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…

Gudauri - Georgian Winter Capital for skiing, snowboarding, paragliding and heli-skiing

8 February, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 42 seen

Gudauri is a popular winter resort located in the Republic of Georgia, Caucasus some 120 km from Tbilisi. I first visited Gudauri back in the Spring of 2011, and since then I have come here at least once a season.

The resort offers high quality skiing opportunities. The slopes of Gudauri are completely above the tree line and are best for free-riders and are generally considered to be avalanche-safe. The ski season lasts from December to April. Heliskiing is also available throughout the season.

In the last years, seems the global melting has been hitting Georgia by a storm, as the snow is actually decreasing every year.

Browse till the end of the article and you will learn about skiing, ski lifts, paragliding, and even heli-skiing options in Gudauri.

Besides Georgians, many Russians, Ukrainians, Israeli, Turkish and visitors from the Gulf states love to come here.

There are plenty of hotels in Gudauri, a New Gudauri is built just next to the ski-lifts at the height of about 2600 meters

Gudauri skiing slopes

Skiing instructor Vaso

Friend of us hired a skiing instructor to learn…

Neighborhoods of Tbilisi - Abanotubani

6 February, 2015 | Tourism objects | 97 seen

Abanotubani is one of the most attractive neighborhoods in Tbilisi. It's famous of its public sulfur baths, and very spectacular views.

I believe Tbilisi Sulphur bath district is one of the most iconic Tbilisi sights. Personally I doubt there are many tourists who have not seen Abanotubani (Tbilisi bath district) while visiting Georgian capital. Though - I believe fewer ones have actually visited them. If you are among the lucky one, please leave a comment!

Tbilisi sulfur bath district

Narikala fortress on top of the hill? Colorful carved wooden balconies? You name it - Just a few of the reasons to fell in love with this beautiful city.

High end hotel in Abanotubani neighborhood

There are dozens of budget to high end hotels in Abanotubani. If you are looking for a hotel here or in Tbilisi, take a look here: Tbilisi hotels

Public bath houses and a mosque

An old channel in Abanotubani

You are free to walk near channel and you can actually reach a lovely waterfall at the end of this channel. There are some other hidden…

Drupal module - Social Media Links Block

6 February, 2015 | Drupal Development | 6 seen

Organique Josper Bar - Tbilisi Restaurant Review

5 February, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 25 seen

Welcome to another Tbilisi Restaurant review post series - today I will speak about Organique Josper Bar/restaurant/steakhouse, located in Tbilisi Old Town. 

I have previously much heard of this bar/restaurant/steakhouse and have seen plenty of it's ads on local English language newspapers (Georgian Journal, if correct), but never had visited it before.

My (our) visit to Josper bar went pretty spontaneous, as it might happen in Georgia, we were cut of electricity, and during days like that, we prefer to take our laptops and head to some restaurant with a good internet connection.

So we headed to Tbilisi Old town (Shardeni), and actually spent few hours in another Tbilisi restaurant - Jazzve coffee, after enjoying a delicious tea at Jazzve, we were looking for some lunch offer (Jazzve might have something, but I had a demand - I would either have - carbonara or grilled meat, though I didn't find such offer at Jazzve ,somehow we find that Josper bar has some lunch offers.

Turned out it does - they had, exactly what I was looking for - Carbonara.

…

Blog Online Income Report - January 2015 - $701.80

5 February, 2015 | Blogging | 8 seen

Welcome to my blog's thirteen online income report, this time covering earnings I have made solely with my blog in month of January 2015.

Those reports keeps me track were I'm, were I was and were I'm heading to. I hope they can inspire some as well.

In total my blog helped me to earn additional $752.65, what is a decrease of -62.95% if compared to previous month, when we (blog and me) earned pretty serious $2,029.67

$752.65 in a month equals to $24.27 in a day

Technically speaking, my January's earnings would be about the same as minimum wage in Portugal.

I guess it would be just fair to share some data how much visitors my blog is attracting in these income reports, right? Well, Actually, I have a separate blog category for such kind of reports - 'Blog Statistics' - but to keep it simple, I will give you some overview of January traffic:

Speaking of January traffic - in short - it was an awesome month, in total my blog attracted 19,798 users, I didn't managed to crack 20,000 milestone, but I do not feel…

Drupal Module - Administration Views to Replace Default Content Overview Page

4 February, 2015 | Drupal Development | 6 seen

Blog Traffic Report - January 2015 - 19,798 Users

3 February, 2015 | Blogging | 10 seen

Welcome to already 16 my blog's statistics and traffic report, this time covering month of January, 2015. 16 months ago I started a journey called blogging. 

I have done those reports from first month I started to blog, to measure were I was, were I am and were I am heading too. Those reports keep me track my progress (or bounces), and hopefully can inspire some other bloger(s) as well.

Speaking of January traffic - in short - it was an awesome month, in total my blog attracted 19,798 users, I didn't managed to crack 20,000 milestone, but I do not feel sad about that at all. 

Blog Traffic January 2015

19,798 users is a 51,43% growth if compared to previous month.

It's a 6724 users gain if compared to previous month.

19,798 users in a month equals to 638.64 users in a day, again, it's up from 421.74 users in a day from last month

Following words I said last month (when foretasted traffic results for January):

Speaking of forecast for January - I will keep my forecast modest - 10,000 unique visitors or a little bit less (I'm afraid of traffic drop…

Drupal Rules - How To Configure Journalist and Editor roles to Unpublish/Publish Content

3 February, 2015 | Drupal Development | 9 seen

My Savings Report January 2015 - GEL Loses It's Value Against USD For 14% Since September

2 February, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 13 seen

A time ago, in September 2014, I started to save some money, I was so eager to save money, that I even started a new category on my blog - 'Savings Reports'.

4 months from my first, and yet latest, Savings report have passed, back then in September I deposited a small amount of sum of 300 GEL, which back then equaled to $169.68 or EUR 131.81.

By today's exchange rates 300 GEL would equal to $145.27 or EUR 128.75, which basically means following, since the end of September Georgian national currency Lari (GEL) has lost it's value to USD for -14.38%, and - 2.32% to Euro.

I didn't paid much attention to Lari fluctuations until now, when I found that I have lost around 14% of my money if exchanged to USD.

Unfortunately I'm not wise enough (just a regular dude) to tell you what happened to Lari exactly and why it's loosing it's value both to USD and EUR, probably you have heard that USD is getting stronger to almost every other currency. Wise economist call it a  - dollar was not assessed, and now it's being assessed…

Hiking Trails in Tbilisi - Turtle Lake (Kus Tba) - Tskneti

1 February, 2015 | Outdoor Activities | 240 seen

I believe one of my most favourite places in Tbilisi is a Turtle Lake (Kus Tba). I have been heading here pretty often, actually just a few weeks ago we did a shorter hiking route heading from Turtle lake to Vake Park. There are pretty many hiking trails around Turtle lake - if you are found of eco-tourism or just like me (us) are looking to wind your head from noisy city sounds - these hikes will do it best!

Today we made a spontaneous route from Turtle lake to Tskenti. At start of this trip I had no idea we will actually end our route there, but as I said - it was a spontaneous route. In time of what we discovered first messengers of Spring - different mountain flowers (snowdrops, for example), had a delicious picnic, seen a rabbit and hound dogs hunting for him, and many other)

Turtle Lake - Tskneti trail map

I forgot to charge my phone so I cannot give you precise route, but according to Google Maps - this route is 7.0 km long and it's to possible to finish it in 1 K 46 min. For us it took around 4 hours and felt like 20 km, but we had three breaks for in-taking our meal, enjoying a coffee or just relaxing…

How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 2

31 January, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 43 seen

Welcome to the 2 part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives checks and gets them redeemed in the Republic of Georgia.

How participants of the 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 Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
• How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
• How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees
…

From Fitness Centers to Rafting Adventures: Living in Georgia's Top Activities

30 January, 2015 | Travel guides | 7 seen

As a celebration of my 100th post in the 'Living in Georgia' category, I decided to put together a travel-friendly guide of the best places, activities, and ideas that I have discovered during my time living in this amazing country.

Starting from the day I began this blog on October 11, 2013, I will take you on a journey of different activities to experience in Georgia, from visiting fitness centers to trying out thrilling rafting adventures. You will have the opportunity to explore ancient Georgian sites and discover the diverse regions of this beautiful country. Additionally, I will be sharing some restaurant reviews for your culinary adventures.

So pack your bags, get ready to explore, and join me on a journey to discover the best of Georgia! Don't forget to check out my other 99 posts in the 'Living in Georgia' category for even more inspiration.

'Bank Republic' Georgia Offers Check Redemption

30 January, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 19 seen

Some time ago I made a post about how Amazon Associates are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia, I was wise enough to call that article "Part 1" because I knew there will be a long and probably complicated procedure of  "cashing" a check sent by Amazon Associates here in Georgia.

Again, some time ago I wrote a post about how to open a banking account in the Republic of Georgia for foreigners, in that post I suggested sticking with ProCredit bank.

Update: TBC bank took over the Bank Republic a few years ago. I currently do not hold an account with the Bank Republic or TBC. For the time I was using Bank Republic - one of the best banking experiences here in Georgia.

If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia

Recently I finally received my first Amazon Associates check, so I went straight to my bank - ProCredit bank.

Unfortunately clerks there had no idea what to do with a check, I got really interested, and pardon me strange answers - like the minimum checksum must…