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Georgia

The next morning early this was the photo of the day from the hotel looking at Mt. Kazbek.

Looking in another direction beauty surrounds everywhere.

View of Gergeti Trinity Church from the road up the hill.

Looking down from Gergeti Trinity Church into valley and the village of Kazbegi.

The large building in the distance via telephoto is our hotel Rooms Hotel Kazbegi.

Myself and a friend I met on the trip Borus originally from Siberia enjoying the view at the Gergeti Church and Mt. Kazbek in the distance.

Myself and another friend I met on the trip Harry enjoying the view from the top of the vista.

Unfortunately there was a service happening when we were at the summit of the church and could not enter inside. We enjoyed the view from outside of the surrounding areas.

Half way up the mountain just a few cars showed up on Sunday morning.

Georgian driver and myself.

In the village Kazbegi

Back on the Georgian Military highway we run into cattle on the highway. Easiest way to move them is on the highway.

Arrived in the town of Gori and the birthplace of Stalin. This is the Stalin Museum

The railway carriage that Stalin used to travel to the Yalta Conference and the Tehran Conference at the end of World War II is located on one side of the museum

Stalin was Born in Gori in 1878, so there always had to be a shrine to the great leader in Gori after his death. A local history museum begun in 1951 intended to become a Stalin Memorial after his death. Stalin died in 1953, the Museum was dedicated to him in 1957.

His statue was only removed from the Central Town Square (still named after him) in June 2010 and his museum is still in full operation today. The Stalin museum managed to survive De-Stalinization in 1961 when his body was removed from the Mausoleum and cities and streets named after him were renamed. Soviet authorities probably did not want to offend the Georgians who were still proud of their most famous compatriot and Gori was also far away from Moscow.

The museum was closed in 1989 but was re-opened in recent years as local authorities understood that the museum is a potent tourist attraction. There have been plans to transform the Stalin Museum into the “Museum of Russian Aggression” since 2008, this has not happen yet since this will impact tourist revenues in a time of great economic depression. Let’s hope that the Georgian government understands the historic significance and uniqueness of the Museum and leave it in its current state!

The first exhibition hall is dedicated to Stalin’s early life, with photographs, paintings and newspaper articles about his youth, career as a bank robber and early revolutionary exploits. The second exhibition hall documents Stalin’s rise to power in the Communist Party leading to his position as the most powerful man in the Soviet Union. The theme of the third hall is Stalin’s role as Commander in Chief of the Red Army during the Second World War.

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