Gori, Georgia
Known as the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, Gori is a city in the eastern part of Georgia, approximately 86 km west of Tbilisi. It used to be an important military stronghold in the Middle Ages and currently serves as the capital of the Shida Kartli region.
To reach Gori, my BFF and I took a train that departed at 9.00am from Tbilisi Railway Station. The journey took 70 minutes, costing each of us
GEL 7.00 (~S$3.70). I shall elaborate more on the train ride in another post with more pictures as we took the same train the following day to go to Kutaisi, albeit in a different compartment.
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| Spacious legroom on an old train~ |
Welcome to Gori! Unfortunately, the weather was so gloomy that day. It rained almost the entire day.
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| Such a deserted street... |
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| Were we at Silent Hill? =X |
The city centre lies across the river, where we finally saw some human activities.
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| A long walk along Stalin Avenue~ |
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| Can I buy a panda, please? xD |
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| There used to be a statue of Stalin in front of the City Hall until the de-Sovietisation process in 2010. |
I didn't take note of the temperature, but it was really chilly that morning. As such, we decided to drop by a café that goes by the name Champs-Élysées. I had a cup of Turkish coffee at the café named after the famous Parisian avenue in Gori. Sounds cool, no?
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| Turkish coffee costs GEL 2.00 (~S$1.10), while hot chocolate costs GEL 5.50 (~S$3.00). |
There's something that may possibly be a memorial corner in the town.
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| Unfortunately, I don't understand a thing. :/ |
The triangular-shaped Stalin Park at the centre of the town is where our main destination is, the Stalin Museum.
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| There are definitely more fun and laughter at the park during other seasons. |
There's a church near the park.
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| Did you know that it's the Russian Orthodox cross? |
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| Frankly speaking, I'm not sure whether photography is allowed inside. |
From there, we spotted Gori Fortress, a medieval citadel that stands on a rocky hill. I'm pretty sure we can hike all the way up, but we chose not to due to the slippery grounds from the rain.
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| Archaeological evidence shows that the area had already been fortified since the last centuries B.C. |
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| Tough Georgian warriors~ |
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| Quite pretty, eh? <3 |
Below are three more pictures of the fortress.
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| Suffering a similar fate to Narilaka Fortress, the fortress was significantly damaged by an earthquake. |
There's another heroic statue for you to adore.
For lunch, we headed to the inconspicuous
Orbi's Restaurant. It's located near Hotel Victoria shown in the second picture below.
It was time to walk back to the train station to catch the one and only train back to Tbilisi.
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| Gori Railway Station certainly looks nicer in this particular picture than in real life. |
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| All aboard! |
That was a short, but enriching day trip.
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