Gori: Fortress and Stalin Museum

Gori tells two very different stories at once. In the middle of town, on an isolated hill rising from a flat plain, stands Gori Fortress. Its walls contain layers going back to the 7th century, though what you see is largely 16th and 17th century. It controlled the confluence of the Mtkvari and the Greater Liakhvi — the main trading knot of Kartli. The 1920 earthquake damaged it badly, but the perimeter walls and the view over the town survive.

Below, on the central avenue, is the Joseph Stalin Museum, opened in 1957. It has three parts: the colonnaded museum building, the small wooden house where Stalin was born, now sheltered under a Greek portico, and his personal armoured railway carriage.

The permanent display has changed little since Soviet times, which is precisely what makes a visit both compelling and uncomfortable. Repression is barely covered; one small room was added in recent years to address it, and the imbalance is impossible to miss.

Beyond these two sights Gori is an ordinary provincial town with a pleasant centre, a market and decent cafés. It also works as the base for Uplistsikhe and the Ateni gorge, both within twenty minutes.