Gori

Gori is the capital of Shida Kartli, a town of about 42,000 people where the Greater Liakhvi River meets the Mtkvari, 86 km west of Tbilisi. Its centre is compact: Gori Fortress on its rocky hill, the long Stalin Avenue leading to the Stalin Museum, a park and a small ethnographic museum. Much of the town was rebuilt in the Soviet period after the 1920 earthquake, so it is more practical than pretty, but it is the natural base for exploring the region.

Uplistsikhe is about 15 minutes away by car, Ateni Sioni about 20 minutes, and Kintsvisi under an hour. Gori was bombed and occupied by Russian forces during the August 2008 war, and a memorial to Georgian warriors stands at the foot of the fortress hill. Allow half a day for the museum and fortress, or longer if you stay overnight to see the surrounding sights.

Medieval chronicles credit King David IV the Builder with founding the town in the early 12th century and settling refugees from Armenia here, though the fortress hill was used much earlier. Gori grew as a trading town on the road between eastern and western Georgia. Joseph Jughashvili, later known as Stalin, was born here in 1878. An earthquake destroyed much of the town in 1920, and in August 2008 Gori was bombed and occupied by Russian forces until 22 August.