Luca Polare - One Of The Best Ice Creams In Tbilisi
I have decided to start a new post series - Tbilisi restaurants.As you might already know I'm an expat living in Georgia (Tbilisi). I'm a huge lover of restaurants and coffee shops, and since living in Georgia I have came even a bigger fan of eating outside the home. Since I'm eating out pretty regular - there are my favourite places, then there are places, that once was my favourite places, and then there are places better to avoid. I'm willing to make an description of them and to photograph the food I have tasted on those places.Perhaps on such decision I came after making a post of Fine Dining places in Yerevan, when I forget the names and locations for lovely Yerevan…
Celebrating Birthday in Yerevan, Armenia - Roundup
This post is a round up post from my birthday celebrations in capital of Armenia, Yerevan, at start of the August.
Idea of visiting Armenia, arise soon after I decided it might be fishy to flight to Mestia (Georgia). That was first option - to visit mountainous region of Svaneti in Georgia. I even expressed my joy, learning that regular flights has been launched from Tbilisi to Mestia. After several attempts to contact aircraft-carrier - they didn't expressed much trust for me - like - on questions, when is the flights, where are they from (it's some airfield out of Tbilisi) - the answers were typical lame - call tomorrow e.t.c. So screw you Mestia - it's time for Armenia.
This was not…
How To Get Pre-Paid SIM Card In Armenia - VivaCell-MTS
During my short two days trip to Yerevan in Armenia, I decided I will need a local SIM card to make calls and browse internet.There are three mobile phone operators currently in Armenia: Viva Cell MTS, Orange and Beeline. Orange and Beeline only offer 2G and 3G services. Viva Cell MTS offers both 2G and 3G as well as 4G services. All three networks are widely modern and reliable with shops located in major towns and cities where one can purchase a sim card or get assistance if needed. Most unlocked mobile phones are able to be used on roaming however network charges apply. Orange and Viva Cell MTS are often recommended to tourists due to the variety of tariffs available and the help…
Fine Dining Places In Yerevan
During our short 2 day trip to Yerevan, Armenia, in time we celebrated my 29th birthday - we tasted a lot of great Armenian and European food.
Now, looking through my Instagram account - I decided to add photos of food I have taken with my Android phone. Unfortunately I don't remember precise locations and names for many of those lovely Yerevan restaurants, but still it's pleasant to view some food photos.
We started our food adventures at Marriott Hotel in Centre of Yerevan at 6 AM.
We didn't use any alcoholic beverages here - instead we had a fine coffee with delicious Armenian truffles. One of the best truffles I have tasted. Our overall cheque here was about EUR 15
After…
Tbilisi - Yerevan Transfers By Taxi Car
Update: This article originally was written back in 2014 - a lot has changed since then, mostly prices and services - prices have gone up, service in some cases have gone down - I've removed any contacts listed in this article - please read comments section for up to the date information.
See: Tbilisi - Yerevan Transfer by GoTrip.Ge Review
Those of you looking to travel from Tbilisi to Yerevan, or from Yerevan to Tbilisi, you have few options to choose - I'm not 100% sure but one of the options is by plain, the second option is by train, the third option by bus, another option by minibus (marshrutka) - the best option so far I have found is by private taxi car.…
Republica Hotel Yerevan Review
We made a reservation for Republica Hotel Yerevan during our trip to Armenia, to celebrate my birthday on August 6th to August 8th. We chose this hotel - mainly because of it's location (it's located on lively street Amiryan in centre of Yerevan) and it's price (for 2 nights it was 92 000 Armenian Drams, what equals to about EUR 166 or USD 220)Deluxe room with King sized bed at Republica Hotel YerevanFlat Screen TV opposite to bedFlat Screen TV is a must have option in every hotel in over days - unfortunately this TV had just some 17 TV channels, some 6 of them was Armenian, 2 or 3 Russian, and rest was some news channels - Euronews, BBC news, Bloomberg. I guess they had one German…
Erebuni Fortress
Erebuni Fortress is an ancient site situated in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan.I had heard of this place before, but hadn't visited it in my two previous trips to Yerevan. This time I decided to change that. Actually this was my birthday I visited this place. My overall impressions? Well... Let the photos speak for themself:Road to Erebuni FortressWe took a taxi from Yerevan Mall, and taxi driver took from us 1000 Dram, although the fare-meter showed 800 Drams. I didn't argued much with taxi driver, because of 1000 Drams equals to EUR 1.83Some demolished building at Erebuni Fortress entranceSince we took our way to Erebuni fortress from the other side - not typical front - we…
Yerevan Cascade
One of the top attractions in Yerevan, Armenia is the Cascade - stairways providing probably the most beautiful views of the city. I have been in Yerevan for the third time, but this was the first time I decided to visit Cascade actually. We took a taxi from Arminyan street right next to our hotel - Republica, and shortly explained to a taxi driver in Russian - that I want to go there - where the most beautiful photos of Yerevan can be taken - stairways. The taxi driver soon realized I'm talking of Cascade, and promised 1000 Drams took us uphill. I had no idea - what does he mean by uphill - but I agreed. Just many years later I learned that the uphills actually is another cool…
Opening a Bank Account in Republic of Georgia
In this article, I'm sharing notes on how I opened a bank account at ProCredit Georgia Bank back in 2014.
Since I originally wrote this article, I have opened several additional bank accounts in Georgia - at Bank Republic for check redemptions (Sold to TBC bank) and Bank of Georgia.
If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia
There was a law- asking foreigners to register for temporary residence in Georgia, and there was a requirement from the Georgian government when submitting documents for temporary residence in Public Service Hall to show a bank statement that you have about 3000 GEL on it…
Georgia Plans To Have Full membership in EU in 5-10 Years (2014)
Recently Georgia signed Association Agreement with EU, which includes Free Trade Agreement with the EU as well. Georgian Politicians were so happy, that they rushed to announce some great plans - and so the MP of Georgia announced, that Georgia is eager to have full EU membership in the next 5-10 years. So far so good. On the other hand, the newly elected president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has already announced, that he is not willing to see any enlargement in European Union for the next 5 years, mainly because none of the existing candidate's countries could fulfill the requirements to join EU in next 5 years. Since Georgia is not even a…
Cycling Tbilisi - Night Ride - Tbilisi Old Town
This ride was an extended versions for ride I made a few days ago - Dinamo Arena - Dibude. And again - evening (night), with hopes there will be less people in the streets and less vehicles. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.Seems, Tbilisi never sleeps - and speaking of night cycling in this Caucasus city- it seems even more dangerous than cycling bt day - in day there are at least traffic jams, making overall vehicle movement slow - by night - there are less cars (of course), but they drive twice as crazy as they do in days.Not to speak about pedestrians - they never watch where are they going, they don't care are they on the pathway or…
Rafting in Georgia - Khertvisi - Aspindza - Borjomi
Some time ago we find some offer on Facebook offering rafting tour in Georgia for 2 days - on Mtkvari river. Tour included raft, safety wests, oars, overnight in tents. It sounded pretty good, and we decided to claim this offer. Said - done!
Our rafting tour started Saturday morning from Tbilisi (minibuss waited for rafters next to Radisson Blue and it was supposed to leave Tbilisi at 9:00 AM)
As usualy doing something unexpected I don't plan it very detailed - for me it was clear - it's rafting, what should I plan here? I'm paying my money - and everything rest is handled by organizators.
We started our trip to our destination place - Khetvisi fortress:
In above map you can see our…
Vazhatravel.com - tours and travel in Georgia
Vazhatravel.com was a Drupal-powered site a built for a friend. Vazha Travel offers one of the best rates for tours and transfers in Georgia. With Vazha Travel you can order airport transfer from Tbilisi airport to the Tbilisi city centre as low as 25 GEL (Most taxis at Tbilisi airport will ask you more), so do you can book a transfer to and from Kutaisi or Batumi airport.
The further developments of Vazhatravel website has been canceled, though the service is still available, feel free to contact Vazha by phone numbers listed in this article or visit VazhaTravel Facebook page, alternatively see: Organized tours in Georgia
This site is built with Drupal 7 under its hood, and its…
How I turned my Instagram account into a Photo Blog
In April I bought my first ever "smartphone" - Android phone with Dual SIM... It actully has WI-Fi router built in and in days I have no "ground" Wi-FI I can use Mobile Internet to connect to my laptop. Anyway - I'm very satisfied with my first Android phone.I must admit I'm using phone for it's sole purpose - to call, but that has changed - with my new Android phone - I'm using few apps on it (Google Adsense, Google Analytics, some news apps and Instagram).Some already probably knwo - I'm an expat in Georgia (South Caucasus), when I first arrived here, more than 3 years ago. I arrived already with an aim - to build Travel site for Georgia. Since I didn't know anything about this amazing…
Related nodes based on taxonomy terms
Today I will show you, how you can create a list with related items for your Drupal site using taxonomy terms and Drupal views. At first you will need you actual content with taxonomy terms on it. If you are not familiar how to add taxonomy terms to your Drupal site, you might want to read this guide on that.
I presume you have your content set up, it's tagged with different terms. Now lets add a block with related items on that.
Related nodes based on taxonomy terms
In above screen you can see an example with node page and related nodes in block. You can see a live example as well here.
This is achieved by using views and placing it on themes region.
Related nodes by taxonomy…
Turtle lake - My working place for today
In summertime it's hot as hell in Tbilisi city - there are two options - air conditioner or Turtle lake. I prefer second option.
The features of working at Turtle lake - here is a free Wi-Fi internet available, all across the lake (Silkspot), here is a great coffee bar - Intelligentsia, which Turkish coffee is among the best available in Tbilisi and Georgia overall.
Turkish coffee at Intelligentsia coffee bar (Turtle lake)
And best of all you can get out of your everyday Tbilisi routine. Did I mentioned? Weather here is more windy and for a few degrees lower than in city? Why it so? That's an easy question - Turtle lake is located up in the Tbilisi mountains, the altitude…
SPAR enters Georgian market; SCANIA to produce fuel from wine making waste; Georgia celebrates EU AA and Free Trade
On the other day I spent interesting afternoon walking around one of Tbilisi's neighbourhoods - Saburtalo. Made a ton of instagrams, visited local shopping chain Goodwill, tasted sushi and other different activities.On days like that - is great opportunity to observe what is happening around in city and in country. You might ask how? Well, it's easy with your eyes. I usually prefer free business newspapers available in different city's place. So it got my free newspapers at Saburtalo Goodwills shopping centre. Georgian Press ReviewFirst SPAR supermarket to open in Georgia - interesting article about Dutches owned supermarkets store, soon will be available in Georgia - it seems that…
Experienced my first Earth Quake - Tbilisi
Today for the first time in my life I felt tremors of earth quake and it happened in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. Nothing serious, as it's was announced in news - magnitude of this quake was 4.8. Although using other sources I found it was even 5.2.
My story will be as dumb as many other dumb stories you have heard, like - I went to bath and then I noticed that water is swinging.
Indeed, my story is dumb - I laid back to take a nap and felt my bed is swinging. OK... at first I thought and continued to enjoy my nap. Then after few hours when again I was enjoying another great nap (Actually usually I don't take 2 naps in a day, I don't nap at all, but today 2 naps and two quakes) -…
Summer Solstice in Tbilisi (2014)
There are some nations that celebrate Summer Solstice, most of them located in Eastern Europe.
Celebrating Summer Solstice involves having a bonfire. Since in Georgia, nobody celebrates Summer Solstice, and it was a working day, we decided to make a little fiesta on our balcony
How to chill your beer for Summer Solstice (and not only)
Typical food at Eastern European celebrated Summer Solstice includes yeast dough for patties, cheese (Georgian Sulguni), Rosol salads, and beer.
How about a barbecue on the balcony?
The good thing is Georgians don't mind if you bake your chicken barbecue on your balcony; they do it often themselves. The bad thing is that when we chilled the beer, we…
Cycling to Tbilisi sea and back
Today was a great Saturday, we took our bikes and rode to Tbilisi sea and back. It was all day long (more than four hours) fun experience in very hot Summer day in Georgia.Total distance: 16.9 km, Climb: 213 m, Time: 4.30h, Feelings: SuperbRoute mapWhen we finally reached Tbilisi sea - I was so exhausted, after I got of from bike, my stamina was over:Tbilisi sea