Beit Rachel Synagogue In Tbilisi

26 February, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 32 seen

Beit Rachel synagogue is located in Tbilisi Old Town on Leselidze street 28. I first discovered it a few years ago, when accidentally visited an alternative restaurant located just opposite to it.

Beit Rachel synagogue is actually located just a few blocks away from Tbilisi Main Synagogue.

Though this synagogue is located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town, it's pretty well hidden from public, to find it you must enter a yard.

Sign before entering a yard

Inside a yard

Beit Rachel synagogue wall

Entrance gates at Beit Rachel synagogue

Unfortunately gates were closed and I hadn't chance to enter inside Beit Rachel synagogue to make some more photos.

Info table about Tbilisi Beit Rachel synagogue

Information about Tbilisi Beit Rachel synagogue are provided in four languages - Hebrew, Georgian, English and Russian. Unfortunately I didn't take a better quality picture of this table, so I will try to rewrite some information what's written on it:

The Beit Rachel synagogue was rebuilt in 2009. Prior to the renovation, the building was known as the Ashkenazi…

Content Writing in the Age of AI: What You Should Expect

26 February, 2015 | Blogging | 8 seen

Content writing has come a long way in recent years, with the rise of digital media and the increasing importance of online marketing. However, with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the landscape of content writing is likely to change significantly in the years to come.

One major development in this area is the rise of AI-powered content creation tools, which use natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to generate written content automatically.

These tools are already being used by some businesses to create content such as product descriptions, blog posts, and social media updates. While there is some concern about the potential for these tools to replace human writers, many experts believe that they will simply become another tool in the content creator's toolbox, rather than a replacement for human talent.

Another area where AI is likely to have a significant impact on content writing is in the realm of personalization. As AI algorithms become more sophisticated, they will be able to analyze vast amounts of data about individuals' preferences, behaviors, and interests. This data can then be used to create highly…

11 Katkha Tbilisi Restaurant Review (Near Dinamo Stadium) (2015)

25 February, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 16 seen

Welcome to another great Tbilisi Restaurant review - today I will speak about 11 Katkha

Update 2023: This place has been closed for a while already. There are at least two other 11 Katkha restaurants in Tbilisi, one is in Saburtalo, second is on Baratishvili street (close to Freedom square), read my latest review here: 11 Katkha Tbilisi Restaurant on Nikoloz Baratashvili street

11 Katkha is a restaurant located in Tbilisi, Georgia, serving traditional Georgian cuisine. I believe there are two locations of this restaurant in Tbilisi. Today I will speak about the one located near Dinamo Stadium (Arena).

This place is lovely in the summertime when you can order and enjoy your meal in the outdoor garden.

We have been visiting this place already for some years, it's a nice starting (or ending place) if you are into cycling.

My favorite meal here at Restaurant 11 Katkha is a Chicken Barbecue (Katmis Mcvadi -  in Georgian), it's one of the most delicious shashlik found in Georgia, and the price for one portion of chicken barbecue is surprisingly low - 6-7 GEL, to make it sound better, it comes with…

My February Savings Report - GEL Loses Another 16.5% Against USD; -17% Against EUR

25 February, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 16 seen

Welcome to my third savings report, today I will look at historical exchange rates of GEL/USD and EUR and compare those with at the end of January (2015) with February 24.

I started to save some chunk of money back in September 2014, since my "investments" was too small to buy some bonds, stocks or mutual funds, I decided to open a Savings account here in Georgia (I'm currently living here) in local commercial banks.

I started low - by depositing some 300 GEL (what back then equaled to  to $169.68 or EUR 131.81).  I did deposit some 300 GEL for the next 4 months, then I noticed - GEL/USD exchange rates have gone mad (GEL was loosing it's value against USD). I had a feeling I have lost some 14% of my savings. I made probably irrational decision, I exchanged my money (spitted) into 3 currencies. I bought USD and EUR, in order to avoid further loosing moneys value against USD or EUR.

I bought EUR/USD for a very high price, as I believe, after my deal, I lost again 40.27 GEL (due to exchange rates). Now, today I decided to take a look, does my spontaneous decision was right or wrong (Am I still loosing money, or I have break even…

How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees

24 February, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 25 seen

Welcome to fourth and final part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives and redeems their checks in Republic of Georgia (South Caucasus).

How participants of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,

Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank checks in Georgia, at the end of 2016, I flew to the US and opened a bank account there, see: How To Open A Bank Account in the U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank

For complete series of my adventures while living in Georgia with Georgian banks and checks from Amazon, please see:

• How Amazon Affiliates get paid in the Republic of Georgia - Part 1
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees…

About Georgia: A Chef In Love (1996 Movie)

24 February, 2015 | Worth to Watch | 44 seen

Last night was the Oscar night - Estonian/Georgian movie Tangerines was nominated for best foreign language film. They didn't won, Ida did. 

I decided to look is there some more Georgian movies nominated for Oscar, and turns out one film prior to Tangerines actually was nominated, back in 1996 - A Chef in Love. I was a bit surprised to learn - that main role in this movie is portrayed by a very popular French actor - Pierre Richard.

A Chef in Love, (Georgian: შეყვარებული კულინარის 1001 რეცეპტი / Shekvarebuli kulinaris ataserti retsepti) is a 1996 Georgian film directed by Nana Dzhordzhadze. It stars Pierre Richard and Nino Kirtadze.

The movie tells the story of Pascal Ichak, a French opera singer and chef living in Georgia, who opens a restaurant. It also shows the life in Georgia in the beginning of the 20th century, including its short period of independence (see Democratic Republic of Georgia). After the Bolshevik coup attempt of Georgia (1920), the chef refuses to emigrate and endures the brutalities of the new regime.

The film was selected as the Georgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997. A…

Tbilisi - Gudauri Transfer By Vazha Travel

22 February, 2015 | Travel guides | 13 seen

Around two weeks ago we had a two day trip to Gudauri, where we stayed at Hotel Shamo, and enjoyed skiing opportunities in Gudauri.

In this post I decided to write about transfer options from Tbilisi to Gudauri by a local company called Vazha Travel. Owner of this company is a personal friend, so I had all opportunities to bargain price  down.

Since this road offers plenty of spectacular views, I decided to add some photos to better illustrate this trip.

• Total distance from Tbilisi to Guadauri: ~ 120km
• Total time: ~ 2 hours
• Price: (One way) Negotiable, could start from GEL 100 and up for a private car, 150 GEL for a minivan 

Update: See how can I save you time and money by helping to plan your itinerary to Georgia, see organized tours in Georgia.

A cozy minivan

Road to Gudauri

Road to Gudauri

Some valley

Some valley and a road

Some valley

Water reservoir close to Ananuri castle complex

Georgian Military Highway

…

Drupal module - For Embedding A SoundCloud Media Files

21 February, 2015 | Drupal Development | 6 seen

How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days

19 February, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 21 seen

Welcome to the already third part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives checks and get them redeemed in Republic of Georgia.

How participants of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,

Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank checks in Georgia, at the end of 2016, I flew to the US and opened a bank account there, see: How To Open A Bank Account in the U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank

For complete series of my adventures while living in Georgia with Georgian banks and checks from Amazon, please see:

• How Amazon Affiliates get paid in the Republic of Georgia - Part 1
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees…

Building A Simple Drupal Booking Engine From Scratch

18 February, 2015 | Drupal Development | 27 seen

Originally this post was planned to be a part of building a Drupal website from scratch series post, I did in late 2013. For some reason this post was left unpublished, so today I decided to review it one more time and make it public. 

In this article, I'll show how to create simple, but powerful booking engine for fictional tourism company's webpage using Drupal.

• Download References module
• Node Reference URL Widget
• Extract modules to sites/all/modules
• Enable modules

I'll use a custom content type - to serve bookings.Go to admin/structure/types/add and create a new content type: Bookings

Next let's add some fields to our new content type: First name, Last name, E-mail and to make a reference work add a reference field:

Settings for reference field: Label: Booking, Field type Node reference, Widget Reference from URL, hit save.

In the next window you will be asked, which content types you would like to reference:

Engineering An Empire The Byzantines

14 February, 2015 | Documentaries | 13 seen

A long time has passed since I have reviewed some documentary film. Today, I watched an interesting documentary made by History Channel - Engineering an Empire The Byzantines.

I must admit that now I feel more educated about ancient history.

In this documentary is covered the time period from the founding of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) 330 AD, till falling of Constantinople in 1453.

In this documentary I learned an interesting fact that present-day Santa Claus origins are coming from Byzantine Empire:

Saint Nicholas (15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra (Demre, part of modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker.

He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, a practice celebrated on his feast day―St Nicholas Day (6 December, Gregorian calendar, in Western Christianity and 19 December, Julian calendar, in Eastern Christianity)…

Helsinki - Tallinn tunnel could cost up to €13 billion

13 February, 2015 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 6 seen

I first heard of idea to build an undersea tunnel connecting Finish capital Helsinki with Estonian Tallinn, back in 2006. Soon it will be already 10 years, and I would probably have forget the idea of this project, but, today I red an article suggesting that estimate costs of such project could be EUR 13 billion, and it could be completed toward the end of 2030s.

The submarine tunnel, connecting Tallinn with Finnish capital Helsinki, could cost 9-13 billion euros, according to a preliminary feasibility study, released today.

The travel time between the two capitals would be reduced to 30 minutes. The study found that a railway tunnel would be the most viable option, as it could be connected to the already existing infrastructure in both countries.

One of the prerequisites of the project's success is also the completion of Rail Baltic, said the spokesperson of the Harju County Government.

According to the current vision, the travel time in the roughly 50-kilometer tunnel will be half an hour. The Rail Baltic, in turn, would reduce the travel time from Tallinn to Riga to less than 2 hours.

The calculations show that the…

Ananuri Castle Complex On The Aragvi River, Georgia

12 February, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 130 seen

Ananuri is a castle complex on the Aragvi River in Georgia, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) from Tbilisi. 

Located on the Georgian military road heading to Gudauri and Kazbegi and later to Russia via Upper Lars. Due to its close proximity to the nation's capital, Ananuri is a popular tourist spot. 

Ananuri castle complex in Georgia

Ananuri was a castle and seat of the eristavis (Dukes) of Aragvi, a feudal dynasty which ruled the area from the 13th century. The castle was the scene of numerous battles. In 1739, Ananuri was attacked by forces from a rival duchy, commanded by Shanshe of Ksani and was set on fire. The Aragvi clan was massacred. However, four years later, the local peasants revolted against rule by the Shamshe, killing the usurpers and inviting King Teimuraz II to rule directly over them. However, in 1746, King Teimuraz was forced to suppress another peasant uprising, with the help of King Erekle II of Kakheti. The fortress remained in use until the beginning of the 19th century.…

Gudauri - Cost Free And Fun Outdoor Activities

11 February, 2015 | Outdoor Activities | 102 seen

Gudauri is well known as Georgian winter capital thanks to it's skiing infrastructure. But that doesn't mean Gudauri is expensive and those with limited budget can't have fun at Gudauri as well.

Turns out - there are a dozen of option to enjoy winter activities absolutly for free. Honeslty speaking I was sursprised and that's the reason me making this blog post.

OK, who I'm trying to trick - actually if you are heading to Gudauri for mountain skiing, there are two options: You are coming here with your skiing equipment or you will rent skiing equipment on site. 

If you are already equipped  - the the only costs you will spend here - probably will be just ski-lift pass (it's 5GEL single ride or 30GEL multi pass) + money you will spend on local restaurants/hotels.

If you don't have your skiing equipment - you can easily rent it out in some of Gudauri Ski rental points - costs - 25-30GEL for skis and skiing boots. 

Again - depending on your equipment level a day on mountain at Gudauri will cost you 25 - 60 GEL. I wouldn't call it expensive.

But still there are some…

Hotel Shamo Gudauri Review

10 February, 2015 | Hotel reviews | 18 seen

Hotel Shamo in Gudauri actually is a very cosy guest house located close to Gudauri (in Kumlistsikhe village) not far from ski-lifts.

I first stayed at this hotel back in April, 2011, then again at the end of 2011, and finally we stayed here during our recent visit to Gudauri.

The default price per person at Hotel Shamo are about $50 per night. 2 meals (breakfast and supper) are included in price. Also a free transfer to and from ski-lifts as well.

Guests staying at Hotel Shamo can receive pretty good discounts at Gudauri ski rental points (ask for more details on site)

During your supper you will enjoy a great Kakhetian red wine (for free).

I believe the magic of this place comes from it's owner - Gela. Gela is a story teller, you will definitely enjoy chatting with him sitting next to fireplace. Gela knows everything what's happening around - ask Gela anything, and he will gladly help you around.

Another feature I like at this hotel/guest house - it's one of the few in Georgia, were it's kindly asked not to smoke inside. You will notice Thank you for not…