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One of The Best Traditional Cretan Restaurants - Gramvousa in Kaliviani
There is another clear winner in my top restaurant list - Gramvousa Restaurant in the small Cretan village Kaliviani. Discovered by the accident, during our travels in Crete at the start of June 2017. We headed here after failed attempt to reach Balos beach in the nearby vicinity, see: Discoveries in Crete - Rough Road To Balos Beach Right now it's hard to remember where did we actually headed, but we were driving through this…

Discoveries in Crete - Rough Road To Balos Beach
Balos Beach & Lagoon have been listed as one of the TOP 10 Best Europe's Beaches in 2017 according to Trip Advisor. We didn't know that yet when planned our trip here with a rental car we took earlier this morning at Agia Marina beach. This was indeed a beautiful trip, kind of reminded me the one we did about a year ago in Spain's region of Andalusia, see: In The Searches For El Torcal - Wilderness in SpainTorcal - Wilderness in Spain…

Mavros Molos Beach near Kissamos, Crete
Mavros Molos beach is a quiet and kind of remote, tourist unspoiled beach located near Kissamos, some 40km from Chania. We made here a short stop during our Crete exploring trip back in June 2017 Mavros Molos Beach is the largest beach in Kissamos (Kastelli) itself, with fine sand and relatively shallow water. Mavros Molos beach near Kissamos, Crete Mavros Molos beach is at the west end of town, right in front of the…

Cafe Mixail Malandrakis in Kalydonia, Crete
Cafe Mixail Malandrakis is located in a small village of Kalydonia, Crete in distance some 25km from Chania town. We discovered this place by accident, when, after checking out from a hotel room in Agia Marina (see: Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete), took a rental car and decided to head in the direction towards Kissamos. it was still quite early, and we decided it would be a very good idea to have some morning coffee. As…

Red Dragon Restaurant Review in Platanias
Red Dragon is a Chinese restaurant in Platanias, Crete serving kind of combo tourist meals for IMHO bit high prices. Anyhow, as we booked a hotel room in a nearby Agia Marina town (which seems is a hotel area), then most of the dinning options are located in nearby Platanias. As previous evening we walked about 4 km to The Stones Restaurant, for this night we wanted something closer, Red Dragon was one of the first places we met in our route…

Tampakakis Bakery in Agia Marina, Crete
Tampakakis bakery is a lovely place in Agia Marina, many pastries and tasty coffee available here. Tampakakis was closely located to hotel we stayed for couple of days in Agia Marina (Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete) Fresh morning coffee and crispy buns guaranteed. Tampakakis Bakery in Agia Marina, Crete Wide variety for morning coffee and affordable prices. Cookies, buns and bread at Tampakakis Bakery

The Stones Restaurant Review - Platanias, Crete
The Stones restaurant is located in Platanias, Crete. Located kind of remote / roadside. We visited this place on a rainy day, after checked in at hotel in nearby town of Agia Marina (see: Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete). The walk was for about 4 km (each direction) This place serves traditional Greek and European cuisine, obliviously we opted for Greek salad as a starter. I wanted to order some mussels…

Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete
This property is 1 minute walk from the beach. Set right on the sandy beach of Agia Marina, Vergina Beach Hotel offers free WiFi in all areas and air-conditioned accommodation with views over the Cretan Sea. It includes a beach bar and a cocktail bar. We booked this hotel at the start of June 2017 and stayed here for 2 nights, paying in total about EUR 106. As we hadn't yet booked a rental car here, for getting here we took a taxi from Chania…
From Kazbegi Region through the Valley of Truso
North-East of Georgia is genuinely a mountainous region also known as Mtskheta-Mtianeti. This name can be translated as ‘Mtskheta in the Mountains’. Still, locals got used calling the territory ‘Kazbegi Region’ as if paying tribute to the famous Mount Kazbek. The main Caucasian Ridge lies right at the border of Russian Federation and Georgia and the well-known Georgian Military road is also paved right in the Kazbegi Region that serves as the…

Chania Bus Station
There is a cheap and pretty convenient way to travel to the nearby beaches and more distant routes in Crete from Chania town. Your journey will start at Chania bus station. In fact there is a bus service to/from Chania airport, with ticket price just about EUR 2 per person. The bus transport in Chania is cheap. I remember, once I paid about EUR 40 for a one way trip from an airport in Norway to the Oslo city center (see…

Lithinon Studio Apartment in Chania Review
Situated 100 m from Chania Old Venetian Harbour in Chania Town, this air-conditioned apartment features a terrace. The apartment is 100 m from Mosque of Kioutsouk Hassan. Free WiFi is provided . We booked this apartment in Chania for a one night stay at the start of June 2017. As we hadn't yet booked a rental car in Crete, we took a public bus from Chania airport to get to the city center and then using Google Maps navigation went some…

Taverna En Plo in Chania
This was a very long and tiring day, in the morning we left Tbilisi to travel to Athens, spent whole day there, and in the evening fled to Chania, Crete, after we checked in at out apartment in Chania, I took a tripod and we made a lovely evening photo walk. Our evening ended at this nice Greek tavern - En Plo on Portou street 20. En Plo seems is a quite popular tourist place, we hardly managed to get a free table here once we get one we…

Athens International Airport
Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos", commonly initialized as "AIA", began operation on 28 March 2001 and is the primary international airport that serves the city of Athens and the region of Attica. It is Greece's busiest airport and it serves as the hub and main base of Aegean Airlines as well as other Greek airlines. Athens International is the 28th busiest airport in Europe…

Chania International Airport (Greece)
Chania International Airport, "Daskalogiannis" is an international airport located near Souda Bay on the Akrotiri Peninsula of the Greek island of Crete, serving the city of Chania, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) away. Moreover, it is a gateway to western Crete for an increasing amount of tourists. The airport is named after Daskalogiannis, a Cretan rebel against Ottoman rule in the 18th century and is a joint…

Ancient Agora of Athens
The Ancient Agora of Classical Athens is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill known as the Agoraios Kolonos, also called Market Hill.It was at the start of June, when I first visited Athens, Greece during a brief layover flight to the island of Crete, see About…

Phidias Lounge Bar in Athens
Phidias lounge bar in Athens was mine second cafe / restaurant in Greece, as just early in the morning we arrived from Tbilisi to Athens and had a few hours before our connecting flight to Chania, Creete. We used spare hours and from Athens airport went directly to the city center by metro. Phidias lounge bar in Athens Since we hadn't been to Athens before and were kind of limited in time, we decided to visit only things that will be…
About Tbilisi - Athens - Chania (Greece) flight by Aegean Airlines
There is a pretty convenient option when traveling from Tbilisi to the island of Crete (Greece), probably there are some direct charter flights, but at the start of June we opted for a connecting flight Tbilisi - Athens - Chania by Aegean airlines. Bought online tickets about a month prior, and in fact didn't paid too much (about 200 EUR for two persons) This was the first time for me traveling to Greece, and I quite enjoyed option to…
Istanbul Atatürk Airport
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…

Dosso Dossi Istanbul Old City Hotel
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 sites such as Hagia Sophia Museum, Basilica Cistern and the Blue Mosque. Sultanahmet Tram Station is just a 4-minute walk…

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul
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…

Sultan Ahmed Mosque
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…
Summer Solstice 2017
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 Waterfall
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 Latvia I find such places tranquil and quite inspiring for my photography. Hiking trek near Abava…

Hotel Monopol in Gelsenkirchen, Germany
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…