Blog Archive: September 2016
Cathedral of Cadiz
| Churches and Monasteries | 69 seen
Cádiz Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cádiz, southern Spain, and the seat of the Diocese of Cadiz y Ceuta. It was built between 1722 and 1838. The cathedral was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1931.
When visiting Cathedral of Cadiz, don't forget to climb up the bell tower and get some spectacular pictures from above, see: The Bell Tower of Cadiz Cathedral
Cathedral of Cadiz
The Plaza de la Catedral houses both the Cathedral and the Baroque Santiago church, built in 1635.
The church was known as "The Cathedral of The Americas" because it was built with money from the trade between Spain and America. The 18th century was a golden age for Cádiz, and the other cathedral that the city had got, Santa Cruz, was very small for this new moment of Cádiz. The new cathedral was built from 1722 to 1838.
Cathedral of Cadiz
The first person who designed the church was architect Vicente Acero, who had also built the Granada Cathedral. Acero left the project and was succeeded by several other architects. As a result, this largely baroque-style cathedral was…
Georgia - The Most Beautiful Country In The World
| Living in Georgia | 61 seen
The other day I was reading an article in which the head of the World Tourism Organization Claimed - Georgia is the most beautiful country in the world.
Well, I can ONLY agree with the words from the head of WTO, Mr. Taleb Rifai, and to add my 50 cents I have listed 32 places you should visit to make the most from your trip to Georgia.
Georgian nature, culture and people make this country the most beautiful in the world,
said UN Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, the World Tourism Organization. Source: Глава Всемирной туристской организации: Грузия – самая красивая страна в мире
For more cool tourism sights, restaurants, or travel options in Georgia - check out the Living in Georgia section or use see my complete travel map in Georgia
The Bell Tower of Cadiz Cathedral
| Tourism objects | 117 seen
I don't know how many popular tourism objects in Spain's Cadiz there are, but the Cathedral of Cadiz and it's bell tower should be among them for sure.
We visited Cadiz for couple of hours in June 2016, arrived here from El Puerto de Santa Maria by the ferry in the morning and left afternoon. There is a small entrance fee - EUR 5, which gives access both to the Bell tower and access to the church, audio guides are available as well. There is no lift to get up to the bell tower. The total height of bell tower is about 40 meters.
Cathedral of Cadiz
Tried to apply the panoramic photography above. Not the best result, but somehow framed (fit) whole building in one frame.
Cádiz Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cádiz, southern Spain, and the seat of the Diocese of Cadiz y Ceuta. It was built between 1722 and 1838. The cathedral was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1931.
Climbing up the ramp
I was the only one visiting bell tower at this time (thus I met some German couple climbing down from the tower). The total height of bell tower is about 40 meters (131ft)
…
Postcards from Cadiz
| | 18 seen
My latest trip to Spain took us to the sunny and astonishing city of Cadiz. In today's Piece of Life series - a fraction, os simply Postcards from Cadiz.
Square in Cadiz
Cádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of Cádiz, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
White arch in Cadiz
Cádiz, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in western Europe,has been a principal home port of the Spanish Navy since the accession of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century. The city is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.
Cadiz, Spain
Situated on a narrow slice of land surrounded by the sea‚ Cádiz is, in most respects, a typically Andalusian city with a wealth of attractive vistas and well-preserved historical landmarks. The older part of Cádiz within the remnants of the city walls is commonly referred to as the Old Town (Spanish: Casco Antiguo). It is characterized by the antiquity of its various quarters (barrios), among them El…
Port of Cadiz Bay
| Railway / Bus / Ferry | 3 seen
We used Port of Cadiz Bay (Puerto de Cadiz) twice - first for entering from El Puerto de Santa Maria, second for leaving back to, yes you re right, back to the El Puerto Santa Maria again.
At Reina Victoria pier in Cadiz-City Basin, there is a metropolitan maritime station from Cádiz, that attends to the passengers between Cádiz, El Puerto de Santa María and Rota, with modern catamarans. It has it access from Sevilla square and it is five minutes walking from the center of the city.
Inside terminal building
Passengers leaving Port of Cadiz Bay terminal
Puerto de Cadiz
See more: http://www.puertocadiz.com/opencms/PuertoCadiz/en/
Average Monthly Salary in Former Soviet Union Republics 2016
| Macroeconomics | 172 seen
About two years ago I first compared average monthly salary in Former Soviet Union Republics. Now, two years later, I decided to compare again. I was surprised after seeing results. Let me explain.
First - call it as you wish - major world economic crisis, sanctions against Russia, better integrated or worst integrated parts of the World, but after seeing huge drops in all but Baltic States and Armenia's average salary for me it seems, those countries are still very closely related with Russia, at least in economical plan, and I'm not saying it is good nor it's bad. It's just how it looks for me.
If exchanged to US dollar Russia's monthly average salary in Russian roubles in past two years have dropped by whooping -359 USD. If you are interested in former Soviet Union space, you have probably heard about events in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Russian rouble troubles against American dollar. Those of you who follows my blog, had probably read about my worries about weak Georgian Lari against American dollar.
Not only national currencies have lost their…
Castle of San Marcos (El Puerto de Santa María)
| Tourism objects | 20 seen
While waiting for our ferry departing for Cadiz, we had a chance to visit a local fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria). I made some interesting photography here. One of the first tourism objects I noticed in El Puerto was Castle of San Marcos.
Castle of San Marcos (also Castillo de Alfonso X El Sabio) is a medieval castle located in El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain. The castle was erected as a fortified church by King Alfonso X of Castile. It was built on the site of a mosque of which the wall of the qibla survives.
Front view of Castle of San Marco
The castle was declared a national monument on 30 August 1920 and is currently listed in the Spanish heritage register as a Bien de Interés Cultural.
Statue of Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X (also occasionally Alphonso X, Alphonse X, or Alfons X,23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284), called the Wise(Spanish: el Sabio), was the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death. During the Imperial election of 1257, a dissident faction…
How I Made $1,000 with Google AdSense in 7 years
| Blogging | 6 seen
Yes, I know the title doesn't sounds too much promising. Do a quick Google search and there will be zillion of results pointing out how to make $1,000 a day, or at least in a month. No to speak about - how to make a million dollar from Google AdSense. I'm here to tell you my story how I made humble thousand dollars in seven years. Dude, I feel sorry for me.
Round a year ago I covered an article about Google AdSense achievements, it turned out I was using Google AdSense for already 6 years. Now it's already seven years, that's about 1/4 of my life or about one half of my adult life.
Now to put a little bit of light of this sad entry I must tell that about 2/3 of this money I have made in last 365 days.
Here is how it all started: It was a late night of September 4th, 2009, when I finally decided to give it a try for Google AdSense. Back then I had dozens of different "projects", mostly powered on WordPress, I was exploring different niches and put a lot of time on too much directions. I decided to try to monetize my efforts - and of course I was thinking, yet yet - I will make those million dollars overnight. …
Ferry from El Puerto de Santa Maria to Cadiz
| Railway / Bus / Ferry | 218 seen
The other day we arrived to El Puerto de Santa Maria just for one reason, we had red in some travel guide, that if approaching from Jerez to Cadiz, a nice option to have is to take a ferry leaving El Puerto and connecting with Cadiz.
It took us some time to actually figure out where the terminal building is located and to find a free parking space for our rental car. Once we found both, we had some free time before ferry departing and luckily we got a chance to see a local fair, see Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria.
Yachts (boats) at Bay of Cadiz
Terminal Maritima El Puerto de Santa Maria
For a timetable please visit: B-042 - Cádiz-El Puerto de Santa María
A bull
While you are waiting for departure you can make a lovely photo session next to the bull (located at Terminal parking)
Ticket price
If I remember right, ticket price is EUR 2.65 round-trip (as of 11.06.2016)
Passengers entering ferry/catamaran
The sailing takes actually pretty long (about 45 minutes) during which you can get spectacular views of the Bay of Cadiz, City of Cadiz and of…
Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria
| | 12 seen
Right, its time to continue our latest adventures from our latest Spain trip (visiting region of Andalusia). In today's Piece of Life series a trade fair in small town of El Puerto de Santa Maria.
We left Jerez early in the morning and followed by the advices on the internet decided to get to the Cadiz today, and one of the options was by making a stop at El Puerto de Santa Maria, from which a ferry departs to the city of Cadiz.
We arrived around 10:00 AM at El Puerto de Santa Maria, searched a while for a free parking lot and got one a bit out of the city center next to the matador and bull statue.
Matador and bull statue
There is some arena actually behind this statue, but forgive me - I forgot the name, as we didn't planned actually a trip here.
Iglesia Mayor Prioral
I made a nice panoramic photo out of this, which according to the Wikipedia is Priory Church - religious building in El Puerto de Santa María, province of Cádiz, Spain. It is documented from 1486 when the building was under construction. It was damaged by an earthquake in the 17th century and was partly rebuilt in…
Campsite 'Miera Osta' near Pāvilosta
| Tourism objects | 28 seen
I'm a huge admirer of Latvian seashore town of Pāvilosta. I guess I first discovered it just last year. This Summer we spent many trips to Pāvilosta and vicinity - just by doing nothing - wandering around.
The other weekend we found a new road end and decided to give it a try - at the end we were met by the campsite Miera Osta located near white sand Baltic seashore, some 240km from nation's capital Riga.
Tree house
Kids will enjoy this, and you can actually rent this tree house for about EUR 50. I had a chance to met with the owners of Miera Osta, and I was told that because of campsite being located at the nature reserve, it is forbidden to dig a well (for example) or have an electricity. And yes, it's forbidden to build any fundamental structure, that's why - owners have built a tree house, as long as it doesn't touch the ground - it's fine. Really creative folks there.
Playground at Miera Osta
Bathhouse on the wheels
As I already told - really smart guys here. You can rent a bathhouse next to the sea for about EUR 30 (2 hours). I definitely want to try this one, so let me…
Deep in the Forest
| | 6 seen
I'm not a huge fan of wild woods, instead, I prefer parks, thus this time I agreed to accompany a person in a thing called mushroom gathering, and believe it or not - I even got a nice catch of mushrooms.
In today's Piece of Life series - a hunt for mushrooms in the deepest forests in Courland (Latvia)
Ferns in the woods
Observant viewer will find chanterelles under these ferns.
Red-Capped Scaber Stalks
Polypore
The Polyporales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota, subclass Agaricomycetidae. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticoid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the genus Lentinus). Species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters. Those of economic importance include several important pathogens of forest and amenity trees and a few species that cause damage by rotting structural timber. Some of the Polyporales are commercially cultivated and marketed for use as food items or in traditional Chinese…