There is certainly a lot of traffic in the city. Misha picked us up at 10am, and it was still peak hour. We drove out to Mtskheta, to see the cathedral and beat the tourist crowds, running the gauntlet of the many small souvenir shops lining the alleyway up to the church. It was marvellous, the paintings were exquisite, and you can’t help being impressed by the construction.
Our next stop was another cave city, Uplistsikhe. This wasn’t as big as Vardzia, but I really liked the way you could move from one building to the next without too many stairs. It was really windy on the hilltop, but a perfect vantage spot for the surrounding countryside.
Our third stop was the city of Gori, birthplace of Joseph Stalin. The museum provides a very detailed life history, all positive of course!
From Mtskheta you can see Jvari Monastery, in the distance, perched high above. We also stopped there on the way north a couple of days later which gave us another fabulous view of the valley.
Chris Godman 
Wow, Chris. Just incredible. 11th century! Mongol invasion! Weather looks like it’s being kind too. Safe travels
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The weather has been excellent, sunny and not too cold. I’m going to have to read up on my history knowledge! Only a few more days in Georgia, then back to Baku.
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Funny, a contestant on Hard Quiz last week had Stalin as his subject and I was surprised to learn that he was born in Georgia. Am loving the mountain scenery!
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Like most historical figures, there’s a lot of background info we don’t hear about. He is still revered and loved by the people of Gori.
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Amazing that Stalin’s birthplace was Gori & not gory!
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The cave cities are amazing, it’s wonderful following your travels.
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Thanks Sue, we are covering a lot of territory, but at a leisurely pace with a driver, rather than public buses…there’s got to be some benefits to getting older!
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