Maritsa River

The Maritsa river (known as Evros in Greece) is a river that is four hundred and eighty kilometres in length and starts its life in the Bulgarian Rila Mountain range.

The Maritsa river starts its life close to the border of the Bulgarian province of Blagoevgrad before moving east, travelling through the Bulgarian provinces of Sofia, Pazardzhik (travelling through the central city of Pazardzhik), Plovdiv (travelling through the central city of Plovdiv) and Haskovo. Upon leaving Bulgaria the Maritsa is renamed Evros by the Greeks and acts as the border between Greece and Turkey where it flows into the Aegean Sea.

The Maritsa river is quite wide and is prone to flooding in the low lying areas around the Greek and Turkish border at and around the city of Edirne.

In the late fourteenth century, 1371AD, there was a famous battle at the Maritsa river where the Turkish Ottoman Empire won a decisive victory against a colaition of Serbians and Bulgarians.