During the Ice Age, about 25,000 years ago, a glacier descended, which created the Valdai Upland, with its hills. The resulting pits began to fill with melt water, thus the famous Seliger Lake was born. The lake has clear waters, which corresponds to its name, which in translation from Finnish “selhea” means “clean, transparent”.
The lake also surprises with the number of islands located on it, of which there are about 169 pieces. Many of them are not so large in area (about 10 meters in diameter), but the largest is the Khachin Island, on which there are 13 small lakes of its own.
An equally amazing and wonderful legend has been formed about the amazing Lake Seliger with its diversity of islands. The legend tells that in very ancient times the brothers-lakes Ilmen and Seliger lived on earth. The brothers had a Volga sister, whom they loved very much. And somehow the Volga asked to show her the Caspian Sea, about whose greatness she had heard. The brothers could not refuse her and promised to fulfill the desire. They got together on a hike, but agreed to go all together and only during the day, so as not to get lost and not get lost. And so it was done, they went on for several days. But then one night Ilmen's brother woke up and saw that Seliger's brother had deceived him and left secretly with his sister. Brother Ilmen was angry for such a betrayal, and cursed him for deceit with the following words: “O Brother Seliger who betrayed me, I curse you for your infidelity! So let there be a hundred humps on your back! The gods heard him and for the fact that Seliger broke his oath, they fulfilled the curse of his brother. Since then, Seliger has worn such a number of hump islands.
Today the lake has a coastline of 590 kilometers. The water area is 260 square kilometers. Seliger has large and small stretches, which are interconnected by straits. Plyos is a relatively large body of water located between the islands.
The lake also has straits, the narrow ones are called intercurrents, the large ones are called rivers. The total number of spills is 23. The lake has a sandy bottom. Due to the many shallows located on the lake, only small boats can sail on it, but there is a large depression, the depth of which is 30 meters.
The lake itself and the surrounding landscapes are filled with enchanting beauty, so this place is worth a visit.
