Gori is best-known as the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, but it was also the town that got heavily hit in the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia. Of the latter not very much was visible while we drove through the town, though you could still see bullet holes in some of the houses. Stalin on the other hand is very present and it is obvious that he is the pride of the town.
The main street of Gori is called Stalin Avenue (it's not very visible in the picture, I took it while we were driving past).
The former Soviet leader's statue also graces the main square in town. When we passed the square on our way to Uplistsikhe, some vehicles from the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia were parked at the foot of the statue. A sign that we're living in different times now...
For someone who grew up with the Western version of twentieth century history in which Stalin was anything but glorified and a more than average knowledge of the history of the Soviet Union (an MA in Russian Studies did the trick for that one) in which he wasn't glorified either, it felt almost creepy to drive through Gori. Unfortunately we couldn't visit the museum of Stalin's birthplace, but I'll safe that for my next visit.For my reviews of some highly recommended books on the Stalin era, see here, here, here, here and here.
The final two pictures are from Uplistsikhe, an archaeological site of a city carved out in the rocks on a gorgeous location overlooking the river.
I will post a couple of pictures from Tbilisi as well one of these days. In the meantime, there are more pictures on my Flickr-page.
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