Plyos

Plyos is a small town in the Ivanovo Oblast -Russia .The city is located about 70 km northeast of the Oblasthauptstadt Ivanovo on the right bank of the Volga, which here cuts through the Plyos-Rostov Endmoranenzugug and forms the so-called Pljoser gate.
The first mention of Plyos dates back to the twelfth century. It was sacked by the Mongols and Tatars in 1237. Vasily I built a fortress at Ples in 1410 to protect the approaches of Moscow and Kostroma against the Mongol and Tatar invasions.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Plyos was named “Russian Switzerland” because of the beauty of its surroundings, and became a renowned place to stay. It has the status of city since 1925.

Plyos was a holiday resort for the painters Ilia Repin, Isaac Levitan, Sofia Kuvchinnikova, Feodor Vasilyev, Alexis Savrasov, Boris Prorokov, Nikolay Zhukov, for the great Shaliapin and for the nomenklatura.

Plyos belongs to the district of Privolzhsk. It is one of the smallest cities in Russia.One of the important cultural, historical and tourist centers of the Ivanovo region is the city, included in the List of historical settlements of federal significance.

Plyos is one of the best preserved and picturesque small towns on the Volga. It belongs to the “Golden Ring” and in its entirety is a listed building (City-Sapowednik).
this place was chosen by the talented artist Isaac Levitan. It was thanks to his canvases, which he wrote here more than 200, that other painters, writers, Moscow summer residents, and then tourists, reached the city.

To this day, the city has preserved the layout of the XVII – beginning of the XVIII century, and houses – architectural monuments of the XVIII century. Currently, Plyos is being actively restored, many buildings have been restored. Today it is a , actively developing tourism. Plyos is considered the main tourist center of the Ivanovo region. ,Plyos is a part of the Golden Ring tourist route.

Access : Coordinates: 57.45, 41.5 / The nearest railway station is Furmanow on the route Yaroslavl-Ivanovo about 40 kilometers southwest, from where the city can also be reached by road./  The best option is to fly to Ivanovo Airport and from there take a taxi to Plyos. There are also several options for train and bus services to travelers.
/ From Nizhny Novgorod to Ivanovo – by train Nizhny Novgorod – Yaroslavl, or on passing to St. Petersburg. Ivanovo can also be reached by bus from the Kanavinskaya bus station./ From Ivanovo to Plyos, take the Ivanovo-Plyos bus or the passing Moscow-Ivanovo bus. Buses to Plyos leave both from the bus station and from the railway station. Bus station address: Ivanovo city, Lezhnevskaya St.
/ By boat :
In summer, Plyos can be reached by tourist boats. These are river cruises, which include travel, meals and excursions. Motor ships run from the River Station from May to September on a schedule. /  To Plyos by car: drive from Nizhny Novgorod in the Chkalovsky direction. In Privolzhsk, follow the sign for Plyos. The distance from Nizhny Novgorod to Plyos is ~ 300 km

Attractions :

• The memorial house-museum of I.I. Levitan was opened on August 25, 1972 in the house where the artist lived and worked in the summer of 1888?1889. Memorial rooms and two exhibition halls tell about the creative biography of I.I. Levitan by the authentic works of the artist and his contemporaries.
• Pleskaya fortress, rampart and moat :  The place where the Ples fortress was founded. The first mention of the city is in the annals of 1141, which means that after the burning of Plyos in February 1238, the Batu Mongols revived the city only by 1410, when the fortress was built.
• the Assumption Cathedral : from the end of the 17th / beginning of the 18th century, the Holy Trinity Church  from 1808, the Church of the Resurrection  from 1817 and the Barbara Church  from 1821 with a 35-meter high bell tower. In addition, many of the stone houses from the end of the 18th and 19th Century are preserved.
• The city has a museum of city history and a picture gallery with an affiliated Isaac Lewitan Museum.
• Skiing : Compared to the well-known resorts, Plesky slopes, of which there are only two in the city, are not so steep and high. But the ski base on Milaya Gora is always popular. The height of the hills is 60 m, the height difference is 40 m, the length of the training route is 330 m.
• The oldest district of the city is Sobolinaya Mountain, 70 meters high. It was here that Vasily the Dark founded the city in 1410, building a wooden fortress that has not survived to this day.
• Church of St. Michael the Archangel from Antonovo / Nikolskaya Chapel / Palitra Sculpture / Vvedenskaya Church / Wooden Resurrection Church (the very end of the XVII century).
• city church is Voskresenskaya, crowned with 5 chapters and built in 1817 in honor of the victory over Napoleon. The area in which it stands was once a trade settlement, so the shopping arcade of the mid-19th century has remained around it.
• Follow the Levitan trail: climb the wooden steps to the hill, from which you can see the picture “Above Eternal Peace”, which glorified this town. / Museum of Old Russian Family / Sculpture Dachnitsa / Provincial ARTgallery-M / Landscape Museum / Monument to Isaac Levitan / Torgovaya Square / Museun Center of Archeologist Pavel Travkin.
• The Plyos State State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve includes the I.I. Levitan and the landscape museum.
• Assumption Cathedral : Located on the Cathedral Hill (Freedom Mountain). Previously, a wooden temple stood on this site, burned down in the late 17th century. A new temple complex was erected in 1699. Currently, the entire complex has survived
• Museum Center “Russian House” – the first private museum in the Ivanovo region.

Activities : walks along the cobblestone streets of the city / sightseeing / photo opportunities / trekking / Looking at the Volga landscapes close by, you should go to the upper areas, from where you can view the entire panorama of the city. / sunbath – swimming in the Volga /  boat on a river trip at sunset. / shopping / Cruises on the Volga

Go next : the cities of the ring between Ivanovo and Kostroma / Myshkin / Uglich / Rostov / Yaroslavl