Travel

Bridge To Nowhere (Latvia)

It was a late June evening and we most probably returned from Riga to our wolf's lair when suddenly we noticed very interesting object - The Bridge To Nowhere.

The bridge reminds of the intended construction of Tukums-Kuldīga railroad, which was started already during the first independence of the Republic of Latvia in 1930-ties. However, in the minds of the people, it is instilled as a German wartime commemorative site, because the German rule…

Travel

Open Air Sulphur Water Swimming Pools in Borjomi

Georgia will never end surprise you (at least me), so did happened during our recent hiking/trekking tour in lovely parts of Borjomi - Kharaguli National park. After a visit of Saint George Church in Daba we headed back to Borjomi Mineral Water park (You can find a Borjomi Cable car here) and we decided to take some shortcut. Huge was my surprise when I noticed following scenery:



Open air swimming pools in Borjomi

I couldn't…

Latvia

Skrunda Open-Air Stage and Park

I just love Skrunda, like I have dedicated a lot of posts to this lovely small Latvian town in Western Latvia. So today is no exception - meet another tourist attraction in this marvelous town - Open air stage and park. You will just love this place.

Skrunda park with an open-air stage and the viewing platform. The park is developed on top of the Skrunda castle mound and features four public art objects made by wood carver Ģirts Burvis – seats…

Georgia

Saint George Church and Monastery (Borjomi/Georgia)

I was not familiar with the name of this place, until during a recent hiking trip in Georgia and latter at home using Google Maps I learned this place is known as Saint George Church.

The name I used to knew it - was something like this - there is that lovely women monastery up there in Borjomi. And I'm still preferring this name of describing this place instead of Saint George Church. 

The Sadgeri St. George Church is the XV…

Travel

One Day Trip To Armenia (Lori Province)

Just shortly after our return to Georgia, in the first weekend we just couldn't sit back home and do nothing, we were eager for some travels. So we found this lovely offer on Facebook - short one day trip to Armenia for 40 GEL (it's about $17.00) and here we were heading to Armenia. Since this was not our first trip to neighboring republic we already felt pretty confident about all the border crossings, money exchanges e.t.c.

I…

Travel

Skrunda Manor and Hotel

Skrunda Manor is an attractive final destination in the culturally historical region of Kurzeme (Courland) in Latvia. What's use to been a manor house now is turned into a boutique hotel in Western Latvia. I know for sure they have restaurant on site and after midnight you can get a take away coffee at reception (well, don't forget about tips to the receptionist).

I visited this place at the start of June 2015, since I was a little bit in rush…

Travel

Brethren Cemetery ensemble in Nīkrāce (Latvia)

It was hard for me to decide should I put this place as a tourist attraction or as a military heritage, I opted for the second one. You see, things related to WW2, especially like Brethren Cemeteries is hard to call tourist attractions, right?

So, here is another one interesting place in Latvia, region of Courland you should visit some day - a memorial dedicated to fatalities of WW2. Some locals call this place just as a Mother (Latvian: Māmuļa…

Food blogger

Simple Homemade Hamburger Recipe With Photos

What happens when bloggers, who are trying out some new photo equipment and who loves to cook comes together? Right, they do a food blog. This time blogger here is just one (I do have a lovely assistant) and strong jury although.

So, lets make a really simple hamburger today.

For ingredients you will need to have those lovely buns (you can try to buy them at your local shop), for patties I'm going to use ground meat (minced meat) out…

Latvia

Lēnas Holy Trinity Roman Catholic church (Latvia)

Lēnu church (Latvian: Lēnu baznīca) is located in Latvia, historical region of Courland in Skrunda municipality. I first discovered this place either in 2013, or 2014, and in fact I was surprised to learn than in Western Latvia (Courland) there are actually Catholic churches (turns out - there are, and a lot)



Lenu church

At time (On June 6, 2015)  I visited this church a festival called Night of Churches happened, which…

Temple of Saint Seraphim of Sarov (Borjomi/Georgia)

Temple of Saint Seraphim of Sarov is located close to Borjomi (some 1.5km) in Georgia. You can get here either by car or as I prefer - by foot using Borjomi - Baghi - Tba - Tsemi road. That's actually exactly we did at the end of September during our hiking tour in Borjomi. I must admit this was not the first time for me at this place, but prior to that I didn't know the name and meaning of this place. Now I know, so the place is actually called…

Living in Georgia

Actual Price Index in Tbilisi Market (Georgia) - At Start of October 2015

Right, this might probably sound as yet another hipster style article and probably you are right. The thing is  - during month of October I have decided to write down my everyday expenses and in the next month I will provide article on Cost of Living in Tbilisi (Georgia). Since it was start of October, I headed to Google Play store to download first expense tracking app and started to write down my expenses.

I had to visit Tbilisi…

Travel

Barbecue Festival in Akhtala (Armenia)

At the start of September 2015, we booked a one day tour to Armenia. This trip took us to Lori province in Armenia, which actually is pretty close to Georgian border. During this trip we had a stops at Haghpat monastery, Sanahin monastery and Akhtala monastey. 

It turned out that at our final destination place - the Akhtala monastery, a barbecue festival was held. At start I did find it a bit strange - a barbeque and a monastery? Well...…

Travel

Borjomi Cable Car (Aerial Tram)

One of the most interesting attractions in Georgian resort town of Borjomi is a cable car leaving from Mineral Water Park and heading uphill offering lovely and scenery views of Mineral Water park. Sometimes it's just enough to take that ride here to enjoy those scenery and beautiful views of Borjomi.



Cable car station in Borjomi

There is actually just one cable car available at this station. Price for a ride per person 3 GEL…

Living in Georgia

First Georgia Expat Photographer Club Meeting

On September 19th, 2015 First meeting of Georgia Expat Photographers Club happened. As some of you already know - in the middle of this Summer Johann approached me with his idea to create a photo/travel club, and back then we established a community on Facebook. Read more on that here: Georgia Expat Photography Club

Since our community was established on Facebook (if you are up to for something in Georgia, then Facebook is your best…

Living in Georgia

Super moon Total Lunar Eclipse 2015: Tbilisi, Georgia

Total lunar eclipse was fully visible in Tbilisi, Georgia on September 28, 2015 between 05:07 and 06:55 (Tbilisi time). I must admit that I really enjoy photography, but I had never ever done anything like this (photographing lunar eclipse) before. This night was one of the strangest and mysterious nights I have experienced this year (at least) - what was meant to be just a photography turned ou to be a man's rescue from cold…

Digital Photography School

Understanding focal length: Testing 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses

Welcome to the another digital photography school tutorial on understanding focal length.It's not so long away when I entered magical world of Digital SLR photography, until then I was using simple compact sized cameras and did with them a simple thing - photographed things.Well, things changed when I bought Canon EOS 1200D camera (Read: First Impressions Of Canon EOS 1200D Camera With 18-55mm Lens), then I started to improve my…

Travel

Rhododendron Garden in Cirava (Latvia)

If you are heading to a remote Latvian village Cirava, you have few options to make your visit pleasant here, like there are very interesting but abandoned manor complex and a lovely church.However, local residents at Cirava has something else to offer for both local and foreign travelers - a rhododendron garden located in territory of cemetery.

Well, if you are hoping to see here something like Keukenhofs tulip gardens, then .. then go to…

Digital Photography School

365 Day Photo Challenge Project

In this post you will learn why I decided to take a personal 365 days photo project challenge and how I'm planing to complete it.

What is a 365 Project?

There are many different 365 projects, but they all share one goal in common: taking at least one photograph every single day, for a full year. Many photographers take that idea one step further to including taking, and posting, at least one photograph a day for an entire year. Some people…

Armenia

Akhtala Monastery in Armenia

Akhtala monastery was our third and last stop during our short one day trip to Armenia, before returning to Tbilisi. Prior to Akhtala monastery we visited Haghpat monastery and Sanahin monastery. The truth is - our trip was made especially to visit Akhtala because of a barbeque festival was held here. I will cover some details (and photos) about that festival in some of the next blog posts, but today I decided to share some photography I…

Armenia

Sanahin Monastery in Armenia

Sanahin monastery is located in province of Lori in Armenia, close to Georgian border. Sanahin monastery was second site we visited during our short one day trip to Armenia, just shortly after we visited Haghpat monastery.

I was so eager to master a photography using my DSLR camera and a tripod (it's damn hard to use a tripod in 30 minutes sightseeing tour) so I didn't actually paid much attention on history a local guides were telling about…

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