Hotel Edelweiss Review in Gudauri
Located in Gudauri, a 10-minute walk from the nearest ski lift, Edelweiss Hotel features an on-site restaurant serving Georgian and European cuisine and free Wi-Fi throughout the property.We booked hotel Edelweiss for 2015 Christmas (December 23-25) and enjoyed our stay at this place a lot. Thus the price we paid for this hotel is well above average (about EUR 100 per night) we are paying for hotels in Georgia, the service offered for price was just excellent.Alternatively check out Hotel Shamo Review in Gudauri or see TOP 10 Best Gudauri hotels.Hotel Edelweiss in Gudauri, GeorgiaAs it might look like a small hotel from a distance, turns our is a 4 story building from inside. One thing I…
The Gabriadze Theater in Tbilisi
Though modest in size, The Gabriadze Theater is among the world’s preeminent cultural institutions. Presenting mature puppet performances full of depth and meaning, it has gained the respect and recognition of international audiences and critics alike.Located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town, just right next to the Anchiskati church, this theater building offers some interesting architecture as well. Thus, I have never visited a spectacle here (though I have bough tickets for a few times, but due to my laziness never visited) - I believe the Gabriadze theater this is one of the top tourist attractions in Tbilisi.Gabriadze theater building in TbilisiThe Gabriadze Theater stands in the…
Replacing Roof - Part 1: Removing the old roofing
In today's home remodeling series I'll share some epic experience on roof replacement works. If you have been following my blog for a while, you probably have noticed that in Spring 2015 we inherited an old and very bad managed rural house.
That Summer taught me a lot - I learnt how to use a scythe to move a grass, and also excelled as a construction worker (Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based Paint, How to Patch and Plaster Walls in Your Old Rural House), but nothing compares to experience like actually changing a roof.
It was already more than 3 months since we started to manage this house, but we hadn't any plans to stay any longer that till the end…
House Of Food / Fontaine Palace in Liepāja
House Of Food is a place to eat good, quick international food from all corners of the world. Louie Fontaine, the owner and rock musician, has designed the place with a feel similar to a 50’s American diner, with an open kitchen and restaurant booths so high you’ll sit cosy and private in your own restaurant.
Located at the canal front downtown in an old factory building - this place absolutely rocks!
Hotel Fontaine Royal in Liepāja
Fontaine Royal offers a swimming pool, health centre, conference hall, restaurant, bar and various shops. The hotel design is out of this world, full of royal furniture, all gold plated standing in contrast with the old factory spirit, you will feel like a…
Postcards from Gudauri
Gudauri is a popular ski resort located on the southern slopes of The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in Georgia. The resort is situated in the Stepantsminda District, along the Georgian Military Highway near the Cross Pass, at an elevation of 2,196 meters (7,200 ft.) above sea level.
We have been heading to Gudauri at least once in a year. There are few great reviews about Gudauri on my blog, Gudauri - Georgian Winter Capital for skiing, snowboarding, paragliding and heli-skiing or Gudauri - Cost Free And Fun Outdoor Activities but for today's Piece of Life photo project series I decided to share some images /…
Turtle lake in Tbilisi
Turtle lake is a direct English translation of Kus Tba (Georgian: კუს ტბა), a small lake at the outskirts of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, so named due to the perceived abundance of turtles living in these places.
Those of you who have been following my blog, probably have noticed I have mentioned Turtle lake a lot on my blog, I have been heading here in hot summer days to breath a fresh air and done some Drupal development from here, also I have headed here for lovely hiking treks around and up Turtle lake. Read more: Best Hikes In Tbilisi Are Located Near Turtle Lake
Turtle lake is very popular recreational area both for locals and…
Linode: How To Secure Nginx with Let's Encrypt on Ubuntu 12.04
Encrypted HTTPS websites are pretty much a hot topic nowadays. I have seen a lot noncommercial websites and blogs using HTTPS protocol lately. I believe cheap prices for certificates and possible SEO boost from Google are pushing more and more to add HTTPS. Including me!
In fact this article is first since my blog is HTTPS, to celebrate that I decided to write shot tutorial how you too can enable HTTPS on Ubuntu 12.04 running Nginx and optionally running a Drupal site on Linode VPS.
Install free TLS/SSL certificates
Wait, did I just said a free certificate? Totally free? No hidden costs? Yup, that's exactly what I've said, - Let's Encrypt is a new…
Loft cleaning - Preparation works for replacing that leaky roof
It was already last weeks of July, and we had bought already our return tickets back to Tbilisi, Georgia, and there was still one urgent task to complete if we wanted our rural house to survive upcoming rain and winter season - we had to replace roofing.
Oh, boy - back then I had no idea how frustrating, yet fun experience it will be. After finishing temporary repair works at home's first floor - I went upstairs and decided it's time to clean house's loft before moving on to more drastic roofing works. Instead of removing just old junk from loft, we had to remove about a ton of bricks and about 2 tons of ... soil. For some reason, the previous owner (R.I.P) decided to insulate loft with…
How to open a bottle of wine with a hand drill
There are many options to open a bottle of wine without using a cork screwer, last summer I tried a new method - using an old school hand drill.f you have been following my blog and especially home remodeling series you have probably noticed I have been trying out a lot of interesting tools lately, how about mowing a grass with a scythe? Tools you will need:A bottle of Badagoni, semisweet Khvanchkara wine (produced in Republic of Georgia)An old school hand drillOptional: A good companyHere is the drilling processAuthor of this blog captured in actionOpening bottle of wine with hand drill
Stacking firewood in barn
Last summer taught me a lot of new things. I tried mowing grass with a scythe after which I "upgraded" to a trimmer. After all I was doing a new thing for me - home remodeling.
In today's Piece of Life photo series I will share with you another great outdoor activity I did last summer - stacking firewood in barn.
Firewood waiting to be stacked in barn
Stacking firewood in barn
Stacking firewood in barn
Stacking firewood in barn
Turns out there are even tutorials on how to stack firewood in barn the right way:
When it comes to preparing firewood, stacking may be the most pleasant part of the job. The hard and sometimes dangerous work of disassembling a tree…
How to prepare traditional Solyanka soup
In today's food blogger series I'll share a photo recipe on how to prepare traditional Solyanka soup. Solyanka is among my favorite soups and I prepare this some 3-4 times in a year. Pictures in this article are back from summer 2015 when I boiled a large pot with this delicious soup.
Solyanka is a thick, spicy and sour Russian soup that is common in Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union. There are three basic types of solyanka, with the main ingredient being either meat, fish, or mushrooms. All of them contain pickled cucumbers with brine, and often cabbage, salted mushrooms, smetana (…
Michelangelo Square in Florence, Italy
Michelangelo Square is one of the best place in Florence to take picturesque panoramic views of Florence. We found this place thanks to suggestions on some travel guide and indeed, the pictures taken here are amazing.We were lucky enough to find this place quickly as it was located in just some 3 minute drive from our hotel. Read more: Villa Carlota hotel review. We parked our car at Michelangelo Square, I installed a tripod and took some lovely views towards city of Florence.Views toward Florence from Michelangelo SquareViews toward Florence from Michelangelo Square in HDRYup, I couldn't resist here to take HDR photography.Bronze cast of David facing Florence…
How To Take and Post-Process Night HDR Images
In today's digital school photography project I'll show how to take night HDR images and post-process them in Adobe Lightroom and Postmatix.
A year ago - taking a decent night photo sounded mission impossible for me, since I have acquired a DSLR camera a lot has changed, and I'm starting to feel being capable of creating even night HDR's now. Take a look on this tutorial: Practicing Photography: Doing Night Shots - Tbilisi By Night.
Although I don't like to spend a lot of time on post processing images, I must admit - post processing is very valuable science to master to make your photos look even better. Since there is post processing involved in HDR photography, I'…
Hotel Villa Carlota in Florence, Italy
Villa Carlota hotel in Florence is a 4-star hotel. We stayed here overnight just day before New Year in 2015. We arrived here after paid a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa and short wanderings around Tuscany vineyards.
Previous night we spent at another 4-star hotel in Lucca. Read more: Albergo Celide Hotel Review in Lucca, Italy. Villa Carlota compared to Albergo Celide is a truly a 4-star hotel and I will definitely return to this hotel next when spending time in Florence.
Villa Carlota hotel in Florence, Italy
Villa Carlotta is a 19th-century country manor surrounded by parks and gardens. It is near the panoramic terrace of Piazzale Michelangelo, and a 15-minute walk…
Vineyards in Tuscany, Italy
If there are a thousands things to see before we die - I believe to see vineyards in Tuscany are among them. At the end of December 2015, we traveled around region of Tuscany in Italy and to memorize those fascinating places I created a few panorama photos. Vineyards in Tuscany - Piece of Life.
Vineyards in Tuscany
It is amazing to observe how using a simple DSLR camera with kit lens I figured out to create a panorama photo here (stitching together some 6 photos). I believe it is all about experiment and never stop, so even when in travels you can end with a decent looking final images.
Panorama photo of vineyards in Tuscany
Vineyards in Winter in Tuscany,…
'I Fossi' Restaurant in San Gimignano, Italy
I Fossi is a small roadside restaurant located in San Gimignano town in Italy. We arrived here just shortly we paid a visit to the Leaning tower of Pisa.We made a stop here by chance, just because noticed there is one free parking spot available. Unfortunately we managed to order just two cappuccinos and noticed there is a queue with cars on the nearby street, some lady had arrived to the hotel (turns out there is a hotel as well at this place) and waited to park her car. I told her, could she wait for some 10 minutes while we will finish our cappuccinos and then she well have a place to park her car, she was happy of such offer and agreed, so we enjoyed our 10 minutes here and…
Cafe 'Jumis' in Skrunda
Cafe Jumis in Skrunda was among my top dining places during Summer 2015, because of it's close location to our rural house.
Located next to the highway connecting Riga with Liepaja in Skrunda town, they serve a typical bistro food here for a very attractive prices. They definitely have the best desserts I have tried in these parts of Latvia. Banana, plum and other milkshakes just rocks here.
Cafe Jumis in Skrunda
Daily menu at Jumis cafe
Typical Latvian bistro food - boiled potatoes, cabbage salads and meat sauce
The same menu, but instead of meat sauce you can choose meatballs
They have a free WiFi so you can check your e-mail as well (take a look in the…
Cafe 'Pagrabiņš' in Kuldīga
If you are the lucky one and you have a chance to visit picturesque Latvian town of Kuldīga, make sure you make your dinning out at town's of of the best cafe's/ restaurant - Cafe Pagrabiņš.
Or take a look of another Kuldīga restaurants here.
Located in the heart of Kudlīga Old town on Baznicas street, this place offers traditional Latvian cuisine for a very reasonable prices.
Cafe Pagrabins in Kuldīga
Located next to the town square in Kuldīga, where major town events are held, like Feast in Kuldīga
Cafe Pagrabins Logo
Interior at Pagrabiņš
Menu at cafe Pagrabins
They have a wide selection of traditional Latvian cuisine here, prices are reasonable.…
Blog Traffic and Income Report for 2015 - 347,035 users / $9,819.71
This time of the year have come when I'm looking back on previous 2015 year. In today's article I will reveal some data behind the scenes - both traffic and income for whole year of 2015.
If you have been following my blog for a while, you have already probably noticed that once in a month I cover monthly traffic and income reports. Make sure you check them out. This article is a round up posts for previous twelve reports.
This blog has gone a long way and has increased it's monthly visitor count from 19,798 in January to 43,941 users in December. November marked all times best result - more than 50,000 monthly users.
In total this blog reached 347,035 users in 2015
In…
Leaning tower of Pisa in Italy
We all have heard about Pisa tower, I won't be too original by saying - it's that leaning tower located somewhere in Italy.
At the end of 2015 I had a chance to visit this place second time in my lifetime (my mom, told me that I was here back in 1990 or 1991, but was so tired that refused to leave our tourist bus and took a lovely nap instead of wondering at this oblique tower).
This time I felt very energized, armored with a tripod and a lot of new photography skills I have learnt since I started digital photography school project. I experimented a lot with HDR and Panorama photography at Tower of Pisa. The result? Take a look:
Pisa tower in Italy
It is situated behind the…