Blog Archive: February 2015

Maximizing Revenue: A Guide to Google Adsense Experiments

Google AdSense is a popular advertising network that allows website owners to display ads on their sites and earn money when users click on them. AdSense offers a wide range of ad formats and customization options to help publishers maximize their revenue. However, even with the best practices in place, it can be challenging to determine what ad types and placements work best for your audience.

This is where AdSense Experiments come in.…

Building A Travel Map - Drupal Way (Gmap + Views + Selective Filters)

In this article, I'll show how I built a travel map using Drupal and a few extra modules.

For a starter, you can see a live preview by visiting my Travel Map.

In this map, I have listed all places I have visited since October 2013 (When I started my blog). I have used a few filters to allow limiting results on the map, for example,  users can filter by Country, Region, and Theme (Category).

To make it work better and more intuitive…

'Maspindzelo' Tbilisi Restaurant Review

Welcome to another series of Tbilisi restaurants, in this post I will speak about a restaurant 'Maspindzelo' located close to Tbilisi Sulphur baths. I first visited this restaurant just back in last summer, my visit here this time here was just a second time. 

Actually we were heading to another restaurant - a newly opened Accent restaurant, but we had a wrong coordinates of it's address an as it turned out we were staying next to '…

Beit Rachel Synagogue In Tbilisi

Beit Rachel synagogue is located in Tbilisi Old Town on Leselidze street 28. I first discovered it a few years ago, when accidentally visited an alternative restaurant located just opposite to it.

Beit Rachel synagogue is actually located just a few blocks away from Tbilisi Main Synagogue.

Though this synagogue is located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town, it's pretty well hidden from public, to find it you must enter a yard.



Sign before…

Content Writing in the Age of AI: What You Should Expect

Content writing has come a long way in recent years, with the rise of digital media and the increasing importance of online marketing. However, with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the landscape of content writing is likely to change significantly in the years to come.

One major development in this area is the rise of AI-powered content creation tools, which use natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to generate…

11 Katkha Tbilisi Restaurant Review (Near Dinamo Stadium) (2015)

Welcome to another great Tbilisi Restaurant review - today I will speak about 11 Katkha

Update 2023: This place has been closed for a while already. There are at least two other 11 Katkha restaurants in Tbilisi, one is in Saburtalo, second is on Baratishvili street (close to Freedom square), read my latest review here: 11 Katkha Tbilisi Restaurant on Nikoloz Baratashvili street

11 Katkha is a restaurant located in Tbilisi, Georgia,…

My February Savings Report - GEL Loses Another 16.5% Against USD; -17% Against EUR

Welcome to my third savings report, today I will look at historical exchange rates of GEL/USD and EUR and compare those with at the end of January (2015) with February 24.

I started to save some chunk of money back in September 2014, since my "investments" was too small to buy some bonds, stocks or mutual funds, I decided to open a Savings account here in Georgia (I'm currently living here) in local commercial banks.

I started low - by…

How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees

Welcome to fourth and final part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives and redeems their checks in Republic of Georgia (South Caucasus).

How participants of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,

Although it's still technically possible to…

About Georgia: A Chef In Love (1996 Movie)

Last night was the Oscar night - Estonian/Georgian movie Tangerines was nominated for best foreign language film. They didn't won, Ida did. 

I decided to look is there some more Georgian movies nominated for Oscar, and turns out one film prior to Tangerines actually was nominated, back in 1996 - A Chef in Love. I was a bit surprised to learn - that main role in this movie is portrayed by a very popular French actor - Pierre Richard.

A…

Tbilisi - Gudauri Transfer By Vazha Travel

Around two weeks ago we had a two day trip to Gudauri, where we stayed at Hotel Shamo, and enjoyed skiing opportunities in Gudauri.

In this post I decided to write about transfer options from Tbilisi to Gudauri by a local company called Vazha Travel. Owner of this company is a personal friend, so I had all opportunities to bargain price  down.

Since this road offers plenty of spectacular views, I decided to add some photos to better…

Drupal module - For Embedding A SoundCloud Media Files

How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days

Welcome to the already third part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives checks and get them redeemed in Republic of Georgia.

How participants of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,

Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank…

Building A Simple Drupal Booking Engine From Scratch

Originally this post was planned to be a part of building a Drupal website from scratch series post, I did in late 2013. For some reason this post was left unpublished, so today I decided to review it one more time and make it public. 

In this article, I'll show how to create simple, but powerful booking engine for fictional tourism company's webpage using Drupal.

Part 1 - Modules


Download References module
Node Reference URL…

Engineering An Empire The Byzantines

A long time has passed since I have reviewed some documentary film. Today, I watched an interesting documentary made by History Channel - Engineering an Empire The Byzantines.

I must admit that now I feel more educated about ancient history.

In this documentary is covered the time period from the founding of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) 330 AD, till falling of Constantinople in 1453.

Santa Claus originates from Ancient Byzantine…

Helsinki - Tallinn tunnel could cost up to €13 billion

I first heard of idea to build an undersea tunnel connecting Finish capital Helsinki with Estonian Tallinn, back in 2006. Soon it will be already 10 years, and I would probably have forget the idea of this project, but, today I red an article suggesting that estimate costs of such project could be EUR 13 billion, and it could be completed toward the end of 2030s.

The submarine tunnel, connecting Tallinn with Finnish capital Helsinki, could cost…

Ananuri Castle Complex On The Aragvi River, Georgia

Ananuri is a castle complex on the Aragvi River in Georgia, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) from Tbilisi. 

Located on the Georgian military road heading to Gudauri and Kazbegi and later to Russia via Upper Lars. Due to its close proximity to the nation's capital, Ananuri is a popular tourist spot. 



Ananuri castle complex in Georgia

Ananuri was a castle and seat of the eristavis…

Gudauri - Cost Free And Fun Outdoor Activities

Gudauri is well known as Georgian winter capital thanks to it's skiing infrastructure. But that doesn't mean Gudauri is expensive and those with limited budget can't have fun at Gudauri as well.

Turns out - there are a dozen of option to enjoy winter activities absolutly for free. Honeslty speaking I was sursprised and that's the reason me making this blog post.

OK, who I'm trying to trick - actually if you are heading to Gudauri for mountain…

Hotel Shamo Gudauri Review

Hotel Shamo in Gudauri actually is a very cosy guest house located close to Gudauri (in Kumlistsikhe village) not far from ski-lifts.

I first stayed at this hotel back in April, 2011, then again at the end of 2011, and finally we stayed here during our recent visit to Gudauri.

The default price per person at Hotel Shamo are about $50 per night. 2 meals (breakfast and supper) are included in price. Also a free transfer to and from ski-…

Gudauri - Georgian Winter Capital for skiing, snowboarding, paragliding and heli-skiing

Gudauri is a popular winter resort located in the Republic of Georgia, Caucasus some 120 km from Tbilisi. I first visited Gudauri back in the Spring of 2011, and since then I have come here at least once a season.

The resort offers high quality skiing opportunities. The slopes of Gudauri are completely above the tree line and are best for free-riders and are generally considered to be avalanche-safe. The ski season lasts from December to April…

Neighborhoods of Tbilisi - Abanotubani

Abanotubani is one of the most attractive neighborhoods in Tbilisi. It's famous of its public sulfur baths, and very spectacular views.

I believe Tbilisi Sulphur bath district is one of the most iconic Tbilisi sights. Personally I doubt there are many tourists who have not seen Abanotubani (Tbilisi bath district) while visiting Georgian capital. Though - I believe fewer ones have actually visited them. If you are…