Gori

 Gori

We left the Acro Palace Hotel in Kutaisi. We were up some bac streets so the manager drove and led us out of the labyrinth with an assurance that buses came this way and we would avoid low hanging telephone and power cables found on many of the other streets.

We drove around a roundabout with several golden statues of animals, a pair of horses on top and a single human figure. None of us knew the significanace of the artwork.

Another view of the roundabout...

...and a close up of some of the animals.

In Gori, we drove into the centre only to discover that the museum was closed due to the Easter holidays.

In the grounds of the museum to Gori's most famous son, Josef Stalin, was Stalin's bullet proof train. He didn't like flying and went everywhere by train. That is why the war time meetings between the Allied leaders of UK, Churchill, USA, Roosevelt. and Russia, Stalin, were near Russian territory such as Tehran and Yalta. Churchill and Roosevelt had to travel to see the big man.

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The Stalin Museum is housed in an Italianate building with a tower.

The front has an attractive arcade.

Outside the front of the building is a statue of Stalin, one of very few left standing. The statue of him in the main square was removed in 2010 under cover of darkness and with a heavy police presence as despite being a tyrannical despot that killed millions, some people still believe that he had worked wonders for the down trodden proletariat.  

                                       

The house where Stalin was born is preserved. It had a modern building built around it to protect it from the elements.

                                       

A closer inspection of the Stalin's birthplace reveals a small peasants cottage with little space for the family. 

I walked around the town centre and passed my previous hotel in the city, a former Intourist hotel, still operating but even more run down since the last time that I was here. 

I walked down the boulevard. Some of the older houses had disappeared and had been replaced with modern residences on both sides of the road.

I wanted to visit the War Museum. It depicts episodes form the Great Patriotic War which is what the Soviet Union called the Second World War. It also depicts events from the Russo-Geogian conflicts. Needless to say it was closed for Easter. It was closed the last time I visited, so I still have no idea what is inside or the quality of the presentation.

The closed door of the museum.

The town hall was still as I remember but of course without any statue of Stalin.

I had a quick visit to the cathedral.

And I was going to visit the castle but it was getting late and it was built at the top of a hill. I didn't have time to walk up it and get back to the truck. So I turned around. I did notice that there were some new sculptures at the start of the track up to the top of the castle of crusader knights but with some limbs missing. There was a story here but without any information boards or a local guide, it was a mystery.