Nestos (river)

Nestos ( ), Mesta ( ), or formerly the Mesta Karasu in Turkish (Karasu meaning "black river"), is a river in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

near the island of

Thasos Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate r ...

. It plunges down towering canyons toward the Aegean Sea through mostly metamorphic formations. At the end, the main stream spreads over the coastal plain of

Chrysoupolis Chrysoupoli ( el, Χρυσούπολη, before 1925: Σαπαίοι - ''Sapaioi'' or Σαρή Σαμπάν - ''Sari Saban'') is a town and a former municipality in the Kavala (regional unit), Kavala regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece ...

and expands as a deltaic system with freshwater lakes and ponds forming the Nestos delta. The length of the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

is , of which flow through

Statistical Yearbook 2017

National Statistical Institute (Bulgaria) The National Statistical Institute or NSI ( bg, Национален статистически институт or НСИ) is the Bulgarian state agency responsible for the collection and dissemination of statistical data on the population, ec ...

, p. 17 and the rest in

. Its drainage area is , of which 66% in Bulgaria. It forms some gorges in Rila and

Pirin , photo=Pirin-mountains-Bansko.jpg , photo_caption=Pirin scenery in winter , country= Bulgaria, , parent= , geology= granite, gneiss, marble, limestone , area_km2=2585 , range_coordinates = , length_km=80 , length_orientation= north-s ...

. The longest gorge between Pirin to the west and the Rhodope Mountains to the east is the 25-km long

Momina Klisura Momina may refer to: * Momina, Burkina Faso * Momina, Poland See also * Momino (disambiguation) {{geodis