Pirin

The Pirin Mountains are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with the highest peak, Vihren, at an altitude of 2,914 m (9,560 ft) The range extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the north-west to the south-east and is about 40 km (25 mi) wide. Pirin is dotted with more than a hundred glacial lakes and is also the home of Europe's southernmost glaciers, Snezhnika and Banski Suhodol. The northern part of the range is protected by the Pirin National Park, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. The name of the mountain may, according to one hypothesis, derive from Perun, the highest god of the Slavic pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. Another version is that the etymology of theRange can be traced to the Thracian word Perinthos, meaning "Rocky Mountain". It takes up 74% of the whole range's territory, being about 42 km (26 mi) long and ranging from the Predel to the Todorova Saddle.