The House of Stalin. Tbilisi

On a leafy street on the outskirts of the Georgian capital Tbilisi is a small nondescript house hidden behind a wall. It is not featured in many top tens of things to do in this vibrant city, but I found it to be one of the most interesting places I visited in Georgia. For this home was the base of a Bolshevik effort to spread revolution and topple the Tsar of Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the main protagonist being one Joseph Stalin.

A short-cut over the mountains to the Katshki Pillar

I did not want to retrace my steps. All the transport from Ushguli went back to Mestia. But there was an alternative, a mountain pass to the city of Kutaisi and on to the Katshki column, a rather unusual church set on top of large pillar. A difficult journey, as it would be on a track built by the Georgian national electricity company erecting pylons to connect electricity to the Svaneti region, but it would also save me a day in travel time.