Blogs from Gori, Southern Georgia, Georgia, Asia

What a day, I’ve learned so much about Georgia in the past plus current politics. I had to take notes! Today was our first trip outside of Tbilisi and Glyn had booked it online before we’d arrived. The meeting point was outside a metro station and we were the first to arrive. I heard Glyn talking to a lady with a recognisable accent, as she was from Manchester and on the same tour as us. The rain began to pour and we sheltered until we were directed to a nearby office where a few tours were to meet. Our guide was a very bubbly Georgian lady, 28 years old from Tbilisi, Catherine, who gathered us by shouting ‘Stalin is calling us’. We were a small group on a minibus, two blokes from Malaysia, a couple from ... read more

The minibus dropped us outside the Stalin Museum in Gori. After a surprisingly good coffee in a street stall opposite the museum, we joined on the back of a and English tour group to be shown around the museum. Our guide was quite factual, rather than promoting one side. The upper floor has many images of Stalin through his life, including his death mask. There are also cabinets full of gifts from around the world. Downstairs is a smaller display giving a glimpse of the harsher side of his role in history. For a small extra fee there is his bullet proof train to look around. Our guide was quite balanced telling us throughout that there’s the official and many other versions of the stories around Stalin. Many Georgian families were affected by family members being ... read more

Dieser Tag war nicht gerade erfreulich. 6-30 Frühstück, 7.30 Abfahrt. Regen. Ich bin mit der Gruppe bis zur Grenze nach Aserbeidjan mitgefahren, habe mich dann von allen verabschiedet. Und dann war ich allein. Regen hatte aufgehört- da ich heute fast den ganzen Tag auf Landstraßen war, fielen mir neue Sachen auf: ungeheure Anzahl an Mercedes - durchschnittlich drei von 10 PKW sind Mercedes. Dabei sind die Häuser durchwegs grauslich. Viele Häuser stehen leer, verfallen. Die anderen sind in so schlechtem Zustand, dass ich mich nur wundern kann, dass da jemand wohnt. Viele Wohnhäuser aus der Sowjet-Zeit sind Vandalismus zum Opfer gefallen, die Ruinen stehen allenthalben. Es gibt auch viele Kleinlaster, mit deutschen Aufschriften: Blumen Logistik, Wir liefern auch Sonntags (was???), ein Kölner Dachdecker kann sein Auto hier sehen usw. Auf der Autobahn ist das bisher nicht ... read more

2 Pages of pictures again! In 1878 Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი) was born in the Georgian town of Gori (გორი). He went from being a theological student to being Stalin, quite a turn around! Knowing there was a museum dedicated to his life, we decided Gori had to be on our itinerary for this trip and prayed that Russia decided not to do anything stupid around the anniversary of last year's war. Our prayers were answered so we dragged our rucksacks up to Didude marshrutka station again and looked for buses to Gori. This time we were going somewhere we could pronounce so there was no need to have it written down in Georgian script. At the station we were offered a ride in a shared taxi for less than £2 each ... read more