The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.  In 2014, it was listed No.1 among world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazar at Istanbul is often regarded as one…

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque  is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A popular tourist site, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque continues to function as a mosque today; men still kneel in prayer on the mosque's lush red carpet after the call to prayer. The Blue Mosque, as it is popularly known, was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I.…

This is already fourth Summer Solstice featured on this blog. see how three years ago we made a barbeque on our Tbilisi's balcony and how we celebrated our first Summer Solstice in our newly inherited house two years ago. Also compare how did it go last year. This year we celebrated Summer Solstice already for the third time at our rural country house, see…

Abava Rumba is the second widest waterfall in Latvia (after Venta Rumba) ,up to 1 m high and 35 m wide. I had a chance to visit it and spend some hour in lovely photography session at the end of May 2017, just after our Germany trip in the Mossel Valley. There is a camping area located just next to the rapid.  Abava Rumba in Latvia I find such places…

This is a round up post about our latest travel to Germany, at the end of May 2017. Our trip started at Dortmund airport, were we got a nice Nissan X-trail rental car from Hertz (about EUR 250 for 4 days). Although I've traveled to Germany countless times in the past, this is just third recap featured on blog, in fact about 2 years ago we made a similar…

Welcome to another Piece of Life postcards from series. In today's article - Germany. We traveled to Germany for about 3 days at the end of May 2017.  I was not at all in photography this time, but still managed to capture some cool sceneries. Sunset in Gudenberg, Germany One of rare HDR's I made during this trip. Folks interested in such an…

This 3-star hotel offers comfortable accommodation in Gelsenkirchen's northern Buer district. It is 3 km from the Veltins Arena and 1 km from Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord train station.  Hotel Monopol was our last accommodations while in Germany for a short few day trip, unfortunately I was not in the photography mood and didn't made much photos in the past…

I now have pretty ambivalent feelings regarding booking apartments instead of hotel rooms. Despite my feelings, Haus Daniela was a really nice stay in Cochem. For this spacious apartment we paid about EUR 200 for a one night stay, but it featured 3 bedrooms, a huge outdoor terrace with an electrical grill and very well equipped kitchen. Offering free WiFi…

Featuring free WiFi and garden views, Rose Cottage is a holiday home, situated in Udler. It provides free private parking. We booked this place on booking.com for a one night stay during our few day leisure trip in Germany, sadly there are few good words I can use to describe our stay here. As this place is one of the few that actually kind of ruined our…

The contours of the neo-gothic building rise more than about 330 ft above the river Moselle on an outstanding hill. The silhouette of the towering hill seems to continue in the building which is topped by the slate roof of the massive keep. As for its structure, Cochem Castle belongs to the category of castles protected by height that had to be protected…

Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle (Schloss Bürresheim), Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the…

The monastery of Maria Engelport (Kloster Maria Engelport) is located on the edge of the Hunsrück in the Flaumbach Valley near Treis-Karden, Germany.  We made here a briefly stop while traveling by car around these parts of Germany, it was overcast day, I was not in the mood for photography, just made some quick shots. Kloster Maria Engelport The…

I traveled to Greece for about 2 weeks in June 2017, our final destination was island of Crete. One of the reasons I was looking for prepaid sim card in Greece is simple - for navigation (Google maps helps a lot). From my previous experience with dealing with different sim cards in multiple European countries I already knew, it shouldn't be a problem to…

The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is today the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site. I first visited Trier and in particular Porta Nigra back in 2005, when arrived…

This is a short recap article about our latest trip to the region of Kakheti in Western Georgia, during a weekend trip we stayed in a lovely Chataeu Mere hotel near Telavi and explored the nearby vicinity. We did this trip as indie travelers, first booked a hotel room, then contacted the hotel and asked for transfer service from our Tbilisi apartment to…