Nestus

Nestos (Νέστος), Mesta (Места)
Country	Bulgaria, Greece
Basin features
Main source	Rila Mountains, Bulgaria 2,240 m (7,350 ft) 42°07′10″N 23°35′10″E / 42.11944°N 23.58611°E / 42.11944; 23.58611
River mouth	Aegean Sea opposite Thasos, Greece 40°50′51″N 24°48′15″E / 40.84750°N 24.80417°E / 40.84750; 24.80417Coordinates: 40°50′51″N 24°48′15″E / 40.84750°N 24.80417°E / 40.84750; 24.80417
Basin size	2,767.1 km2 (1,068.4 sq mi)
Physical characteristics
Length	230 km (140 mi)
Discharge	Location: Hadzhidimovo, Bulgaria Average rate: 29.85 m3/s (1,054 cu ft/s)

The Nestos (Greek: Νέστος) or Mesta (Bulgarian: Места), 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 (Bulgarian: Доспат; Greek: Δεσπάτης, Despatis). 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 regional units, having first crossed the Drama regional unit. The river later forms a delta to the north where swamplands, wetlands and a lagoon once existed except in the east.

In the Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, the river is referred to as Nestus (Νέστος), and is said to form the boundary between ancient Macedonia and Thrace.

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