Discoveries in Crete - Rough Road To Balos Beach

5 September, 2017 | Tourism objects | 43 seen

Balos Beach & Lagoon have been listed as one of the TOP 10 Best Europe's Beaches in 2017 according to Trip Advisor. We didn't know that yet when planned our trip here with a rental car we took earlier this morning at Agia Marina beach.

This was indeed a beautiful trip, kind of reminded me the one we did about a year ago in Spain's region of Andalusia, see: In The Searches For El Torcal - Wilderness in SpainTorcal - Wilderness in Spain

Also, I should admit we didn't reach Balos beach after all, as the road to there was indeed rough, and once we were at the final parking space it turned out that we should walk for some 15-20 minutes more and there were zillions of tourists, idea didn't sound great, as there are plenty of more cool beaches in Crete and shortly before reaching destination, we turned our car back and returned back.

We started our drive to Balos beach from Mavros Molos Beach near Kissamos and navigated there by using Google Maps.

Entering Gramvousa - Balos Peninsula Protected area

Signboard saying:

Welcome to Gramvousa-Balos peninsula, natura …

August 2017 Dividend Income Report - $40.43

4 September, 2017 | Investments | 11 seen

Welcome to the fourth (#4) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and crypto currencies) in August 2017. 

If you are new to these dividend income reports, where I'm sharing my progress towards financial freedom, here is a backstory in short - I started my wealth building adventure (portfolio) in January 2017 with a simple goal to invest $8,561 this year in several batches. First months of the year didn't generate me anything much, but starting May it has started slowly pick up.

Last August, I turned 32, we headed to Kiev, Ukraine to celebrate it for a couple of days. As I've reached the age of 32, it means I will put aside at least 32% of my yearly income, in fact, I have thought on this a lot and with the next year, I'm planning to adjust this ratio to years + 10. As I'm 32 now, it means for the next financial year (2018) I'm aiming to put aside 42% from my yearly income, as right now I believe in a more aggressive saving approach, if I want to get to the 1 million dollar milestone…

Mavros Molos Beach near Kissamos, Crete

2 September, 2017 | Tourism objects | 36 seen

Mavros Molos beach is a quiet and kind of remote, tourist unspoiled beach located near Kissamos, some 40km from Chania. 

We made here a short stop during our Crete exploring trip back in June 2017

Mavros Molos Beach is the largest beach in Kissamos (Kastelli) itself, with fine sand and relatively shallow water.

Mavros Molos beach near Kissamos, Crete

Mavros Molos beach is at the west end of town, right in front of the restaurants and tavernas, and is fully organized with umbrellas and loungers. There are hotels and apartments for rent on the beach.

Mavros Molos beach near Kissamos, Crete

Indeed, during our short, I would say, a 5-minute stay at this beach, we didn't met any vacationers - here you go - a quiet, unspoiled beach in a short distance from Chania

Top 20 5-star hotels in Istanbul, Turkey

1 September, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 82 seen

For a luxury stay in Istanbul, you will find a wide selection of top World brand hotels, Sheraton, Hilton, Kempinski, Four Seasons, Hyatt you name it. a

From my personal experience, I've stayed at a dozen of Istanbul's boutique hotels in a price range USD 60-100, with Dosso Dossi Istanbul Old City Hotel located in Sultanahmet, being the latest. Make sure you check out article What to do and see in Istanbul in less than 24 hours if you are traveling to Istanbul for the first time. Also, I should add, back in 2013, when traveling from Houston to Riga, via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, and since time between connecting flight was more than 24 hours, we got a free night at Sheraton Grand Istanbul Atasehir, which was a nice stay, not centrally located, but still a great perk from Turkish Airlines, with a free shuttle service to the airport in the next morning.

5-star hotels in Istanbul will vary in price range starting USD 100, for lower end 5-star hotels and up to USD 550 for a real luxury stay. No matter which one you will chose you - knowing Turkish hospitality you will get what you paid for.

That said - here is the list …

Cafe Mixail Malandrakis in Kalydonia, Crete

31 August, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 15 seen

Cafe Mixail Malandrakis is located in a small village of Kalydonia, Crete in distance some 25km from Chania town.

We discovered this place by accident, when, after checking out from a hotel room in Agia Marina (see: Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete), took a rental car and decided to head in the direction towards Kissamos. it was still quite early, and we decided it would be a very good idea to have some morning coffee. 

As usual, it happens with such lovely roadsides cafeterias, at least for me, it always involves a lot of research work after, to find coordinates, names e.t.c to put this place on my World travel map. This time it involved usage of Greek transliteration (http://gr.translit.cc/), of course, Google Translate, but what makes it special this time, I used a phone book (http://www.locatefamily.com/Street-Lists/Greece/KOLYMVARI-2.html) to find the location of this place and finally make sure, that it probably would be best named in English - Mikhail Malandrakis Bed & Breakfast. As it took some research to get what could possibly "To Mpenteni" (το μπεντεν) means,  and just with help of…

Wandering In The Woods B&W Photography

29 August, 2017 | | 7 seen

For the second year in the row I agreed to go to the same forest and harvest mushrooms, instead of a catch of forest goodies, I spent a few days finding interesting, eye catching elements in the woods.

Don't get me wrong, I did find some forest mushrooms (eatable), but compared to previous year's experience this was nothing much. See the same forest a year ago: Deep in the Forest, also see: Forest Mushrooms - Penny Bun & Red-Capped Scaber Stalk

I did find it interesting, once in the woods, for reason or not I tend to photograph with wide open aperture, probably because of limited light, but usually, I prefer tack sharp over bokeh. Once our forest wanderings were over, when post processing in Adobe Lightroom, again, for reason or not - I did find it should be awesome to feature this story from the woods as a Black & White Photography. 

Parking our Hoda CRV at Glade

By the way, we love gathering mushrooms and we are doing that even in Georgia, see: Harvesting Mushrooms in Georgia

Clean forest in Western Latvia

It was hard to spot any forest mushrooms here, but after…

How To Fix Mixed Content Errors From Disqus on HTTPS site

28 August, 2017 | Servers | 16 seen

Today I noticed that SSL connection on this blog had errors due to “mixed content”, meaning HTTPS site was loading additional content that was served over insecure HTTP. After a little bit of digging in the console, I discovered that the issue was due to our Disqus comment plugin loading over HTTP.

I felt surprised learning that Disqus is serving HTTP content, and quickly googled, are there other webmasters complaining about this, and I found a few articles. What felt even more surprising was that this problem has been around since the end of 2016. See: Mixed Content Errors from Disqus on HTTPS Site

It turns out, Disqus is serving anonymous cookie over HTTP to improve the personalized content and advertising in Disqus comment section. Now, while it can help to improve advertising and personalized content in Disqus comments section, it can also make a harm for your site because of mixed content. 

Luckily, there is a quite easy workaround, which involves disabling this anonymous cookie serving:

Disqus advanced settings

How to fix mixed content errors from Disqus on your HTTPS site:

Mild Summer Evenings at Agia Marina Beach in Crete

27 August, 2017 | | 16 seen

We traveled to Crete, at the start of June 2016, after capturing mesmerizing postcards from Chania, we continued our route to Agia Marina, where stayed for about 3 nights at Vergina Beach hotel

After, we continued our trip deeper in Island, and at the end of this trip returned to this area for another 5 days

In today's Piece of Love series, pictures from Agia Marina beach

Rock formations near Agia Marina beach in Crete

From what we have seen from our upcoming travels almost all across Crete, Agia Marina was one of the most tranquil places, slow, pretty quiet, despite a lot of Scandinavian folks resting here. Swimming in these beaches -  a real joy.

Sunset at Agia Marina

I couldn't resist to take a tripod and make a lovely HDR. 

As said, really cool, tranquil and I would even say pretty romantic place (beaches). 

Red Dragon Restaurant Review in Platanias

26 August, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 27 seen

Red Dragon is a Chinese restaurant in Platanias, Crete serving kind of combo tourist meals for IMHO bit high prices.

Anyhow, as we booked a hotel room in a nearby Agia Marina town (which seems is a hotel area), then most of the dinning options are located in nearby Platanias.

As previous evening we walked about 4 km to The Stones Restaurant, for this night we wanted something closer, Red Dragon was one of the first places we met in our route.

Red Dragon restaurant in Platanias

I don't remember correctly, but it offers like EUR 25 combo meal for two persons (and seems that most places in area focuses on this price level for combo meals), as we had an appetite, we went for some shredded beef and so on.

Corn soup

A typical entree at Chinese restaurants  - a corn soup, this was actually really nice prepared, sweet with lot of more ingredients than just canned corn. Delicious.

Shredded beef with vegetables

Ahh, I can eat them like forever :)

Top 15 Kutaisi Hotels in Georgia

25 August, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 15 seen

Kutaisi lacks 5-star hotels, but there are plenty of 4-star and 3-star hotels, prices for hotels are quite cheap  here ( if compared to Western Europe) and you could easy find a decent 4-star hotel  with a budget of $50 or less per night.

From my personal experience, I have stayed a few times in middle budget class hotels in Kutaisi, and they have been decent.  See: Hotel Edemi Review in Kutaisi, Georgia and Hotel Newport Kutaisi Review

In case you are on tight budget or just want to try out local hostels, see: 18 Kutaisi Hostels That Won't Break Your Travel Budget

For a luxury stay in Tbilisi, see: Top 10 Boutique / Luxury Hotels in Tbilisi (Georgia) and for Batumi, see here: 16 Best Batumi Beach / Seaside Hotels

Returning on my personal preferences for my next stay in Kutaisi, I would most probably choose between: Best Western Kutaisi or Aeetes Palace Hotel

That said - here is the list with TOP 15 Kutaisi hotels in Georgia, according to actual user reviews on Booking.com.

Featuring free WiFi and a terrace, Hotel…

Tampakakis Bakery in Agia Marina, Crete

24 August, 2017 | Shopping Venues | 33 seen

Tampakakis bakery is a lovely place in Agia Marina, many pastries and tasty coffee available here. Tampakakis was closely located to hotel we stayed for couple of days in Agia Marina (Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete)

Fresh morning coffee and crispy buns guaranteed.

Tampakakis Bakery in Agia Marina, Crete

Wide variety for morning coffee and affordable prices.

Cookies, buns and bread at Tampakakis Bakery 

SEO Results After Implementing Drupal AMP

23 August, 2017 | Drupal Development | 16 seen

About a month ago I finally managed to implement AMP for my Drupal powered blog. Now, a month latter I decided to take a look and see is there any SEO boost from it.

In the past 30 days traffic have grown my 13%, for the first time cracking 100,000 users milestone. Although, it's hard to say with a 100% confidence that AMP did it - I still will say - AMP is amazing and I would recommend to implement it for any type of websites. If still wonder what is AMP, here is a brief explanation:

The AMP Project is an open-source initiative aiming to make the web better for all. The project enables the creation of websites and ads that are consistently fast, beautiful and high-performing across devices and distribution platforms. Learn more: https://www.ampproject.org/

Why I'm not sure that AMP did the trick? In general month of August for my blog has always seen a good organic search traffic increase.

Website visitors before and after implementing AMP

The total website traffic for the last 30 days has increased by 13.27%, what is an awesome growth, and you know what? Last 30 days have reached for the first time of…

The Stones Restaurant Review - Platanias, Crete

22 August, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 19 seen

The Stones restaurant is located in Platanias, Crete. Located kind of remote / roadside. We visited this place on a rainy day, after checked in at hotel in nearby town of Agia Marina (see: Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete). The walk was for about 4 km (each direction)

This place serves traditional Greek and European cuisine, obliviously we opted for Greek salad as a starter. I wanted to order some mussels, but kind owner of The Stones restaurant told me they don't have mussels as this time, as they order only fresh mussels from Chania in the mornings. 

As it was raining that day, we were only guests for this evening.

Outdoor terrace at The Stones Restaurant in Platanias

Lovely colors, blossoming rhododendron makes lovely, I would even say romantic mood here.

Pasta Carbonara

Instead of mussels I enjoyed pasta carbonara, but that was one awesome pasta carbonara. Delicious.

The Stones Restaurant in Platanias

Top 13 5-star hotels in Colombo, Sri Lanka

20 August, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 43 seen

Planing our holiday season for this year we booked plane tickets to Colombo, Sri Lanka.  

We are looking to spend about 2 weeks in Sri Lanka, with Colombo just as the first stop for a couple of days. As we have up to a 10-hour flight planned, and the city's airport (Bandaranaike International Airport) is located some 35 km from Colombo center, I decided to do a quick research and list top Colombo 5-star hotels. 

Colombo luxury stay starts at about $120 per night and might go up to $240 per night, so that's the price you should be prepared to pay for a 5-star hotel in Colombo something in the range of $150 - $200. 

In this article, you will find TOP 13 Colombo hotels, based on Booking.com. 

Boasting spectacular views of the Colombo Harbor and the Galle Face Green, The Kingsbury is a 5-star hotel that offers elegant accommodation in the heart of Colombo. Guests can leisurely soak in the outdoor pool overlooking the ocean, and make use of the 24-hour butler service.

Centrally located in Colombo, The Kingsbury Hotel is a short distance from…

Sri Lanka Trip Planning - Obtain Visa Online - Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)

19 August, 2017 | Travel guides | 6 seen

Planing our holiday season for 2017/2018, we decided to travel to Sri Lanka, a country in continent, neither me nor my partner, never have been before. This should be one of the most epic trips and many cool photo stories to be developed on this blog.

For traveling to Sri Lanka (Colombo) we bought Qatar Airways round trip tickets - Tbilisi (Georgia) - Doha (Qatar) - Colombo (Sri Lanka), it was a bargain deal and I must admit - I'm keen to try out flying with Qatar Airways, as I have heard only the best about it.

Now, returning to the subject - Visitors to Sri Lanka visiting for tourism purposes must obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) prior to arrival or on arrival to Sri Lanka. Holders of ETA from all countries except the 3 exempt countries (Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore) obtain a visa on arrival that is valid for 30 days. The Business purpose ETA can be obtained only from Sri Lankan diplomatic missions and head office of the Department of Immigration and Emigration. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 6 months. Nationals of Afghanistan, Iran, …