Garmen

Garmen
Country	Bulgaria
Provinces (Oblast)	Blagoevgrad
Elevation	605 m (1,985 ft)
Population
• Total	1,931
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code	2960
Area code	07523

Garmen (Bulgarian: Гърмен) is a village and a municipality in Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria.

It is located in southwestern Bulgaria in the Western Rhodopes Mountains in the Chech region. It includes part of the Mesta River valley and the Dabrashki range.

Geography

Most of the municipality is mountainous and forested. There are coal deposits near Baldevo and hot springs near Ognyanovo.

Surrounding municipalities are:

• Bansko
• Gotse Delchev
• Hadzhidimovo
• Satovcha
• Velingrad

The villages in the municipality include: Baldevo, Ognyanovo, Skrebatno, Osikovo, Ribnovo, Marchevo, Leshten, Gorno Dryanovo, Kovachevitsa, Oreshe and Dolno Dryanovo. The total population of the municipality is about 16,380 (21st July, 2005 census). The village of Ribnovo is the largest with 2,601 inhabitants while the village of Leshten has the least amount of people with only 9 inhabitants. The village of Garmen has about 1,810 inhabitants.

The Garmen Municipality has 388,479 decares of land, with 70% of that being forests. The highest point in the Municipality is 1,938 meter at Mount Beslet. There are also deep river valleys in the middle and southern part of the municipality.

Climate

The municipality has a Mediterranean climate tempered by the high altitude. It has one of the warmest climates in the country because it is between two climate zones-temperate continental and transitional Mediterranean. On an average year the precipitation is 620-780 mm/m² which is distributed relatively evenly between all four seasons. The air humidity ranges from 60% to 75% throughout the year. Snow cover is usually only for 70-100 days per year.

Attractions

Garmen municipality includes the remains of the ancient town of Nikopolis ad Nestum. The Ognyanovo hot springs, with their curative properties, attract many visitors. The church of St. Nicola and other architectural treasures are in Kovachevitsa. There are caves near Osikovo, and also the Maoilovata Doupka cave. Rinovo is known for its traditional lifestyle and retention of national customs. There are also many hiking and eco-trails that were created through the project entitled "New Livelihood Alternatives For the Municipality of Garmen and Bosilovo Through Sustainable Tourism Development. This project was develop by the Municipality of Garmen along with the environmental NGO Borrowed Nature.

Honour

Garmen Point on Smith Island, South Shetland Islands is named after Garmen.

References

• Description of Garmen on en.journey.bg
• [1]Municipality of Garmen Guidebook, 2004