Bar Rialto Candiana
I have always loved local cafes and restaurants where tourists barely step their foot in, we were of from Venice and traveled to Modena, when I said, let's visit some of the local villages and see what's good there. Back at this stage I even didn't know that village we were to enter is called - Candiana, shortly we parked our car and noticed a local pub/bar/restaurant - so we entered this place, which I learnt latter is named - Bar Rialto Candiana and ordered a cup of cappuccino. It was January 1st, some local folks were inside, lady approached me - raised her hand, hugged me and told - bueno ano, which probably translates as Happy New Year. I replied - bueno ano!We were just…
St Mark's Square in Venice
St Mark's square probably is every travelers dream destination when traveling to Venice, Italy. So did it was among mine - must have destinations. We traveled to Italy and especially to Venice for a New Year's eve to celebrate 2016. I was so found of photography, and especially fireworks photography, that I started to prepare already about a month before our departure. huge was my disappointment, when I was not able to find a single spot to make any decent fireworks photography from St Mark's square. It's hard to tell, but I believe there were at least some 10,000 folks that night gathered in St Mark's square, together with buildings at square literally blocking any access to fireworks…
St.Olav Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia
St. Olav Hotel is located in the heart of Old Tallinn just a few hundred meters away from Tallinn's Town Hall square.We stayed at this hotel in August, 2015, during a short travels to Estonian capital to celebrate my thirty birthday.Lai street in TallinnOur hotel was located in the heart of Old Tallinn, since it was a Summertime, many cafes and restaurants were opened in our and nearby streets, so we had a plenty to choose from.St.Olav hotel in TallinnThe St. Olav is located in a historic building, and is decorated with antique furniture. The heated rooms have stone and brick elements, along with wooden furniture. Guests have an option of buying bathrobes and slippers.Our room at St.…
Tallinn Town Hall Square
One of the most impressive tourist sights in Tallinn, most probably is Tallinn Town hall square and its surrounding restaurants and cafes. Speaking of the Town Hall it is the oldest town hall in the whole of the Baltic region and Scandinavia.
We visited Tallinn's Town Hall square while headed to our hotel (located somewhere close) during a short 2 day trip to Estonia's capital to celebrate my 30th birthday.
To enter into Old Town we had to cross Viru gate
Viru Gate in Tallinn, Estonia
The barbican of Viru Gate was part of the defense system of Tallinn city wall built in the 14th century. By the 16th century, it had 8 gates that consisted of several towers…
Vardzia Cave Town Monastery Complex in Georgia
Vardzia cave town is definitely a must have tourist attraction when traveling to Republic of Georgia, located in region of Samtkshe - Javakheti in about one hour drive from Akhaltsikhe town. For years I have been reading and heard a lot of stories of this place, but first visited just at the end of 2015. I was missing a lot.
We arrived here after sightseeing of Rabati castle in town of Akhatsikhe. Twilight was approaching and I was left with no options as to use best photography techniques I was familiar with, to get a decent photo story from Vardzia Cave town.
Vardzia cave town in Republic of Georgia
This was my first attempt of a decent photography, I opted using HDR here
The…
Armenian Apostolic Church of Tallinn
Huge was my surprise when walking from Tallinn Bus Station to the city centre I discovered an Armenian Apostolic church, surrounded by skyscrapers. Just a year ago I spent my birthday in Yerevan, Armenia.
Now a year latter, seeing an Armenian Church seemed like a sign for me. I still don't know what kind of sign, but that was a great reason to photograph here.
Armenian Apostolic church in Tallinn, Estonia
Surrounded by skyscrapers, this Armenian church in Tallinn is almost invisible for untrained eye.
Inscription plate in Armenian and Estonian
Although I don't speak either language, I believe it's saying - Armenian Apostolic Church
Now, I wanted to learn more about this…
Tallinn Bus Station
The Tallinn Bus Station is the main long-distance bus station of Tallinn, Estonia. The bus station is located in the southeastern part of the city centre (Kesklinn District), in Juhkentali neighborhood. When I was a young exchange student in Finland, I used this bus station frequently to travel back to my native Riga (Helsinki - Tallinn by ferry). Last time I was here, probably was back in 2006.We arrived here from Riga bus station using Lux Express bus to celebrate my 30th birthday in Tallinn and I was pleasantly surprised to see how this place has changed (seems it has gone though renovation in 2012 or 2013).Tallinn Bus Station in…
Fried Land Fast Food in Venice
After we finally arrived to Venice, settled up in our hotel room, it was still a few hours until New Year, we decided to locate some charming Venice restaurant, but they all either were fully booked or just looked suspicious, suddenly we noticed a small fast food shop, and I decided to take a look, so that's how we found Fried Land in Venice.
Huge was my surprise when searching for this places coordinates I found that on TripAdvisor Fried Land ranks #1 as Venice Restaurants (as on January 27, 2016) - Well, the explanation can be simple, the dude who prepared shaurmas for us, asked would we leave a review on TripAdvisor (and probably he has been asking it to all the rest folks visiting this…
Hotel Guerrini Review in Venice, Italy
We booked hotel Guerrini in Venice for New Years night (2016), because of it's location - Located just off the characteristic Venetian street of Lista di Spagna and 400 m from Santa Lucia Railway Station, Hotel Guerrini offers free Wi-Fi and simple air-conditioned rooms.
Now the biggest surprise was to learn out, that heating in our room didn't worked (seems it didn't worked for all the hotel), so called simple air conditioner also didn't helped much (it constantly showed +17C). Bathroom (for the price paid) was a parody (small, narrow)... I could complain of this place a lot, but probably that's just the way how they treat tourists in city center, right? Ask high price and…
Replacing Roof - Part 3: Removing the old roofing (Losing Chimney)
Now, when you are familiar with part 1 and part 2, it's time to tell the third part on home remodeling series replacing roofing.
Today's roof replacing adventures were about the most dangerous so far (with happy ending). It all started in quiet August morning, when I get up earlier, to remove old roofing, so we can continue our works on leveling beams and dragging over crosswind sheet latter that day. I was waiting help (brother and dad) to arrive around a noon, so I had a plenty of time to excel my demolisher skills.
Today we faced unpleasant discovery, we had to remove atop of the chimney so the roof would be in one straight level (more on that bellow)
Wooden boards…
Replacing Roof - Part 2: Beam Leveling & Crosswind sheet
It was second day morning when we re-started works on roof replacing. If you haven't already red, read Part 1: Removing Old Roof.
The idea was simple - if we are going to replace roofing, we will follow latest trends, and one of them involves using a crosswind sheet, which protects both against wind and humidity, I bought some super expensive crosswind sheet for about EUR 200 to cover in total about 180m2.
Since we were replacing roofing by parts today we had to drag a crosswind beam over leveled beams and add lathing.
Measuring crosswind sheet
Yup, the surrounding views are amazing
Leveled beams
As you can see, its just one fourth of total work done yet (not…
How Valentine's day was celebrated in Tbilisi
We were of to Tbilisi streets looking for Valentine's day photography, when I concluded - Valentine's day, thus not popular in Republic of Georgia, makes some good for local economy - first of all for local flower markets, second for cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants. We made a dozen of photos today, experimented with black and white, panorama and other photography techniques. Tbilisi didn't seemed too busy on celebrating Valentine's day, but we found some interesting scenes in Old Town and local flower market. This is how we saw Valentine's day was celebrated in Tbilisi, 2016, Piece of Life after all.Happy Valentine's day in shop windowsWhere is she?Children playground near…
Postcards from Rabati Fortress
I first visited Rabati Fortress in Akhaltsikhe, Republic of Georgia, in Summer of 2014, during a two day rafting drive on river Mtkavri, next time we booked a lovely hotel inside fortress complex at the start of 2015, during our stay here I created a lot of pictures and crafted an article about Rabati fortress Castle featuring 48 pictures. (You think its a lot? I have an article from Keukenhof's tulip garden in the Netherlands with 136 images).
At the end of 2015 we visited this site for the third time, I was armored with a DSRL camera, tripod and knowledge of taking HDR pictures.
Rabati fortress complex in Georgia
The above image gained some popularity on Flickr, and after all…
Postcards from Venice, Italy
We went to Venice on New Year's Eve (2015/2016), for me as a beginner photographer it was a great challenge to photograph here. I prepared well (brought tripod and practiced a lot previously) but I made a huge mistake this night, I messed up with the clock (Flying from country to country is a mess with time, so I have stopped to look in watch when traveling), so we went out for a New Years fireworks one hour earlier. This extra hour resulted in a very cold and unpleasant weather and in aftermath we just got sick.
Venice in fact didn't seemed very tourist friendly place, when we arrived here from Florence, the huge surprise we learnt was with…
Postcards from Florence, Italy
Florence is a destination to head for if you are looking for renaissance art. Florence is famous for its history: a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time, it is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages"In today's Piece of Life photo series - Postcards from Florence, taken at the end of 2015View towards FlorenceIf you are new to Florence and might wonder where are the best points to photography the city, get to the Michelangelo Square, from this place all Florence is on your palm. I installed a tripod here and played a bit with camera…
Sergos Duqani restaurant in Akhaltsikhe
Sergos Duqani is a lovely restaurant in Akhaltsikhe, serving traditional Georgian cuisine. Located just in the footsteps of Rabati Fortress complex.
We first discovered and met lovely owners of this place, when stayed in hotel in Rabati (Hotel Rabath & Gino Wellness) and were looking for some local place to have dinner. Frankly speaking sashlik served here is among the best I have ever tried in Georgia (and price for them are ridiculously low - about 6 lari per skewer.)
Segos Duqani restaurant in Akhaltsikhe, Georgia
Menu items at Sergo Duqani restaurant
Inside interior
Turkish coffee
Soup Ostri
Sashlik on grill
Sashlik on…
How to Prepare Traditional Dolma (Grape Leaves Roll)
Hello everyone and welcome to another post from my experiments being a food blogger. OK, for following recipe I wasn't actually preparing that tasty dolma, instead I experiment with new food photography technique.
About food photography: Today I decided to experiment with 100mm lens and used long exposures (obliviously from a tripod). Find more tutorials on Digital Photography School
About Dolma (Grape leaves roll) - Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Middle East and surrounding regions including the Balkans, the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia. Common vegetables to stuff include tomato, pepper, …
DrupalGap Native App - Part 2: Creating And Linking Custom Views Listing Page
I was working on my blog's native Drupal app, and decided to share my discoveries on how to create additional custom Views Json listing page and how to link it in your apps menu.
For the content on this page I decided to list all articles from my blog whose location are set to Georgia, and give it name - Georgia Travel Guide. Georgia and Drupal is special for me, so this was just logically the most "urgent" task I wanted to achieve next while building my native Drupal app.
Read more: How to develop Native Drupal app using Drupalgap - Part 1: Custom Front Page Using views - Images and Date
DrupalGap app in Ripple Emulator
Creating Views Json
I have some specific…
How to develop Native Drupal app using Drupalgap - Part 1: Custom Front Page Using views - Images and Date
There was a time when I was really eager to develop native Drupal app, back then I decided to stick with Drupalgap. Now, more than a year has already passed since, and I haven't achieved my goal (s) yet.
Until recently, I decided to finish works on native Drupal app I started back in 2014. Speaking of my app - nothing fancy here, just my latest blog posts, with ability latter to extend functionality adding more native app features (geo location, for example) . As I like to call it - minimum viable product approach.
I installed DrupalGap module and all its dependencies on my site, I must admit I had some problems actually getting it alive, but they were more…
How to take and create HDR Panoramic photos
In today's digital photography school tutorial series I'll show how to create HDR panoramic photos.
Make sure you check my previous tutorials on HDR photography - How To Take and Post-Process Night HDR Images , How to Capture and Post-Process Professional HDR Photos Using HDR Efex PRO
Now, regarding panorama photos, there is not always a need to create a 180 or 360 degree panoramas, sometimes you just want to fit in your frame a little bit more than a regular shot can do, then comes in panorama technique.
HDR panorama photography
Shooting mode
A sturdy tripod is must have, also a DSRL camera is preferable. Check out: Top 13 Best digital SLR cameras of…