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
Georgian Bus - Great way to travel from Kutaisi to Batumi or Tbilisi
At first, when Kutaisi International airport was built (around 2012/2013) there were few transport options to choose from to get at least to the city center of Kutaisi, as it turns out, the city is actually located about some 17km from the airport. Back in the days, there were just taxi services, which was and still is pretty costly (as long as you are not using BOLT)One way direction from Kutaisi city center to the Kutaisi airport with street taxi cost about 20GEL (price as of 2015). If you are really on a budget you might get from Kutaisi airport to Tbilisi (Didube station) for 10-12 GEL by using Batumi - Tbilisi marshrutka, you can try to catch one, just after leaving the…
Batumi Aerial Tram
One of the must have tourist attractions in Batumi is an aerial tram (cable car) ride. Built back in 2012 these gondolas will take you in a 2,5 km long route at maximum elevation of 252 meters. During you ride you will enjoy breathtaking aerial views of Batumi city.Best enjoyed in evenings shortly before sunset. At the other end of the ropeway there is nice viewing platform offering scenic views to the city and Black sea.Ticket price per ride (round-trip): 10 GEL, as of 2016Futuristic design of Batumi cable car stationLocated at the Batumi bay, this station house indeed features futuristic design - but when overlooked from overall city architecture - it' s awful…
Sataplia cave in Georgia
Sataplia cave together with Prometheus cave are one of the main tourist sights around Kutaisi town, in Republic of Georgia.I first visited Sataplia cave at the end of May 2014, when my father for the first time visited me in Georgia. I picked him up at Kutaisi airport and before departing back to Tbilisi I decided to take an opportunity and explore this cave together..At first you will need to have some taxi to get there, luckily I had one. Sataplia cave is located some 18 km away from Kutaisi. The entrance fee (as of 2014) in park was 6GEL and was accompanied by English speaking guideEntrance gates at Sataplia cave territorySataplia Cave is located at…
Exploring Tbilisi and Mtatsminda: A Day of Adventure with My Dad in Georgia
Back in May 2014, my dad came to visit me in Georgia and also celebrate his 60 birtdhay, and we had an amazing time exploring the country. One of our most memorable days was when we went on a walking tour of Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia.
We started the day by taking a ride on the metro to Avlabari and then hired a taxi to take us up to Sameba, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world. From there, we walked down to the old city and explored the historic streets and buildings.
Next, we headed up to Narikala Fortress, an ancient citadel that overlooks the city. The views from the top were breathtaking, and we spent some time admiring the panoramic views. We then made our way…
Laidi Manor
Laidi manor or palace (Laidu muiža - pils in Latvian) is a very cool tourism sight in Laidi parish, Kuldīga municipality, in the historical region of Courland (Kurzeme)Built in the early 19th century by the local German nobility, it has housed the Laidi primary school since 1921.Park at Laidi manorThe origins of the manor date back to the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. The complex of the manor has formed around the administrator’s house, which is the oldest one in the manor. From the year 1800 to 1810 the nobleman Manteuffel was building the manor’s castle with its household buildings in classicism style. The complex is symmetrical and has been formed around the inner yard. At both…
Bagrati Cathedral in Kutaisi
Bagrati Cathedral probably is among the most iconic site to visit in Georgia, and it should be a must have on your travel list if you have been in those parts of Georgia (Kutaisi). If you are traveling to or from Kutaisi International airport take your time and pay a visit here.
In fact I have visited Bagrati cathedral just between my travels to or from Kutaisi airport. So did happened my first visit here after I had been living in Georgia for more than 3 years. And so did happened when I last time took my mom here after she arrived to Kutaisi.
P.S. Both of my parents have visited Bagrati Cathedral while visiting me in Georgia.
I was eager to play with a HDR images for my…