Istanbul has been on my travel radar since 2009, when I first visited it during a layover flight to Telaviv, Israel. Since then I've traveled countless times to and back from Istanbul. So did happened during our latest trip Riga - Istanbul - Tbilisi, we booked a lovely hotel Dosso Dossi in Sultanahmet district and spend one night in Istanbul, trying out local street food and visiting most iconic sites in Istanbul.Street food in…
Istanbul Atatürk Airport is the main international airport serving Istanbul, and the biggest airport in Turkey by total number of passengers, destinations served and aircraft movements. Opened in 1924 in Yeşilköy, on the European side of the city, it is located 24 km (15 mi) west of the city centre and serves as the main hub for Turkish Airlines.The city's other, smaller, international…
We booked this 4-star hotel in Sultanahmet district, Istanbul for a one night stay during a layover flight Riga - Istanbul - Tbilisi at the end of May 2017. We paid about EUR 50 for one night stay at this hotelLocated in Sultanahmet district, Dosso Dossi Hotels Old City is within a walking distance from historical sites such as Hagia Sophia Museum, Basilica Cistern and the Blue Mosque. Sultanahmet Tram Station is just a 4-minute walk from…
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazar at Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls …
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A popular tourist site, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque continues to function as a mosque today; men still kneel in prayer on the mosque's lush red carpet after the call to prayer.The Blue Mosque, as it is popularly known, was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a…
This is already fourth Summer Solstice featured on this blog. see how three years ago we made a barbeque on our Tbilisi's balcony and how we celebrated our first Summer Solstice in our newly inherited house two years ago. Also compare how did it go last year. This year we celebrated Summer Solstice already for the third time at our rural country house, see home remodeling. This year it was just us two and cats. Nothing…
Abava Rumba is the second widest waterfall in Latvia (after Venta Rumba) ,up to 1 m high and 35 m wide.I had a chance to visit it and spend some hour in lovely photography session at the end of May 2017, just after our Germany trip in the Mossel Valley. There is a camping area located just next to the rapid. Abava Rumba in LatviaI find such places tranquil and quite inspiring for my photography. Hiking trek near Abava RumbaAs an…
Welcome to another Piece of Life postcards from series. In today's article - Germany. We traveled to Germany for about 3 days at the end of May 2017. I was not at all in photography this time, but still managed to capture some cool sceneries.Sunset in Gudenberg, GermanyOne of rare HDR's I made during this trip. Folks interested in such an interesting architecture, make sure you plan your travels to the region of Hesse in Germany,Porta Nigra…
This 3-star hotel offers comfortable accommodation in Gelsenkirchen's northern Buer district. It is 3 km from the Veltins Arena and 1 km from Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord train station. Hotel Monopol was our last accommodations while in Germany for a short few day trip, unfortunately I was not in the photography mood and didn't made much photos in the past days and almost forgot to photograph this hotel. In fact I captured just the entrance…
I now have pretty ambivalent feelings regarding booking apartments instead of hotel rooms. Despite my feelings, Haus Daniela was a really nice stay in Cochem. For this spacious apartment we paid about EUR 200 for a one night stay, but it featured 3 bedrooms, a huge outdoor terrace with an electrical grill and very well equipped kitchen.Offering free WiFi and a sun terrace, Haus Daniela Superior is set in Cochem. Cochem Castle is 400 m away. Free…
The contours of the neo-gothic building rise more than about 330 ft above the river Moselle on an outstanding hill. The silhouette of the towering hill seems to continue in the building which is topped by the slate roof of the massive keep. As for its structure, Cochem Castle belongs to the category of castles protected by height that had to be protected all around. Romanesque fragments found in the well indicate a reinforcement of the castle…
Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle (Schloss Bürresheim), Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank…
The monastery of Maria Engelport (Kloster Maria Engelport) is located on the edge of the Hunsrück in the Flaumbach Valley near Treis-Karden, Germany. We made here a briefly stop while traveling by car around these parts of Germany, it was overcast day, I was not in the mood for photography, just made some quick shots.Kloster Maria EngelportThe following written is a rough translation from German using…
I traveled to Greece for about 2 weeks in June 2017, our final destination was island of Crete. One of the reasons I was looking for prepaid sim card in Greece is simple - for navigation (Google maps helps a lot).
From my previous experience with dealing with different sim cards in multiple European countries I already knew, it shouldn't be a problem to get one in Greece.
Planing a Trip to Spain: How to Get a Prepaid SIM Card in Spain
I…
The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is today the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site.I first visited Trier and in particular Porta Nigra back in 2005, when arrived here from neighboring Luxembourg. My…
Peter's market is centrally located on Kuršu street in Liepāja, Latvia. There are more than 200 sales outlets. It's the largest market in Liepaja and second largest in Latvia (after Riga Central market). Make sure to visit Peter's market once in Liepāja. Although not so impressive than those in Philadelphia, Barcelona or Riga, it's still quite interesting place. I believe over the time Peter's market has potential to become one of the…
I now have a great selection of Jurmala hotels, in todays article the latest addition - Hotel Sunset on Pilsonu street in Jurmala. When traveling to or from Riga and looking for a cheap stay I prefer Jurmala (as it's close to Riga) or some suburbs in Riga. Although some might think Jurmala is an expensive city in fact - it's not. For a decent hotel room in Jurmala you could easly find value deals for about EUR 40. That's how we booked…
In this article I'll shed some light on how easy it is to perform a minor Drupal 8 upgrade between versions using free Putty SSH terminal and just a few lines of code.
I assume your Drupal is configured under a VPS (take Linode, for example) and your installation path is /srv/www/
See: How to upgrade Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 - Process , Upgrading Drupal 7 (minor upgrade)
Drupal security updates
By accessing available…
Alte Pfarre Gudensberg offers pet-friendly accommodation in a historical timbered house in Gudensberg, 17 km from Kassel and 42 km from Bad Hersfeld. The unit is 18 km from Bad Wildungen. Free private parking is available on site.After a visit to this place we have agreed, let's include such apartments in our future travel plans instead of just simple hotel rooms. Stay at apartments gives much better local touch. We booked Alte …
There are two financial goals I'm looking to achieve. The short term goal is to earn from dividend paying stocks more than $100/mo by February 2018. The long tern goal - to land 1 million dollars in my savings account by the time I will turn 60 (that's in 2045).I started my wealth building adventure (portfolio) January 2017 with goal to invest $8,561 this year in several batches. Now, five months latter I'm publishing my…
I share ongoing portfolio progress with a focus on generating income through covered calls on quality stocks. Each update includes positioning changes, trade rationale, and forward-looking adjustments based on current market conditions.