Blog Archive: June 2017

So you have just 24 hours for Istanbul? In this short indie travel guide, I will list places you could easily manage to visit and see in less than 24 hours.  My story short - at the end of May we booked connecting flight from Riga to Tbilisi, via Istanbul, we had an option to have a shorter waiting time, but we…

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…

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…

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 hotel Located in Sultanahmet district, Dosso Dossi Hotels Old City is within a walking distance from historical…

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…

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…

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…

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. …

This is a round up post about our latest travel to Germany, at the end of May 2017. Our trip started at Dortmund airport, were we got a nice Nissan X-trail rental car from Hertz (about EUR 250 for 4 days). Although I've traveled to Germany countless times in the past, this is just third recap featured on blog, in…

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, Germany One of rare HDR's I made during this trip…

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…

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…

Featuring free WiFi and garden views, Rose Cottage is a holiday home, situated in Udler. It provides free private parking. We booked this place on booking.com for a one night stay during our few day leisure trip in Germany, sadly there are few good words I can use to describe our stay here. As this place is one of…

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…

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 …

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…

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…

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…

This is a short recap article about our latest trip to the region of Kakheti in Western Georgia, during a weekend trip we stayed in a lovely Chataeu Mere hotel near Telavi and explored the nearby vicinity. We did this trip as indie travelers, first booked a hotel room, then contacted the hotel and asked for transfer…

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,…