Starting north of the town of Novi Iskar at an elevation of 520 meters, the gorge stretches northward. It slices the Sofia Mountain in two, acting as a natural boundary between the Mala Mountain, Ponor, and Koznitsa to the west, and the Golema Mountain to the east.
After the village of Lakatnik, the river turns eastward, where the average elevation of the gorge is around 362 meters. Here, it serves as a border between the Vratsa Mountain to the north and the Rzhana Mountain to the south. (All these mountains are part of the Western Balkan Mountains.) The gorge concludes south of the town of Mezdra at an elevation of 210 meters.
Geological Marvel
This gorge is a typical antecedent valley, formed by the incision of the Iskar River through the epeirogenically rising Balkan chain. It cuts across the deeply denuded Svoge and Berkovitsa anticlines of the Tertiary period, revealing their cores. During the Quaternary period, the river’s cyclical erosional incisions created 6-7 terraces, with the highest and oldest being 110-120 meters above the river. Some terraces correlate with the outlets of numerous caves on the slopes. Within the gorge, the Iskar River receives tributaries such as the Batuliyska River (right), Dalbochitsa (left), Iskretska River (left), Gabrovnitsa (right), and others. At the mouths of these tributaries, in the easily eroded Paleozoic rocks of the diabasic-phylloid formation, the gorge widens. North of Gara Bov, it narrows, adopting a canyon-like appearance with a picturesque view – notable at Lakatnik village, the Cherepish Monastery, and Lyutibrod village.
Erosion and Human Impact
The slopes of the gorge are severely deforested, with the remaining vegetation heavily altered by human activity. Forests persist in limited areas, while large expanses of the slopes, once cultivated lands, suffer from intense erosion. Frequent landslides and rockfalls occur. At their mouths into the Iskar, the lateral tributaries form alluvial cones.
Historical Transformation
Before the construction of the railway line in the late 19th century, the gorge was nearly impassable and seldom used. Now, an almost 80-kilometer section of the Sofia – Mezdra railway line passes through it. Traveling through this area is a true spectacle, with alternating sheer cliffs, numerous bridges over the Iskar and its tributaries, and over twenty tunnels cutting through the river’s meanders.
Modern Accessibility
Parallel to the railway runs an 80.6 km stretch of the secondary Republican road II-16 Rebrovo – Svoge – Novi Iskar (from km 0 to km 80.6). From the village of Rebrovo to the Cherepish Monastery, the road runs along the right valley slope, then to the town of Svoge on the left, to the village of Lukovo on the right, and finally to the town of Novi Iskar again on the left.
