(Source: http://nashural.ru/Mesta/turgoyak.htm)

Turgoyak is a large freshwater lake in Chelyabinsk oblast, the deepest one in the Urals. It is called the younger brother of Baikal: soft Turgoyak water is second in purity after the Lake of Baikal.

The average depth of the lake is 19 meters, while its transparency reaches 12-15 meters. The water is as cold here as in Baikal, its temperature does not rise above 23 degrees even in July, and near the bottom it is no more than 8` C. But this does not stop the tourists from going to Turgoyak in winter and summer. The village of Turgoyak is located near the lake, and almost the entire 40-kilometer coastline is built up with numerous camp sites, holiday camps and private cottages.

The popularity of Turgoyak partially backfires: for example, it is difficult to find a place for a quiet fishing. If in winter it is enough to drill a hole in the ice, in summer the noisy holidaymakers and swift boats on the lake make the fish hide on the bottom. But the fishing at Turgoyak is all the same great: the fish can be seen through the water several meters deep, you can catch perch, pike, ide, ruffe, burbot, tench, whitefish, ripus and many more.

There are six islands on the lake, the largest of them is an archaeological reserve. It is called the Island of Vera, or the Saint Vera: according to the local legend, the woman Vera lived alone in the cave on the island, she escaped here to avoid marrying the man she did not love. The cave is real, it is shown to tourists, but the reality of the melodramatic background is difficult to check. Before Vera lived here, once more according to the legend, Pugachev’s cossack chieftain Pinaev was hiding in the same shelter, and the island was called Pinaev’s Island. In the XIX the island was inhabited by Old Believers - the remains of the Old Believers’ monastery were found in the north-eastern part of the island.

The main attractions of the Island of Vera are even more ancient, the oldest of them belongs to the sixth century BC. Archaeologists found the traces of a Stone Age settlement here, numerous prehistoric constructions of worship, an ancient quarry and an ancient copper smelting furnace. These monuments are conventionally called megaliths, although they do not look like Stonehenge at all.