Pirin

The Pirin Mountains are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with Vihren at an altitude of 2,914 m being the highest peak. One hypothessis is the mountain was named after Perun, the highest god of the Slavic pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. Another version is that the etymology of the range derives from the Thracian word Perinthos, meaning "Rocky Mountain".

The range extends about 80 km from the north-west to the south-east and is about 40 km wide, spanning a territory of 2,585 km2. To the north Pirin is separated from Bulgaria's highest mountain range, the Rila Mountains, by the Predel saddle, while to the south it reaches the Slavyanka Mountains. To the west is located the valley of the river Struma and to the east the valley of the river Mesta separates it from the Rhodope Mountains. Pirin is dotted with more than a hundred glacial lakes and is also the home of Europe's southernmost glaciers, Snezhnika and Banski Suhodol.