- published: 30 Sep 2015
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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 km (147.26 mi) north-east of the capital Sofia, and 251 km (155.96 mi) west of the major Black Sea port of Varna. Other important cities in the region are Pleven (80 km) and Ruse (90 km).
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 km (86.99 mi) 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.