Pereslavl-Zalessky was founded in 1152 by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky on the banks of the deep River Trubezh that flows into Lake Pleshcheyevo.
The population of this town is about 45 000 inhabitants.
One of the finest pages in the history of Pereslavl-Zalessky is connected with Peter the Great. On the banks of Lake Pleshcheyevo Peter the Great set about building the first Russian flotilla “for fun”, which marked the beginning of the Russian fleet.
Lake Pleshcheyevo is 9,5 km long and 6,7 km wide with a maximum depth of about 30 metres. It is one of the largest lakes in Central Russia. The lake that rocked the first ships of Russia’s sea fleet deserves to be called a sea. What is more the lake really does have the so-called Pereslavl herring, which is actually not herring at all, but a unique sort of whitefish (among other sorts) from the salmon family that specialists regard as a sea relict and still argue about how it could appear in a closed freshwater lake. Then this fish was called the ryapushka. A tender delicacy, it satisfied the most demanding palate and was always on the menu of the tsars and patriarchs during fasting.
There are four monasteries in Pereslavl-Zalessky. One of them is the Goritsky Monastery. It was founded in 15th century. The monastery got its name from its location on high ground by the edge of a slope.
