Mesta River

Mesta (Места), Nestos (Νέστος)
Origin	at 42°07′10″N 23°35′10″E / 42.11944°N 23.58611°E / 42.11944; 23.58611, Rila Mountains, Bulgaria
Mouth	Aegean Sea, Greece 40°50′51″N 24°48′15″E / 40.8475°N 24.80417°E / 40.8475; 24.80417Coordinates: 40°50′51″N 24°48′15″E / 40.8475°N 24.80417°E / 40.8475; 24.80417
Basin countries	Bulgaria, Greece
Length	230 km
Source elevation	2,240 m
Avg. discharge	from 1,462 m³/s at the source of Cherna Mesta to 29,850 m³/s at Hadzhidimovo
Basin area	2767,1 km²

The Mesta (Bulgarian: Места) or Nestos (Greek: Νέστος), formerly the Mesta Karasu (Ottoman Turkish), is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the Aegean Sea near the island of Thasos. 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 and expands as a deltaic system with freshwater lakes and ponds forming the Nestos delta.The length of the river is 230 km, of which 126 km in Bulgaria and the rest in Greece. It forms some gorges in Rila and Pirin.

The Mesta's longest tributary is the Dospat River. The banks of the river are covered mainly by deciduous trees that extend into halfway between Bulgaria and Greece where it forms the modern boundary of Greek Macedonia and Thrace, as well as the boundary between the Kavala and the Xanthi prefectures, having first crossed the Drama prefecture. The river later forms a delta to the north where swamplands, wetlands and a lagoon once existed except in the east.

Honour

Mesta Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Mesta River.

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