tea plants along its course (species such as Mentha, Tilia, Thymus, etc.) especially along its middle course, where it is still locally called the Chaya. Between 1942 and 1989 it was officially named the Chepelarska reka after the town of Chepelare, situated in its upper course. Since 1989 the official name is the Asenitsa (Асеница) after the city of Asenovgrad in its lower course. However, many institutes including map makers and the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences still use the name Chepelarska reka.

The river takes its source at an altitude of 1,550 m in the Pamporovo ski resort in the western Rhodope mountain range. Until the village of Hvoyna the Chepelarska reka flows north, then turns in northeastern direction until the village of Bachkovo, where it again turns north until its mouth. Throughout most of its course until the outskirts of Asenovgrad, the river flows in a deep and dramatic valley with two widenings at Chepelare and Hvoyna. Downstream it enters the Upper Thracian Plain, where the riverbed becomes wide and sandy, with irrigations canals diverting from it. The Chepelarska reka flows into the Maritsa at an altitude of 183 m some 2.5 km south of the village of Rogosh.

Its drainage basin covers a territory of 1010 km2.

Chepelare

General data

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