Svishtov

Svishtov Свищов
Church of the Holy Trinity (1867) designed by Kolyo Ficheto
Coat of arms
Svishtov Location of Svishtov
Coordinates: 43°37′N 25°21′E / 43.617°N 25.350°E / 43.617; 25.350Coordinates: 43°37′N 25°21′E / 43.617°N 25.350°E / 43.617; 25.350
Country	Bulgaria
Province (Oblast)	Veliko Tarnovo
Government
• Mayor	Stanislav Blagov (UDF)
Area
• City	110.721 km2 (42.750 sq mi)
Elevation	88 m (289 ft)
Population (2011)
• City	30,157
• Density	270/km2 (710/sq mi)
• Urban	44,359
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	5250
Area code(s)	0631
Website	Official website

Svishtov (Bulgarian: Свищов, known as Свѣщний / Sveshtniy in old Bulgarian) is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality. With a population of 35,923 inhabitants, as of December 2009, the town is the second largest in the province after the city of Veliko Tarnovo and before Gorna Oryahovitsa.

Svishtov is situated in northern central Bulgaria on the right bank of the Danube river in its southernmost point, across from Zimnicea, Romania. The town lies 237 kilometres (147 miles) north-east of the capital Sofia, and 251 kilometres (156 miles) west of the major Black Sea port of Varna. Other important cities in the region are Pleven 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, and Ruse 90 kilometres (56 miles) away.

The port of Svishtov is the southernmost harbour on the Danube. It is served around the clock by the Svishtov-Zimnich ferry — a regular operation Ro-ro ferryboat across the Danube between Svishtov and Zimnicea. The ferry shortens the road path to and from Turkey to Central and Western Europe by 140 kilometres (87 miles) when compared to the traditional route over the Danube Bridge at Ruse-Giurgiu and allows a time gain of nearly 4 hours thus avoiding the traffic in and around the city of Bucharest.