Bulgaria

A Town Under Kom Peak

Berkovitsa, in Montana province in the northwest, sits at the foot of the western Balkan Mountains, beneath Kom peak (2,016 metres). Its camera looks over the town square, with its 18th-century clock tower, toward the wooded slopes behind. The town is a starting point for the long ridge trail that follows the Balkan range east toward the Black Sea.

Storks Below Rila

Dragushinovo is a village in the Samokov valley, south of Sofia, under the Rila mountains, where Musala (2,925 metres) is the highest peak in the Balkans. A pair of white storks returns to a nest in the village every year, and the camera follows them from their arrival in March to the chicks' departure in August.

Contrasting Seasons

Bulgaria's continental climate brings hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters inland, while the Black Sea coast stays milder. In spring the Rose Valley, south of the Balkan Mountains, produces much of the world's rose oil.