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Pouring Concrete Footing
Right, today I found a fix to the issue we discovered earlier this summer - missing foundation for the some parts of our rural house. Some few days ago I bough a concrete mixer, gravel was already waiting to be mixed with concrete, now it was time to pour in footing for the missing part. All setup Concrete mixer, wheelbarrow with gravel, a shovel. yes pretty much the basics for mixing the concrete. Simple template for foundation Now its…
Christmas Cooking Photo Session in The Kitchen - Olivie salads, Pirozhki and of course Pizza
That time of the year have come and for the rare time this year I was actually operating with camera in our kitchen - in today's special Christmas menu - our "traditional Georgian Christmas" table - salad Olivie, pirozhki and of course that tasty pizza. It was that time of the year when again I installed a tripod, put a telephoto lens and decided to shoot macro's. Christmas time during our expat time…
Katskhi Pillar
The Katskhi pillar is a natural limestone monolith located at the village of Katskhi in western Georgian region of Imereti, near the town of Chiatura. It is approximately 40 metres (130 ft) high, and overlooks the small river valley of Katskhura, a right affluent of the Q'virila. If you have seen those amazing video clips about Georgia, you have most probably…
Hotel Zen Airport Torremolinos, Spain
Hotel Zen is a 3-star hotel located in Torremolinos, Spain - a good location, pretty close to the Malaga airport. We booked Hotel Zen as our last hotel during our week long travels in Spain before departing to Oslo, Norway. This property is 16 minutes walk from the beach. Featuring a heated outdoor pool and 2 terraces, Hotel Zen Airport is located in Torremolinos. This hotel offers air-conditioned rooms and free WiFi. A free airport…
Bad Discovery - Missing foundation for house
Today I decided to keep digging trench around existing house fundament to prepare works for upcoming concreting works. Yesterday I bough a concrete mixer and mixed first test of concrete, load of gravel were already waiting and of course a sacks of cement were bought. It was just a matter of shovel and hand work. And then the bad news came - our house is partly missing foundation. It turned out that at the end of house, there is no…
Samtavisi Cathedral
Samtavisi is an eleventh-century Georgian Orthodox cathedral in eastern Georgia, in the region of Shida Kartli, some 45km from the nation’s capital Tbilisi. The cathedral is now one of the centers of the Eparchy of Samtavisi and Gori of the Georgian Orthodox Church. We discovered this church during our recent trip to town of Chiatura. My driver told me, this church seems to him as a copy of Kashveti…
Concrete Mixer FXA 130L
Another addition to my home remodeling tools collection has arrived (been bought at local DIY store) - concrete mixer FXA 130L - with help of what I'm planing to concrete fundament for our rural house. Concrete mixer is a must have tool for any self home builder and I would say it should be featured at any rural house. Concrete mixer is the second useful tool after a trimmer purchase this year. FXA 130 liter…
Bulachauri restaurant
Bulachauri restaurant probably is the restaurant I have visited the most - unfortunately I have never paid attention to the name of this place - I always know, that's that restaurant we always take meals when hiring our driver for trips to region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti. Probably this is our driver's most favorite dining place. I wanted to change this and ad this restaurant to the blog - so last time I visited this place I paid very…
Hotel Los Dolmenes in Antequera, Spain
Hotel Los Dolmenes in Antequera is among my favorite hotels I have stayed so far. We booked this hotel during our latest trip in Spain (a week in Andalusia) in June 2016. Set in the olive grove, close to the El Torcal this is a really valuable hotel deal. We paid less than EUR 40 per night here (breakfast and free parking included) Hotel Los Dolmenes Set around a traditional Andalusian courtyard, the rooms at Los Dólmenes…
Bazaleti Lake in Georgia
The Bazaleti Lake is a lake in eastern Georgia some 60 km northwest of the nation's capital Tbilisi and 5 km south of the town of Dusheti. It is used for fish culture, irrigation, and recreation. The nearby village and the historical district around the lake are also known as Bazaleti. I had heard about Bazaleti lake before and thought there are some recreational facilities built…
El Torcal de Antequera
El Torcal de Antequera is a nature reserve in the Sierra del Torcal mountain range located south of the city of Antequera, in the province of Málaga off the A45 road in Andalusia, Spain. It is known for its unusual landforms, and is one of the most impressive karst landscapes in Europe. It was on our day 4th or 5th in Spain (traveling around region of Andalusia), when El…
Motel Istros Aviaparkas
Motel Istros Aviaparkas is among the strangest and definitely the most solitary hotel I have ever stayed. Located some 4 kilometers from town of Panevezys in Lithuania. It was the evening of my 31st birthday and we returned home from our three day trip around Lithuania. Tired. After checking few rural houses in the vicinity we decided hell - let's sleep among helicopters and Old Soviet war planes. Old Soviet war planes Located just some 500…
Vazha Pshavela House Museum in Chargali
Vazha Pshavela house museum in Chargali features objects connected with life and work of well-known Georgian son and poet Vazha-Pshavela (1861-1915). Various publications of poet's works, paintings, graphics, sculptures and photographs are featured here. What makes this place important? Not to mention that Vazha Pshavela is one of the well-known Georgian poets (obliviously) - The Big Head in the front of entrance of this…
IKEA Shopping in Vilnius, Lithuania
IKEA store has been opened in Vilnius city already in 2013. This place is very popular among local and neighboring shopping travelers - Belarus and Latvia. There is no surprise seeing shoppers from Belarus here, as Minsk is less than 200km from Vilnius. Latvians? Well they just love shopping in Vilnius. It was my birthday, we were at Vilnius, after spending few hours wandering around Old Town - idea visiting IKEA arrived. Unfortunately we hadn…
Flamingo Lagoon near Fuente de Piedra in Spain
I'm not into bird photography at all, but idea visiting one of the Worlds largest Flamingo lagoons today sounded great. We were on our 4th or 5th day traveling around region of Andalusia in Spain. Somehow small town of Fuente de Piedra popped up in our radar (well, obliviously because of flamingos) and my first bird photography session begun. Keep on reading to learn how it failed after all. Visitor center There is a visitor center named…
Osteria de Luca Italian Restaurant in Vilnius
Osteria de Luca is an Italian restaurant located in the Old town of Vilnius, Lithuania. During my latest visit here in August 2016, they served delicious Italian cuisine, I tried a wrapped pizza - intrigue and amazing. I got the feelings they have taken all the best ingredients straight from the Italy. I love Italian cuisine, and especially pizzas, once my better part and me, we visited Italy especially for Pizza tourism, gosh we tried so many…
Restaurant El Arador, Estepa, Spain
I just love roadside cafeterias, so did happened today, we left Seville and had a direction towards Granada, after an hour of driving we started to feel hungry, it was lunch time. Luckly Restaurant El Arador popped up. Restaurante El Arador What to order in a typical Spanish restaurant? How about a fresh orange juice and a chorizo? French fries, chorizo and orange juice
The Republic of Užupis (Vilnius, Lithuania)
I have traveled to Vilnius, Lithuania a lot, for most of the times using Vilnius just as a transit stop. I decided to change this. It was my 31st birthday, and I opted for celebrations in Vilnius (I have a goal - to celebrate my birthday each year in one of the capitals of former Soviet Union's republics, so far I have celebrated already in Yerevan and Tallinn). I had read in some tourist brochures about The Republic of Užupis, and…
Ujarma Fortress
Ujarma is a medieval Georgian fortress in the Kakheti region, located some 45 km east from the nation's capital Tbilisi. It's believed than in the second half of the 5th century, famous Vakhtang Gorgasali (founder of Tbilisi) erected numerous buildings in Ujarma and moved his residence there. After Vakhtang’s death, his heir Dachi was ruling Kakheti for some period from here. In the 10th century, Ujarma was…
Literatu street in Vilnius
The chances are you will love this narrow street in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania if you are an avid reader, writer or just a true hipster (OK, just joking). "Literatu street project" - formally name of the project. The wall with mounted artworks - dedications to the literature workers in the Vilnius old town. Literatų str. is situated very close to the main street of the Vilnius Old Town Pilies str. and is…
Iosebis Duqani (Joseph's Tavern) near Sasadilo
Iosebis Duqani is just another cool roadside cafeteria, located near village of Sasadilo, in Mtskheta-Tianeti region, Georgia. Often readers of my blog are familiar on my passion on roadside cafeterias, in most cases they are just excellent. It' s not that I have visited this place for the first time (as I did it actually already in 2011), it is just the first time I'm featuring it on blog. The most fun fact about this place,…
Sioni Water Reservoir (Georgia)
I had never been to this area of Georgia before, the lucky day come and I negotiated with our driver to visit town of Tianeti. It was from Tianeti driver suggested us to visit Sioni lake, or more precisely Sioni water reservoir. In short - another spectacular place to see and visit while in Georgia. I didn't find much background of this place, thus I'm guessing this is an artificial water lake, built during soviet era, probably in…
Hotel Review - Leflet Valme in Dos Hermanas, Spain
Leflet Valme is a 3-star hotel located in a small town of Dos Hermanas in province of Sevile, Spain. We booked this hotel for one night prior of visiting Seville next morning. Our road took us here from Cadiz, and in fact we almost missed exit to Dos Hermanas town, luckily rental car's tomtom device helped us to locate both town and hotel. In short a decent hotel for a decent money. Leflet Valme hotel in Dos Hermanas, Spain The hotel is…
Vilnius TV Tower and Observation Platform
The Vilnius TV Tower is a 326.5 m (1,071 ft) tower in the Karoliniškės microdistrict of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is the tallest structure in Lithuania, and is occupied by the SC Lithuanian Radio and Television Centre. It was my birthday morning when by chance we made a visit to Vilnius TV tower. We simply get lost in Vilnius, as we tried to find city center (remember no tomtoms or what-…