Georgia - Mother Georgia and Stalin

Tbilisi capital of Georgia.  A city we were keen to get to and spend some time looking around.  The guidebook promised much, interesting museums, theatres and winding lanes in the old town just waiting to be explored.  Arriving at night was interesting.  It was easy to find somewhere to stay, exiting the tube and checking into one of the many hotels on offer opposite the station.  Bags dropped it was a short walk down hill where a brightly lit vista awaited us.  A new cable car spans across the city, crossing over the river that spits the city in two and rises up to the Nariqala fortress overlooking the city.  Even late at night the park by the river was full of people.  Families enjoying the fountains dancing in time with the music, and the wares the sellers offered, iced coffee, candy floss and a variety of items that could be launched in the air and if you're not careful never seen again.  From the park a new bridge crossed the river, and sparkled in twinkling lights in a manner that seemed at odds with the rest of the old city that we explored the following day.

Cable car over Tbilisi

The city was smallish, mostly walkable, although the tube was easy to use.  However clearly August was not the best time to visit as those museum and theatres that sounded so promising were mostly shut for holidays or being refurbished.  The puppet show at the famous Rustaveli theatre was also a no go, so instead time was spent just wandering.  There was a certain buzz about the city, it had a youthful vibe, with expensive new bars and restaurants spring up in the tourist trap part of town.  These were full of locals not tourists. 

Are they?

Other highlights of this city included the obligatory large statue as found in all ex soviet states, this time 'mother Georgia'.  This 20 metre high aluminium women is easily reached by cable car, and from her feet are good views of the city beneath.  A different monument of sorts is the huge Tsminda Sameba Cathedral that was only consecrated in 2004.  Well worth a look, in a period that see Christianity on the decline in the UK, it's interesting to see the popularity of this post soviet religious revival taking place in Georgia. 

Tsminda Sameba Cathedral

With activities on the verge of exhaustion in Tbilisi itself, a trip to Gori was decided upon.  This town small and relatively poor by Georgian standards, has one claim to fame, and that was Stalin was born here.  You can visit his house, and the train he used to travel whilst ruler of the largest country on earth.  It's interesting.  There is also a very sizeable museum, dedicated to Stalin's rise to power and some of the key members of the communist party.  There were few visitors but our guide was very informative and explained the museum was a museum in itself, explaining the power of the USSR and its propaganda steam roller, whilst ignoring some of the less 'favourable' parts of history.  Am not sure how true this was, but certainly the museum looks exactly how you would have imagined it during Soviet occupation, even if Stalin himself died before it was opened.  Just how long it remains open for remains to be seen.

Stalin - Travelling in style

Also in this town are the remains of a fortress.  This is nothing special in itself, but at the foot of the hill on which its built are some strangely eerie looking metal warriors each with bits missing.  These were built as a memorial to those lost in the 2008 war over South Ossetia, when Russia bombed Gori.

Restless warriors

After all this history it was time for a break.  Sitting in the abandoned square with only the surrounding architecture evidence of its former glory, we decided that this place was weird.  That's not to say we didn't like it, just it felt a bit sad, its glory days over, and that's 'glory' in the strange sense of the word.  We decided it was time to head back to Tbilisi and have another go on the cable car.

 

Mother Georgia