En route back to Tbilisi, we stopped at the cave town of Uplis Tsikhe, a trade route that linked Byzantium with India and China. The Silk Road (the major trade route) had many different ways through the Mideast (Yemen), China (the famous Silk Road), the various “Stans,” Turkey and other countries.

The entire town of Uplis Tsikhe was carved into the soft stone of the mountainside. It was always good to stop along the road, even if there wasn’t much to see other than walking into the various caves and getting a little exercise. But it was just a short stop on the road to Gori, the main focus of today’s trip.

Gori is all about Stalin. Josef Stalin was born there in 1879 and lived in a little house with his father (a shoemaker) until 1883. The street is called Stalin Prospekt, his house is now part of the Stalin House Museum, and on the grounds is Stalin’s private railroad car that he traveled in. Stalin’s face was on the front of school buses…View image…in railroad stations….

Stalin’s face on Gori, Georgia railway station

…everywhere you looked!

Since our attention span is miniscule (had enough Stalin Museum), we spent time outside talking to groups of teenagers who wanted to practice their English and hear about us.

students in Gori, Republic of Georgia

Finally, back to Tbilisi for one last day…