Weekend Trip To Kiev, Ukraine
Weekend trip to Kyiv, Ukraine is a short recap of my 32 birthday celebrations back in 2017.
In short, we booked a central hotel in the city center, used local taxi's a lot, traveled forth and back to the distant neighborhoods, and tried a lot of great Ukrainian cuisine.
Traditions should be respected. For the fourth year in a row, I have been celebrating my birthday at one of the former Soviet Union member country's capital cities. It all started in Yerevan, continued in Tallinn, Vilnius and now it was the turn for Kyiv.
In fact, we made a short trip to Kyiv at the end of 2016, during a flight to the US, and back then we decided to return here in Summer. See Short Day Trip To Kiev,…
Puzata Hata, Khreschatyk Street, Kyiv, Ukraine
Puzata Hata is a popular (and probably the largest) chain in Kiev - it serves traditional Ukrainian cuisine for a budget price.Puzata Hata was one of our favorite Kiev restaurant chains we visited during our latest trip to Kiev in August 2017. See: Kiev restaurantsThe Puzata Khata Restaurant Network opened its doors to the first visitors in 2003. Then it was the first restaurant in Bessarabka, in the center of Kiev. Puzata Hata in KievToday, Puzata Hata is a network of modern restaurants with quality and fast service, where you can taste delicious Ukrainian and European cuisine.Traditional Ukrainian CuisineMmm, pancakes ... yummyI doubt we spent even USD 10…
Kvareli Public Service Hall
Kvareli Public service hall is located in the center of Kvareli town near Chavchavadze Street.Public Service Hall is an agency of the Georgian government which provides a variety of public services, these include the services of the Civil Registry Agency, the National Agency of Public Registry, the National Archives, the National Bureau of Enforcement and the Notary Chamber of Georgia. Services are made available at public service halls throughout the country.Public Service hall in KvareliI was not able to find much about the construction of Kvareli site (as I was, with the Public service hall in Tianeti), but here is what I found - most probably the Kvareli Public service…
Tutarchela Megrelian Restaurant in Tbilisi
Restaurant Tutarchela is located on Archil Mishveladze street 76, Tbilisi, just next to the Vake Park. I was a bit surprised to learn that here is served Megrelian cuisine, and should admit that Megrelian cuisine is as great as GeorgianAccording to the restaurant's FB page, there is served a wide selection of delicious Megrelian dishes, and for the preparation of all dishes, the restaurant uses natural products.Anyhow, here is what we gotElarjiNow, this was something new for me - at the start, it looked something like a Swiss fondue to me, then I thought it is Georgian Ghomi porridge. To learn this is actually a typical Megrelian food Elarji.Elarji is a…
Hotel Kvareli Eden Review
Kvareli Eden Hotel is located in a remote place some 1 or 2 km from the Kvarteli town center, Georgia.Kvareli Eden features an indoor swimming pool and a wine therapy spa center. Free Wi-Fi and free private parking are provided.We booked a stay at Kvareli Eden in the mid of November 2018 during Georgia Discount week (kind of paying half the price). We stayed here for two nights and paid about GEL 500 (EUR 165 / USD 188) for that.Disclosure: this article contains links to Booking.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a reservation on Booking.com site, I might earn an affiliate income, at no cost to youTop 5 Luxury & Spa Hotels in Kvareli,…
The Grand Documentary of 2016
Filmed in 8 countries throughout 2016, glued, sanded, laminated, blamed and put together in Tbilisi, Georgia using Adobe Premiere CC.
The Great Documentary is 13 minutes and 2 seconds long short from our lives back in 2016.
The story starts in Venice, Italy, travels to Georgia, Armenia, then Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Gibraltar and ends in New York, US.
Jokes, notes and wine (chacha) traverse the scene from the first seconds of the movie. Spoken in Latvian (and a little bit Russian)
For HD quality lovers, the Full HD version is available privately by talking to an exclusive show.
Places from the film:
My Italy Travel Guide
Best of Armenia in Two days (Yerevan and…
Roshen Candy Store in Kiev (Khotynska Street)
Roshen Confectionery Corporation is a Ukrainian confectionery manufacturing group.The leading manufacturer of confectionery products in the country, it operates facilities in the Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Vinnytsia and Kremenchuk, as well as in Budapest, Hungary and Klaipėda, Lithuania. The name of the company was derived from the last name of its owner, current president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.It was back in August 2017, we were in Kiev to celebrate my birthday when we discovered this lovely candy store.Roshen Candy store in KievIf I remember right, this one is located on Khotynska St, 2At Roshen candy store
Pet Food Store in Tbilisi - Zoomart on Abashidze street (near Vake park)
Zoomart on Abashidze street 78 (located very conveniently close to the Vake park) has been our favorite pet food store (actually the only one) for several years already. We came here regularly to buy special cats dry food.
According to Zoomart website, there are already 11 stores across Tbilisi (2018).
At Zoomart you will find brands like Canvit, ferplast, Vitakraft, Brekkies, catzone, elmubas, Versele-Laga, Advance, Kong, Acana, Morando, Animology e.t.c
Together with Natia Beridze Veterinary, these are two of the pet-related places I'm familiar with in Tbilisi
IWA Christmas Charity Fair Tbilisi 2018
Annual Winter Fair (Christmas charity fair) was held at Tbilisi's Radisson Blue Hotel on December 1, 2018
For many expats in Georgia, it has been already a tradition to visit this fair year. For me, this was already some sixth or seventh fair (as a visitor), maybe I should start selling hot wine in the next years (who knows)
Here are a few articles from the past: Christmas Charity Fair Tbilisi 2017, Christmas Charity Winter Fair in Tbilisi 2015, Christmas Charity Winter Fair in Tbilisi Sheraton Hotel, Christmas charity fair in Tbilisi
As usual, I took my DSLR camera, backpack and went shopping (this year was special, as it was the first fair for our…
November 2018 Dividend Income Report - $111.60
Welcome to the nineteenth (#19) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and cryptocurrencies) in November 2018. In case you are wondering why I'm sharing online my earnings - the answer is pretty simple - back in January 2017, I set a goal to reach one million dollars in my bank account by the time I will turn 60 (27, 26 years still to go). I believe in transparency and sharing dividend income reports every month helps me to observe my personal progress or bounces. Hopefully, those reports can give some inspiration to you as well. (If so,…
How To Install XTRF 8 on Ubuntu 18.04
XTRF is a Polish translation management system available to install as SAAS or on your own server (both Windows and Linux). In today's article, I will keep notes on how to install XTRF 8 on Ubuntu 18.04
Our company has been using the XTRF translation management system since 2011 (if not earlier) and recently we opted for a major upgrade (from version 2 to version 8). The previous version was run on Linode VPS (Debian). For the latest version, I decided to go with the same VPS from Linode (to make it work I chose 8GB RAM Linode), but instead of Debian, i opted for the latest Ubuntu 18.04 LTS release.
Insert the following line into the /etc/…
Tbilisi TV Tower in the National colors of Latvia
The Tbilisi TV tower was lit in the Latvian nation colors on November 18th, 2018, to celebrate a 100 year anniversary since the Republic of Latvia was proclaimed on November 18, 1918As I had the great observation point I made a quick long exposure and decided to share it via Piece of Life series.Tbilisi TV tower in the national colors of LatviaHappy birthday Latvia!
Samsung Galaxy A6 32GB (2018) Review
Samsung Galaxy A6 was first released in May 2018. We bought it as the replacement phone for Samsung Galaxy A3, to whom glass cracked on the rocks in Georgia (in the yard of Iosebis Duqani) while we traveled to the region of Kakheti.As the repair cost was about the half price of a new one, we decided to go for a brand new and more powerful phone.2 year lifetime is good for a phone, at least that's what I believe so.Bought this phone during Black Friday sale in Georgia (Tbilisi) at AltaOk store in Eastpoint. The sales price was GEL 599 ($225.61), and it said it's discount from GEL 749 ($282.11). Though on Amazon you can get brand new unlocked Samsung Galaxy A6 phone for $214.…
Ordering Goodies From Amazon - Baby Play Mat and more
It has been a while since I made my first international Amazon delivery to Georgia, using parcel delivery and forwarding service USA2Georgia. See how I ordered and installed new hinges for my old HP laptop back in 2014. How To Order Goodies From US to Georgia - Usa2Georgia.comAt the end of 2018 we ordered some goodies for our little baby girl - unfortunately, I haven't saved exact names for the items, so I will try to guess their actual names in this photo post.Goodies delivered to our Tbilisi aptVery neat shopping, and actually pretty fast - our order was fulfilled (since ordering online) in about a week (delivered to doors in Georgia)Goodies for babyPlay mat,…
Drupal 7 Rules: Send E-mail to User Referenced by NID After Saving Content
A time ago I started to work on a custom Drupal powered translation management system, unfortunately as I didn't have much spare time and actually there are really great alternatives (paid) out there - I decided to postpone this project.
Despite the project wasn't actively developed, it was though running a separate Linode VPS for it (which costs money), I decided to delete this instance to save money, but before that, I decided to keep at least one interesting feature I figured out - how to send e-mail to the assigned user (not user but node reference, in terms of Drupal) , after saving new project (node)
I had 2 content types - Translators and Projects, in the…
Rainy Day in Tbilisi
Less than a month ago, we changed apartment in Tbilisi and got one with really cool views towards mount Mtatsminda.
I've been playing with a tripod a camera here ever since. See: Tbilisi by night (New apartment version) and Tbilisi by day (New Apartment Version)
Despite my forecast, that next version probably will be an HDR photography, it turned out to be a Rainy day. Actually, about a year and a half ago, I made a cool time-lapse video from our previous apt, see: Rainy day in Tbilisi - Time Lapse Video.
If you are into the rain photography, I could also offer a trip to Verona on a rainy day, see: Rainy day in Verona
Lonely tree
I believe this tree will be…
Trinity Monastery of St. Jonas in Kyiv
The Trinity Monastery of St. Jonas is a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in the Kievan neighborhood of Zverinets, a short distance from the medieval Vydubychi Monastery.We discovered this monastery back in 2017 when visited Hryshko National Botanical GardenTrinity Monastery of St. JonasIt was Jonas, a Vydubychi hegumen, who founded this monastery in 1864. Princess Vasilchikov, the widow of Kiev's Governor General, decided to support the undertaking and presented her dacha to the brethren.It was on these grounds that the katholikon was constructed.The monastery's bell towerThe monastery's bell tower, at 110 meters,…
Hryshko National Botanical Garden in Kiev
Turns out there are at least two botanical gardens in Kiev. In today's article, I will write and provide photographs from Hryshko National Botanical Garden taken back in Summer 2017.Apparently, we got here by a taxi from our hotel (Hotel Ukraine), and as far as I remember we got back to the city center by trolleybus. The M. M. Hryshko National Botanical Garden is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.Cash desks at Kievs Botanical gardenI don't remember exactly what was the price for entrance, but it was really cheap (compared to Western Europe)The M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden is a botanical garden of the National Academy of…
Shio-Mgvime monastery
The Shio-Mgvime monastery is a medieval monastic complex in Georgia, near the town of Mtskheta. It is located in a narrow limestone canyon on the northern bank of the Kura River, some 30 km from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.It took me more than seven years since I've been living in Georgia and 60 GEL to get here.Long story short: At the start of November 2018, we booked a 4-star hotel Gino Wellness in Mtskheta and the girl from hotels front desk organized us a taxi for 60 GEL. Now, this is really expensive actually for such a short drive, but it's OK just for one time. According to a historic tradition, the first monastic community at this place…
Hotel Gino Wellness Mtskheta Review
There are at least two Gino Wellness hotels in Georgia (probably more), one is located in the Rabati Fortress in the town of Akhaltsikhe and the other one is located really close to Tbilisi, in Mtskheta. In today's article, I will speak about the one in Mtskheta.Offering free WiFi, a sun terrace with a swimming pool, spa and wellness center and garden, Hotel Gino Wellness Mtskheta is located in Mtskheta. Each accommodation at the 4-star hotel has mountain views, and guests can enjoy access to a children's playground and to a hot spring bath.We booked this hotel at the start of November 2018, in the frames of Georgian Discount Week. Stayed here two nights at the deluxe room…