Geography
Plovdiv is on the banks of the Maritsa river, approximately 152 km (94 mi) southeast of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. The city is in the southern part of the Plain of Plovdiv, an alluvial plain forming the western portion of the Upper Thracian Plain. The heights of Sredna Gora rise to the northwest, to the east are the Chirpan Heights and the Rhodope mountains surround the plain from the south. The city had originally developed to the south of Maritsa and it spawned across the river in the last 100 years. Modern Plovdiv covers an area of 101 km2 (39 sq mi), which is less than 0.1% of Bulgaria's total area. This makes the city is the most densely populated in the country with 3,769 inhabitants per km².
Inside the city proper are six syenite hills, called tepeta. In the beginning of the 20th century there used to be seven of them, but one (Markovo tepe) was destroyed. Traditionally the citizens have called them Dzhendem tepe, Bunardzhik, Sahat tepe, Nebet tepe, Dzhambaz tepe and Taksim tepe. The last three form the area of the Three Hills (Bulgarian: Трихълмие), a lively section of the city centre.
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