Blog Archive: March 2016

Building a Dog house

24 March, 2016 | DIY | 11 seen

Recently we inherited not only a bad managed rural house, but also got a German shepherd dog Bob. I have posted a lot about our home remodeling works, and in one article you can see Bob.

Bob is very scared dog, he doesn't trust people, as his owner passed away, he haven't approached any people, even me. After a summer spent in our rural house, the best we could achieve - Bob laying in front of house and observing us. We feed Bob well and during our absence we have negotiated good people to help us out to take care of Bob, thus Bob doesn't approves any help, just a daily dose of dog food. 

The real owner of our house is Bob. To make at least some better life conditions for our stubborn Bob, I decided to build a dog house for him, here is how:

Base for a doghouse

The pallet is ideal for base, by nailing additional planks I was able to shape the basic concept of doghouse

Chainsaw

With help of chainsaw I was able to saw up the edges (Gosh, after a few months of rebuilding our house I'm not afraid of chainsaw anymore)

Roof for a doghouse

I used a cross wind sheet from our roof to better thermo isolate inside of this doghouse, so Bob wont freeze in cold winter nights

Roofing for doghouse

Yes, Bob got the same roof as our house did. See: The Roof Works are Done (Almost)

I hope we will be able to take care of Bob this Summer, get him to the Vet and make him trust in people again! 

Shooting Hanheld HDR Photography

23 March, 2016 | Digital Photography School | 6 seen

As some of you already know lately I'm a lot into HDR photography. For most of the times I'm shooting from a tripod, but sometimes (just sometimes) I'm lazy enough to take tripod with me. In most cases I end up damning myself for not taking tripod this time and most often avoid HDR shooting. Also in a lot of popular tourist spots (churches,cathedrals) it's forbidden to use a tripod - so you are left with handheld and no flashlight photography.

Thus, that doesn't mean you cannot shoot HDR without a tripod, you can actually make really striking HDR photography handheld. You don't need flash neither.

Here’s a three-exposure shot with bracketing set to +/- 2 increment.

Canon Rebel T5 with kit 18-55mm lens f/11 three brackets merged with Photomatix, ISO 100

​A few months ago I did a similar HDR photography but with a tripod - the scene was pretty much the same - some interesting architectural element, blue sky and cool clouds. 

Here is how I did above shot handheld:

Photomatix can do miracles with handheld photography - when importing your pictures in Photomatix make sure you check box under hand-held minimal or auto (In most cases I go for hand-held minimal). Ok great - if there is a plenty of daylight you can most probably make a decent HDR photography, but what to do in really low light resolution, for example a HDR photography in the cave? Not a problem

HDR in Low light 

Another  three-exposure shot with bracketing set to +/- 2 increment.

Canon Rebel T5 with kit 18-55mm lens f/5.0 three brackets merged with Photomatix, ISO 3200

Shot in the Prometheus Cave, Republic of Georgia - this one actually is one of my first HDR images. Probably I was not following any photography rules or advices- and figured this shooting technique by my own - how to get story telling pictures from this cave. You can read an article about this cave here: Prometheus Cave near Kutaisi (Georgia)

Here is how I did above shot handheld:

I hope this technique will help you next time wanting to do HDR photography, when it's forbidden to use a tripod or you are traveling without a gear.

Otium Restaurant in Tbilisi

23 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 36 seen

Otium restaurant is a very stylish, but what's interesting not at all expensive venue, located in neighborhood of Vake in Tbilisi (uphill on the Turtle lake road).

I have dozen of times passed by this restaurant during some of mine hiking trips around here (See: Hiking in Tbilisi - Turtle lake (Kus Tba) - Vake Park) but I always refused to visit it, because I thought it should be out of my league (all those SUV cars parked in front of the entrance, with CD number plates). I usually avoid too much extravagant places, but I was wrong - I really enjoyed Otium restaurant, and as said - I was surprised of relatively low price for their lunch menu.

In short - Otium rocks, their lunch menu offer is high end restaurant meal for budget price

Entrance doors at Otium restaurant in Tbilisi

Yup, that huge red/mirror construction is actually an entrance doors and stairways down to the Otium kingdom. I remember a few years ago, when construction works were held at this site, I was a bit pissed of, because down there was an abandoned garden from which I took a hike just inside the Vake park.

Probably that's the reason I avoided to step-in into this restaurant for a very long period of time, it was an obstacle for my hiking adventures,thus frankly said, I believe I could take that trail again (I just need to find it once more), but what's important - I believe a restaurant in this place is much better than just an abandoned garden. Though this place (as most places in Georgia is lacking a parking lot)

Spacious dining hall at Otium

​

Huge outdoor territory

They had even an ice rink for kids installed at one corner. 

Now we decided to take 11GEL lunch menu, which consists of three meals - salads or soup, fish or meat and dessert + drinks. 11 GEL - you must be kidding me??!! - but that's how it works here, every work day from 12PM until 3PM - they serve a lunch menu here. Now this is a deal!

Mushroom cream soup

Wow, that soup was something special - one of the best mushroom soups I have tried (and I really love mushroom cream soups, but this one was a masterpiece)

Something cool

Sorry, cant remember name for this.

Neither for this

...or this

The bottom line

Lunch menu at Otium is a restaurant meal for a budget price. We paid in total 33GEL for our lunch meal for two persons, we ordered some additional tea and coffee. Otium rocks - I will return here without doubts, sorry environmental friends.

Invest in Georgia - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending - Mintos.com

22 March, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 18 seen

After almost five years spent as an ex-pat and passive investor (savings accounts only) in Republic of Georgia, time after time I'm looking for some other liquid investment opportunities in Georgia. Mostly I end up with stock exchange, but for now Georgian Stock Exchange market doesn't seems transparent enough and easy accessible.

By saying - not enough transparent I mean - I haven't find yet a broker offering real-time stats. 

Time after time I end up in official Invest in Georgia website www.investingeorgia.org, there are good information provided for investment opportunities in this country. If you have spare few millions you might end up investing in energy, hospitality & real estate, manufacturing, logistics or agriculture & food processing. If you still feel you don't have such much money and you call yourself a small investor with funds less than $10,000 to invest in this gorgeous country - you are left with savings accounts or opening your small business. And this is what I would recommend - a small business. That's what I'm doing here - I'm a freelance programmer working 80% overseas. 

During my stay in Georgia I have met some successful businessmen operating in fish farming and diary sectors, see: South African fish farms in Georgia (Sagarejo, Sartichala) and "Piena Ceļš Georgia" - visit of dairy farm

If I would have to invest more than USD 100,000 in Georgia I would without doubt look on agriculture or food processing (thus you might end short with $100,000). 

I was googling for ideas like investment ideas for small investors avoiding stock market and I ended up in some article about Peer-to-Peer lending.

About Peer-to-Peer lending

Peer-to-peer lending, sometimes abbreviated P2P lending, is the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses through online services that match lenders directly with borrowers. Since the peer-to-peer lending companies offering these services operate entirely online, they can run with lower overhead and provide the service more cheaply than traditional financial institutions. As a result, lenders often earn higher returns compared to savings and investment products offered by banks, while borrowers can borrow money at lower interest rates, even after the P2P lending company has taken a fee for providing the match-making platform and credit checking the borrower.

Soon I found mintos.com platform offering to lend money to borrowers in Georgia (and not only).

Both individuals and entities can invest through Mintos. Individual investors must be at least 18 years old, have a bank account in the European Union or third countries currently considered to have AML/CFT systems equivalent to the EU, and have their identity successfully verified by Mintos. At the moment, US citizens or taxpayers cannot register as investors at Mintos.

Affiliate link here: Signup to Mintos.com here. By using this affiliate link for registration both you and I will receive — 1% of our average daily balance which should be paid in 3 installments for the first 90 days.

Screenshot of Mintos homepage

Mintos promises 12.59% average net annual return for investors and offers to start investing with as low as EUR 10 per loan. 

12.59% annual return for me sounds a lot (and risky too), in Georgian banks you could get return of 1.5%-2% (for savings in USD or EUR). At this moment Mintos is not taking service fees for investors. In case for opting to go with Mintos or any other P2P lending company I would not invest more than 10-20% from my total assets. Your investment style might differ. Always remember - your capital is at risk and you might lose all your capital.

Getting started with Mintos seems simple:

To start investing at Mintos, you need to register as an investor. This is a simple process that will take less than 5 minutes. Once you have registered with Mintos, transfer the desired amount of money from your bank account to your Mintos investor account. Once the money is added to your Mintos investor account, you can begin building your investment portfolio, either by using Auto Invest tool or by browsing loan listings.Each month, you will receive payments from borrowers consisting of both the principal and interest payments. You can choose to reinvest these funds in other loans or transfer them to your bank account.

Georgian loan primary market

For now it seems in Georgia just short term (one month) personal loans are issued with maximum amount of EUR 577 offering 11.7% annual interest rate. 

I decided to calculate how much it would be per month in optimistic scenario (the loans is replayed and investors gets interest rate). Let's say I have built a portfolio from EUR 1000 and it's invested in ten loans EUR 100 in each for 30 days and borrowers repays on time.

To calculate monthly interest rate let's divide the annual interest rate expressed as a percentage by 12 to calculate the monthly interest rate expressed as a percentage. For example, if you have an annual interest rate of 11.7 percent, divide 11.7 by 12 to find the monthly interest rate is .975 percent. It's almost one percent monthly.

Let's add that interest rate to our initial capital, and see what is our return here: 1000EUR + 0.975%= 1009.75 EUR.

After one month you have earned additional 9.75 EUR. It's much better rate a savings account can offer to you, but still - I just made a best positive scenario, you might end loosing your money.. So it's pretty risky investment. I believe when investing in such loans you should consider to invest for at least a year. But before actually starting investing, do your homework, research, make optimistic, pessimistic and realistic scenario excel tables to better understand is it worth to invest in P2P loans at all.

About Mintos.com

Mintos is a Latvia owned peer-to-peer lending marketplace that connects investors with borrowers of non-bank lenders. It is an easy and transparent alternative to the traditional banking system. At Mintos both retail and institutional investors can invest in fractions of loans originated across Europe. Currently, we serve mortgage loans, personal unsecured loans, secured car loans, and small business loans. The minimum investment in one loan is EUR 10. Loan originators, on the other hand, by connecting to the Mintos platform get an instant access to investors that are looking to purchase loans.

Since I have heard of many Latvian owned lending companies in Georgia, it's not a surprise of seeing Mintos partnered with some of them. After browsing through Mintos webpage I found with whom - Creamfinance. There is really interesting article on Mintos blog, I will take few excerpts from interview with Matiss Ansviesulis, Co-founder and CEO of Creamfinance, you can read full article here: An interview with Co-founder and CEO of Creamfinance

....

What is your experience in the industry? How many countries does Creamfinance work in?

Our national platforms are operated by an international team, consisting of over 200 employees from 9 countries, currently operating across six markets – Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Georgia. The company has been operating for nearly four years since the beginning of 2012.

.....

Currently on the Mintos platform you have listed loans issued in Georgia. Do you plan to add other countries as well?

Yes, we are exploring the legal frameworks in other countries where Creamfinance operates to verify whether such a business model could work.

Please share the latest financial results. What are your development plans?

Our business in Georgia operates with a high growth. In 2015, a 9 month revenue equaled €3.2 million, compared to the whole year 2014 revenue of €0.7 million. Georgian business is expected to double next year.

...

I did my homework and researched for other P2P lending companies, and seems Latvians are not the only Baltic nation experts in lending business, I found another P2P lending company Bondora in Estonia.

What''s even most interesting (at least for me) I found other finance bloggers covering their experience with P2P lending. I quickly started to read what others are saying and for now - P2P, thus a bit frightening (everything new is a bit frightening), seems really tempting to try. And since I have found one operating in Georgia (and I'm looking exclusively on investment opportunities in Georgia, because I call it my home market) - Mintos seems a good answer. I probably will end up by investing smaller amount (EUR 1000) to test how it works, but before actually investing I will prepare some revenue/loss excel table, to better understand this system. 

Here are few articles on Estonian P2P lending Bondora:

• Year End Review of My Bondora Portfolio
• My Bondora portfolio, 3 years

Remember your capital is at risk.

The Bottom Line

P2P lending is not a get rich quick scheme, it takes a lot of research and dedication, and it involves a steel nerves too, as you might end up actually loosing your money. For me P2P lending seems an interesting alternative to savings at bank account, but I wouldn't go 100% for P2P lending exclusively. Speaking of loan market in Georgia, yes, that is a misery and brilliance - it's sad to see half country being in debts, but on the other hand it gives a really lucrative income for lenders. As I have seen reports some lenders make even 375% return on small debts issued. 11.7% for investors is not much compared to that, but is still more than banks can offer.

Do you have an experience working with Mintos or any other P2P lending platform? Readers and me would love to hear, drop a comment!

The Roof Works are Done (Almost)

22 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 7 seen

That August, 2015 day was a huge day - we finished roof covering works in our rural country house. It took us about a month as we launched roofing works, and it will take us few more days to complete roofing completely.

I didn't photographed today much, or day before (when most covering were done), in fact I didn't photographed at all, my better part did. Here is what we got:

Almost done here

Just three more roof plates (int total for both sides its 26 plates) and the large roof works are officially done

Couple of hours latter

Its done!

Few more bolts

Now, its time to add roof ridge,  wind boards and chimney ridge. More on that in upcoming posts in home remodeling.

Aerial photos from rooftop

22 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 4 seen

Today we continued covering roof with metal plates, in a short break I took my DSRL camera a top on the roof and made some aerial photos.

You won't get here views as nice as you could get from Tbilisi or Batumi aerial trams, but taking into consideration that we are speaking of an old rural house - these views are as much great.

Roof masters a top on the roof (Edgars and Guntars)

Aerial view to our veggie garden

Few months ago we planted some goodies in the wooden boxes - and look what a harvest we have. Yes the new roof cover looks great as well.

Skewed barn

One day I will fix this too

At the edge of roof

view towards apple orchard

Intelligentsia Coffee Bar Tbilisi

21 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 67 seen

I have spent countless hours at Intelligentsia Coffee Bar near Turtle lake in Tbilisi - this place has been my offsite office in hot Summer days (see: Turtle lake - my working place for today) or starting point before taking a hike (see: Hiking in Tbilisi - Turtle lake (Kus Tba) - Vake Park) 

As the name of this place stats - it's a coffee bar, but you can order delicious meal here as well, starting Panini ending French fries.

Intelligentsia Coffee Bar near Turtle lake

Stylish interior

Coffee bar Intelligentsia is a super place whether just to chill out or take your laptop with you and work. 

Cozy sofa and great view towards Turtle lake

Azerbaijani Restaurant Agha in Tbilisi

21 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 152 seen

Azerbaijani cuisine restaurant Agha is located near Heroes square (access is from the Circus side) in Tbilisi. After a meal here - I'm already planing my next trip to the land of fire - Azerbaijan. At this restaurant I tried something new for me - Dushbara soup, piti soup and veal saji on Fire.

Lately I have tried a lot new non-Georgian cuisine places in Tbilisi, see Turkish restaurant Karabak, Chinese restaurant Dzin Chao or French Tartine Brasserie are just a few to name, now it was time for Azerbaijani cuisine. Thus this is not the first time I'm visiting Azerbaijani restaurant, I have tried Shirhan in Riga. But speaking of Shirhan, sorry - I cannot even compare you to this place. Restaurant Agha is out of any league (Perhaps just in Azerbaijan I will found something better)

Entrance doors at Restaurant Aga in Tbilisi

Before restaurant Aga moved in here, there was a Russian cuisine restaurant - Matreshka. The inside log house interior and menu with Matreshka logo's will remind you the history of this place.

Inside interior

As it is not rare here in Tbilisi and I have already been use to it - we were the only guests, so we had a special attitude and super high service. Thus this place serves Georgian and Ukrainian food as well (you can get khinkali or Kiev cutlet here as well) - we decided to stick with Azerbaijani cuisine. Since I had no idea what is so special there, we asked recommendations and here is what we got:

Azeri Dumpling Soup Dushbara

​Dushbara  is a traditional Azerbaijani dish of dumplings made of dough and filled with ground meat and condiments. It is also spelled düşbere or düşbere. Typical ingredients include flour, ground beef, onions, herbs, salt, black pepper and tomatoes.

Piti soup

The national soup of Azerbaijan made from pieces of mutton on the bone, cooked with vegetables in a broth; prepared and served in individual crocks.

Pride of the house: Veal saji

Veal saji

​This was just a masterpiece - the best hot meal I have tried like for the past five years - this assorti consisted of grilled vegetables, veal meat, mushroom, potatoes . .. and was served on plate with burning coal under... We couldn't finish this tasty super mega assorti I asked to pack it in container for takeaway. 

Tea drinking ritual

You must order black tea and sweeten it with sugar, when at such places. It is just an indescribable experience.

The bottom line

Our total bill here about 70 GEL, interior is really stylish and stuff is super friendly. You just should come to this place over and over.

How To Change a Flat Car Tire

20 March, 2016 | DIY | 11 seen

Last summer I learnt not only how to change a roof for old rural house, also I excelled as a tire guy. During last summer I changed tires for our old junk car at least six times. 

To this day I still don't know why we got so many flat tires (most probably, because I bought cheap used tires at local tire workshop). Anyhow, it was the next morning after we added first metal roof plates a top of our house, when I noticed a flat tire has happened again (without any reason).  I was already equipped with leg pump (and luckily I had bought a spare tire just some few days ago)

N.B. By living in rural area - a spare tire, tools and basic know how is required to survive.

at first I pumped in some air into the tire

jacking up car

make sure you are on the flat surface and most recommended on hard soil as well. I had a problems with soft soil, so I used additional bricks just in the case if jack will lean or fall apart.

you can use a spare tire also as an emergency safety net

More experienced drivers taught me to put spare tire under car while removing flat tire. 

Use the wrench to loosen the lug nuts

Following have been taken from: How To Change a Tire

Stay safe!

Roof Works, Part 6 - Finishing lathing and adding first plates of metal roof

20 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 8 seen

Today was a big day, we managed not only to finish lathing works, covered roof with cross wind sheet but actually installed two plates of metal roof.

Today was a very long working day also, by now I feel excelled a lot if roof works and home renovation.

We started early in the morning (around 7:30 AM) as I knew this will be a very long day, and I really wanted to start cover roof with metal plates.

Construction workers stretching cross wind sheet

I hired two local craftsmen to help me out in roofing works - the most awesome guys I have met so far. 

Improvised outdoor workshop

While guys were on the roof, I was sawing laths from the ground. Synchronized teamwork.

Leisure time

We had a lot of fun today, many jokes (black jokes). I will remember these days as one of the most fun (you can have fun doing some hard work). Thank you Edgars and Guntars, you are such an amazing guys!

Roof works

...still lathing

Sawing laths with chain saw

This was the fun part - to saw up the ends of laths covering the edge of roof.

Unpacking metal roof

It weights only about 30kg, but it is 7 meters long. It was another fun way to discover how to actually get it atop of the roof.

Sliding metal roof plate a top to the roof

We decided to extend our roof, by adding to beams, we were able to slide the plate top of the roof now.

Sliding metal roof plate a top to the roof

Sliding metal roof plate a top to the roof

Moving to the edge side. As the first plate was installed in the right position it was time to ad first screws to fix it.

Screwing roof

Adding second plate of metal roofing

It was already late evening (~10:00PM) and after fixing second plate we were done for today!

I felt super excited and happy.

Dzin Chao Chinese Restaurant in Tbilisi

19 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 62 seen

Dzin Chao is among my latest discoveries from Tbilisi restaurants. I discovered it after paid a visit to Tbilisi zoo, its actually located just at the front of entrance into Zoo.

Now I know at least three Chinese restaurants in Tbilisi, see: Oriental Pearl and New Asia

Dzin Chao restaurant interior 

Spacious premises, I believe you can throw your next meeting with pals here with ease. As a pleasant surprise we got a gift - a large teapot with green tea for free.It's great, because it's rare to get green tea in Tbilisi, and if, then such pot will cost some 7-12 GEL. Here you get it for free.

Menu at Dzin Chao in Tbilisi

Pretty much the usual stuff you can get at Chinese restaurants. For some reason prices seemed a bit lower than it two other restaurants I mentioned above. Probably that is because of this restaurant is fairly new (as I was told opened just in October 2015)

Sweet egg and corn soup

Shredded beef in sweet and spicy sauce

The Bottom Line

Dzin Chao Chinese restaurant in Tbilisi rocks! We paid about GEL 50 for a meal for two persons. Atmosphere is great. Worth to return here again. 

Learn more: Dzin Chao on Facebook

Tbilisi Zoo

19 March, 2016 | Tourism objects | 26 seen

Tbilisi has many cool tourist attraction sites, but there is one, which is rarely mentioned in official guides or Tbilisi reviews - meet the hidden pearl of nations capital - Tbilisi Zoo.

On the other hand worldwide coverage Tbilisi Zoo got after Tbilisi floods on 14 June 2015, leaving many animals dead or on the loose. See: Zoo animals on the loose and deaths feared after Georgia floods

Tbilisi Zoo is located in the Vere valley just next to the Heroes square. There is a symbolic 2 GEL entrance fee in Zoo's territory. In park there some additional attractions for kids, like Ferris wheel and other carrousels. There is a terrarium with separate 1GEL ticket for amphibian lovers.

Peacocks at Tbilisi Zoo

The Tbilisi Zoo was established on 1927. It was designed by a group of Georgian and Russian specialists. The Zoo was further expanded in the 1930s. At its heyday in the 1970s, the Tbilisi Zoo was home to more than 1,000 animals and enjoyed more than 500,000 visitors per year. The Zoo, largely depending on dwindling funding allocated from the city budget, went into decay as a corollary of an economical collapse and political unrest that hit post-Soviet Georgia in the 1990s.

Open air Ferris wheel

Once I actually took a ride in this Soviet time Ferris wheel. My adrenaline level got very high, and not because I'm affraid of height, but rather of such construction. Take your risk and you will have a superb panorama of surrounding areas.

Zebras at Tbilisi zoo

For a second it felt I'm in real African safari shooting with telephoto lens from above. ha ha

Donkeys and rhinos

When I visited Tbilisi zoo it was already afternoon and meal time for most of the animals, that's the only reasonable explanation to explain why almost all animals I photographed here are from back.

Black llama posing for a portrait

This black llama was very friendly, I would even say flirtatious, she followed my every move and freeze when I photographed here. She loves attention. Say hi to her, when at Tbilisi Zoo.

Meal time for white lions

I had a chance to observe a very strange show - feeding the white lions. At first Zoo's workers hang up meat in the trees (take a closer look at the top right corner of above image), then they went out and stayed behind the bars (top left). The Lions were released and then workers or journalists or God knows who - started to photography lions from the bars. I'm not sure for 100% is this a regular attraction or is performed just on special events (journalists)

Speaking of me - I was staying behind the large glass window.

Leopard

The Zoo experienced a modest revival in the late 2000s. A marine aquarium, the first such establishment in the Caucasus, was opened in 2007. The Zoo belongs to the Tbilisi City Hall and largely depends on funding allocated from the city budget.

A goat

For me it is always sad to see animals captured and been held in cages (I haven't visited Circus for more than 20 years). To add more drama how sad a visit to Zoo can be - I tried to photograph an elephant, but he was so enormous huge that didn't fit in my frame, I decided to take a close up and post process in B&W.

An elephant eye

Visit www.zoo.ge to learn more

My Italy Travel Guide

18 March, 2016 | Travel guides | 8 seen

This is a roundup post listing places from our latest trip to Italy at the end of 2015 / start 2016.

The idea to visit Italy born in our Tbilisi apartment's kitchen when I was preparing another homemade pizza, I was flattening pizza dough with a rolling pin, when the better part of me told - hey, let's go to Italy.

And so we did. After about a month we were sitting on a plane Tbilisi - Milan. We hadn't special plans or ideas what to visit. We just drove around.

I did a lot of photography, as I was eager to apply my newly developed photographer skills. Italy definitely is a photographer's paradise.  

Our total cost for this trip was about EUR 2,500, we stayed at decent hotels, drove a rental car and ate at fancy Italian restaurants (osterias). Thus we managed to spend half of that on our trip to Spain, I don't regret a euro cent spent here. 

About FireFly Car Rental in Italy

18 March, 2016 | Professional services | 22 seen

Searching for a budget friendly car rental in Italy? Look no more - I can highly suggest FireFly car rental. We used Firefly during our recent week long trip in Italy, prior to that I have used FireFly Spain (see: My Spain and Andorra Travel guide).

We booked our economy Volkswagen Polo car online and picked it up at Milan-Malpensa airport (you must call to FireFly office upon arrival, after then they will send a shuttle bus to pick you up and will take you to the office, our case it was located in town of Case Nuovo).

Unfortunately we hadn't roaming enabled, so our phones were useless at this stage. After some 10 minutes wandering at the Terminal 1 exit in Milan-Malpensa airport what to do next, I approached some Swiss guy (I didn't know he is a Swiss before approached) and asked could I use his phone to call to FireFly office. Swiss guy gave me his phone and I was dialing to FireFly office - the manager at the other end told me that shuttle will be there in 10 minutes. Thank you Swiss guy - you saved our day back there in airport.

We took the full insurance and as a gift got a free GPS device (TomTom), it turned out that our first hotel booked in Italy was just some 100 meters from FireFly office, so after picking up our small Polo car we went straight to the hotel to get some sleep, as it was a vey long trip for us already. See: Holiday Inn Express Milan-Malpensa Airport Hotel (Case Nuove, Italy)

The real driving started just in the next morning, during our next seven days in Italy we drove a lot a visited places like  Genoa, Tuscany, Florence, Venice, Modena and many many other smaller towns. Did I mentioned the leaning tower of Pisa?!

Our Volkswagen Polo parked next to Puppo hotel in Genoa

During our last day in Italy, before departing from Modena to Milan-Malpensa airport an catastrophic event happened - I messed up with the pumps at gas station near Modena- instead of diesel our cars tank got filled with petrol. We still were phone less - luckily I noticed this error, before actually starting engine and headed back to the gas station and explained them the problem and asked again for a phone so I can call to FireFly office. The personal at Modena gas station was very keen to help me out and gave me the phone.

I struck on the phone line for about 40 minutes explaining forth and back the issue what happened to car. Person in the other end of line told me - alright, service call will soon arrive and pick up damaged car, you should wait for service car, and then you should get to Bologna airport where your new replacement car is ready.

I asked how the heck I will get to the Bologna airport from the middle of nowhere (sorry Modena) - he suggested a taxi. I asked to the nice lady at gas station could she call for some budget taxi and negotiate a drive for us to Bologna airport, and guess what, the nice lady did what I asked her.

Our car been evacuated from Modena gas station

After another 20 minutes our small lovely but damaged Volkswagen Polo was taken by the service car and we were sitting in taxi to Bologna airport.  Such my fault - cost us additional EUR 200 + 70 EUR for taxi service to nearest Firefly office in Bologna airport. We were able to get to FireFly office in Case Nuove, drop the car and get timely on our plain departing for Istanbul. Gosh, that was very stressful day

Now, regarding FirefFy - they are pretty much fast, accurate and reliable, regarding to the issue with wrong fuel - it was absolutely my fault.

Kiwi Vegan Cafe Tbilisi

17 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 17 seen

Kiwi is a vegan non-profit community cafe located on Vertskli street 41, in Tbilisi Old Town. It is stated that all of their proceedings are donated to good causes related to animal rights. Kiwi provides a free social meeting space for organizations who are working for important change in the society, events can be arranged.

Kiwi vegan cafe is the second socially responsible cafe I have found so far in Tbilisi (I don't search for them specially, they just pops in front of me). See Art Cafe Kamara - a social enterprise art cafe which employs rehabilitated persons from different addicts

That was on sunny February afternoon, I decided to head to the Old Town to capture photo of the day (See: 365 days photo project) after all I ended up with a Piece of Life story about Tbilisi - Pearl of Caucasus. I ended my that days wanderings in some side streets (where I actually haven't been before) and noticed Kiwi cafe.

Kiwi cafe located on Verchli street

Since I have heard of this place before I decided to go in.

Inside cafe

Since this is a vegan cafe, and I'm not a vegan I decided to stick with something neutral and ordered just espresso (thus I asked for simplest Turkish coffee, they didn't had this time). I was a bit surprised for a relatively high price for that espresso - 3 GEL. Such places usually associates with cheaper prices. Anyway I enjoyed my espresso. Noticed there is a corner in cafe  - a book exchange club, and there was a stand selling some hippy bracelets. Some young Russian girl entered and ordered a smoothie. 

Kiwi vegan cafe in Tbilisi

I noticed each chair was in different shape. The bartender told me, that all furniture in this place is voluntarily donated by its visitors, for a second I thought - gosh, they want to take my coach, but then I realized - yeah, vegans are a strange folks. No offense! 

Here is what Kiwi Cafe is saying about themselves on their Facebook page:

We're a vegan non-profit community café, we opened July 4th 2015. Our aim with this café is to promote vegan food, to provide an alternative for people who chose to not eat and use products from animals for animal rights, environmental or health reasons and to inspire and inform people who are curious about vegan food. All our proceeds are donated to good causes related to animal rights. We also provide a free social meeting space where you or your organization who are working for important change in the society, can arrange events, info, education, workshops and such. It's free of charge, no need to buy anything. Your work does not have to be related to veganism. Please contact us for more info.  Many people have participated in creating our place, practically and financially. We are very grateful for all help!

Visit Kiwi vegan cafe Facebook page