Excursion Gori & Uplistsikhe

Practical information about the excursion

This excursion is a full day trip from Tbilisi

You have to be able to walk 1-2 hours, also up the hill

It is advised to have comfortable shoes and protection for the sun

Guides for this excursion available in English, Georgian, Dutch and Russian

This excursion can start any day of the week during the whole year

Destinations of the excursion: Gori and Uplistsikhe

The excursion '99km far from Tbilisi' will show you Gori and Uplistsikhe. In Gori we will visit the Stalin Museum, Goris Tsikhe (Gori's Castle), and we will visit the cave town in Uplistsikhe.

Gori

Gori is a birthplace of legendary Stalin. Some people that live in Gori still cherish his name and think of him as about their hometown hero. Gori is located 76 km far from Tbilisi, at the confluence of the rivers Mtkvari and Greater Liakhvi. The territory of Gori has been populated since the early Bronze Age. Gori means "hill" in Georgian. And the name is given because of the town fortress that locates on the rock hill in the center of the town.

Gori and Goris Tsikhe

Gori with the castle that locates on the rock hill in the center of the town. The ruins of the ancient castle are damaged a lot but one can still feel the greatness and importance of the old town fortress. There is a nice path to climb up to the fortress and once you reached the top of the fortress you can enjoy beautiful views of the city and the surrounding dark green plains.

Stalin Museum

The Stalin Museum is the highlight of a visit to the city of Gori. The museum has three sections: Stalin's house, the Stalin Museum and Stalin's railway carriage. Stalin's house is the house where Stalin was born and spent his youth. Placed inside a Greco-Italianate pavilion, Stalin's house is a small wooden hut. Stalin Museum is main corpus of the complex made in Stalinist Gothic style. The exhibits are divided into six halls in roughly chronological order. The most interesting one is one of twelve copies of the death mask of Stalin taken shortly after his death.

Stalin's railway carriage

Stalin's railway carriage is actually Stalin's personal railway wagon which he used to travel to the Yalta Conference. The carriage has a bathtub, a primitive air-conditioning system and it is bulletproof!!!

Uplistsikhe

Uplistsikhe is located a short drive from Gori. It is an ancient Silk Road cave city and former regional center of pagan worship. The town completely carved out of rocks, with houses and a monastery.

Cave town Uplistsikhe

Uplistsikhe is a cave town. It is really carved out of rock and was founded in the II-I millennium B.C. This was a bustling city 3000 years ago. According to legend, the slaves that built the town were given an axe of gold, with an iron end. The harder they worked, carving the buildings out of the sandstone rocks, the earlier they were left with a piece of pure gold!

Three-church basilica

At Uplistsikhe the three-church basilica of brick was built in the Early Middle Ages. The name three-church comes from the way of building where the central part is completely separated from the side parts with solid walls. This creates three almost independent churches.