Hotel Edelweiss Review in Gudauri

10 February, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 12 seen

Located in Gudauri, a 10-minute walk from the nearest ski lift, Edelweiss Hotel features an on-site restaurant serving Georgian and European cuisine and free Wi-Fi throughout the property.

We booked hotel Edelweiss for 2015 Christmas (December 23-25) and enjoyed our stay at this place a lot. Thus the price we paid for this hotel is well above average (about EUR 100 per night) we are paying for hotels in Georgia, the service offered for price was just excellent.

Alternatively check out Hotel Shamo Review in Gudauri or see TOP 10 Best Gudauri hotels.

Hotel Edelweiss in Gudauri, Georgia

As it might look like a small hotel from a distance, turns our is a 4 story building from inside. One thing I really enjoyed is the facade of this building, I wouldn't mind to built such facade for our rural house. See: Home Remodeling 

Bed at Hotel Edelweiss in Gudauri

In total there are 28 hotel rooms at Edelweiss hotel. 

Lux room at Hotel Edelweiss in Gudauri

The modern rooms here are equipped with a flat-screen TV with satellite channels, a refrigerator with a minibar, and a private bathroom with a shower.

Breakfast at Hotel Edelweiss, Gudauri

The hotel offers a buffet breakfast. An à la carte lunch and dinner are served daily.

Lobby at hotel Edelweiss

Other hotel facilities include a 24-hour front desk, luggage storage, ironing and laundry services, and a shuttle service. 

Bar / restaurant

Fireplace at Hotel Edelweiss

The Bottom Line

Hotel Edelweiss is a bit above the average price (EUR 100 per night), but you are getting what you paid for. I will consider Hotel Edelweiss next time when visiting Gudauri, and can only recommend this place to you.

• Book online on Booking.com

The Gabriadze Theater in Tbilisi

10 February, 2016 | Tourism objects | 32 seen

Though modest in size, The Gabriadze Theater is among the world’s preeminent cultural institutions. Presenting mature puppet performances full of depth and meaning, it has gained the respect and recognition of international audiences and critics alike.

Located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town, just right next to the Anchiskati church, this theater building offers some interesting architecture as well. Thus, I have never visited a spectacle here (though I have bough tickets for a few times, but due to my laziness never visited) - I believe the Gabriadze theater this is one of the top tourist attractions in Tbilisi.

Gabriadze theater building in Tbilisi

The Gabriadze Theater stands in the heart of Tbilisi’s historic Old Town.  Among the shows in its current repertoire are: “The Autumn of My Spring”, “The Battle of Stalingrad”, “Ramona”, “Diamond of Marshal de Fant’e”.

Box office at Gabriadze theater

About Rezo Gabriadze

Often referred to as “a Georgian national treasure”, Rezo Gabriadze influences the culture profoundly. His work continues to make an indelible and lasting impact on those who experience it. Being an artist first and foremost, he has gained an international reputation as a screenwriter, film and stage director, sculptor and puppeteer.

Gabriadze was born in the town of Kutaisi in what was then Soviet Georgia. He grew up in a world of arts and letters. As he grew creatively, his attention was drawn to film. He went on to write and illustrate over 35 screenplays, including the important films: “Don’t Grieve”, “Mimino”, and “Kin-Dza-Dza”.

Frustrated with the lack of intellectual freedom during the Soviet era, he turned to puppet theater as an surreptitious way of telling his dramatic stories. In 1981 he founded The Gabriadze Theater – a marionette drama theatre in the old town of Tbilisi. His productions of “Alfred and Violetta”, “The Autumn of Our Springtime”, “The Emperor of Trebizond’s Daughter” and “The Battle of Stalingrad” brought international recognition to the theater. It has been touring the world ever since.

As a painter and graphic artist, Rezo Gabriadze has contributed to over 50 books. His illustrations have accompanied the writings of Pushkin, Kharms, Bitov. His art works can be seen in numerous museums including The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, The Dostoyevsky Museum in Moscow, and Lenbach House Gallery in Munich and in private collections. His iconic sculptures “Chizhik-Pizik”, and “Major Kovalyov’s Nose” in St. Petersburg have become major attractions. In October 2012, Moscow’s Pushkin Fine Arts Museum presented its first major one-man show of Gabriadze’s paintings, drawings and sculpture.

Among his many international awards is “Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic”.

• Learn more at www.gabriadze.com or visit Facebook page

Replacing Roof - Part 1: Removing the old roofing

9 February, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 11 seen

In today's home remodeling series I'll share some epic experience on roof replacement works. If you have been following my blog for a while, you probably have noticed that in Spring 2015 we inherited an old and very bad managed rural house.

That Summer taught me a lot  - I learnt how to use a scythe to move a grass, and also excelled as a construction worker (Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based Paint, How to Patch and Plaster Walls in Your Old Rural House), but nothing compares to experience like actually changing a roof.

It was already more than 3 months since we started to manage this house, but we hadn't any plans to stay any longer that till the end of Summer here, we had actually already bought our return tickets to Tbilisi at the start of September. We hadn't much time left - just about one month to replace old roofing for this house, if we wanted the house to survive upcoming winter (the roof was already leaky). 

So we ordered a metal roof, which was meant to arrive at the start of August, but prior to that, I ordered additional wooden laths and wooden boards, so we can fix existing roof construction and add new roofing. Now it was time to get rid of the old wooden shingle roofing. It was a sunny July 30, 2015. when with help of my brother and father we started this epic journey - Replacing Roofing.

So let's start what we got in the morning of July 30, 2015

Old roofing

The old roofing was made of wooden shingle, as you can see the whole structure of roof is... skewed/ crooked. A large section of roof is covered with moss. We opted for metal roof as replacement, but before that we had to get rid of the old roofing and fix existing roof construction. Some days ago there was some weak attempts of me to clean of the loft. Read more: Loft cleaning - Preparation works for replacing that leaky roof

Tools involved in roof replacement works

Electrical cables, drills, screws and bolts. As you can see tools are placed on recently repaired kitchen (Removing Junk And Adding First Layer of Paint (Kitchen Works), More Paint Job - Base layer for Kitchen;s Floor) . Also we have fixed all the electrical plugins together with my dad some month ago already. Read more: Replacing Electrical Wiring and Installing Outlets

Tools involved in roof replacement works

Air level, ax, saws, a chain saw and of course security belts. 

The gang - Constructors brigade (phase 1)

From the left: my brother, author of this blog, and my dad. Somebody seems very enthusiastic here. 

Yesterday's pizza from Fontaine's Palace in Liepāja

Now, let's begin:

Using a chain saw to saw up old the roof lathing

What actually we are trying to do here is to completely purify load-bearing beams

Using ax to free up the beams

Basically this is a very simple task, where a lot of hand strength is required. Saw up and bang with an ax, and so on until all beams are cleared. For today's challenge we decided to clear just 1/2 half of one roof's side, then level up beams, and to drag a crosswind membrane over leveled beams at the end of day.

View from the garden

Old wooden shingle 

Loft without roofing

Suddenly our demolishing works were interrupted as materials arrived - wooden laths and wooden boards. It was supposed they will arrive just tomorrow, but as they did arrived today we had to unload tractor trailer of about 6m3 of materials.

Tractor arrived with construction materials

Damn, I must trimmer that grass again. Read more: Lawn mowing in the backyard territory

Author of this blog unloading materials from tractor trailer

Using string to measure level of beams

The leveling process with a string line.

After some time another surprise came - rain. We stopped our works for couple of hours and enjoyed a lovely rainbow meanwhile.

Rainbow in the evening

Using flex to saw up metal screws for roof construction

It was already late evening (around 23:00) and we decided to stop any further works today, and continue tomorrow morning early, but before that we had to do one more major thing for tomorrows works - to paint with an antiseptic those wooden boards that arrived earlier today, so we can quickly move forward tomorrow.

Wood processing with antiseptics

Now, this as one long working day, some even claimed that they didn't agreed on 18 hour work day here. As in matter of fact, indeed this was about 18 hour working day. So we went to the sleep in a house without 1/4 of roof at all, while the rest of the roof was leaky. It rained that night. But I got this feeling of happiness. I got asleep.

House Of Food / Fontaine Palace in Liepāja

9 February, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 32 seen

House Of Food is a place to eat good, quick international food from all corners of the world. Louie Fontaine, the owner and rock musician, has designed the place with a feel similar to a 50’s American diner, with an open kitchen and restaurant booths so high you’ll sit cosy and private in your own restaurant.

Located at the canal front downtown in an old factory building - this place absolutely rocks!

Hotel Fontaine Royal in Liepāja

Fontaine Royal offers a swimming pool, health centre, conference hall, restaurant, bar and various shops. The hotel design is out of this world, full of royal furniture, all gold plated standing in contrast with the old factory spirit, you will feel like a king staying at the Fontaine Royal. The hotel offers the biggest conference & banquet facilities in Kurland with 300 seats. The hotel has a music club in an old warehouse, (Fontaine Palace, capacity 600 people), offering live bands from around the globe. If visiting Liepaja’s outstanding beaches and charming town feeling Fontaine Royal is the right choice for living in luxury for a cheap rate.

Prison bar at Fontaine's Palace

The Prison Bar is decorated like a real prison, with bars on its windows and on the bar counter, The Prison Bar offers various DJ performances every Friday or Saturday. There’s even a cage for “go-go” dancers.

Liepaja city canal and Fontaine's Palace Prison bar

Menu at House of Food

Inside yard at Fontaine Palace

Visit www.fontainroyal.lv or check out Facebook page to learn more.

Cafe bar Gradus in Gudauri

8 February, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 21 seen

Cafe bar Gradus is located in Georgian ski resort town in Gudauri. Located  just between the first and second ski lifts, this place offers great cuisine, drinks and lovely view to Caucasus mountains.

It's outdoor terrace is great for sun bathing. The prices here are in - it depends category, although not high compared to Western standards, there are some items with higher price attached and some for very reasonable price. So for a 5 years old Georgian Sarajishvilli brandy I paid about 6 Lari (50 g), while a small portion of dumplings cost twelve lari. Hard to tell. 

Interior at cafe bar Gradusi

They have a Free Wi-Fi on site and debt cards are accepted for payments.

Outdoor terrace at Gradus cafe bar in Gudauri

Dumplings at Cafe bar Gradus

Postcards from Gudauri

7 February, 2016 | | 14 seen

Gudauri is a popular ski resort located on the southern slopes of The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in Georgia. The resort is situated in the Stepantsminda District, along the Georgian Military Highway near the Cross Pass, at an elevation of 2,196 meters (7,200 ft.) above sea level.

We have been heading to Gudauri at least once in a year. There are few great reviews about Gudauri on my blog, Gudauri - Georgian Winter Capital for skiing, snowboarding, paragliding and heli-skiing or Gudauri - Cost Free And Fun Outdoor Activities but for today's Piece of Life photo project series I decided to share some images / postcards I have taken back at the 2015 Christmas time.

Sunset in Caucasus mountains in Gudauri

Gudauri lies 120 km (75 mi) to the north of the capital Tbilisi. The trip from Tbilisi to Gudauri usually takes two hours by car.

Caucasus mountains in Gudauri

​

Skiers at Gudauri ski resort

Ski lifts in Gudauri

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. Heliskiing is also available throughout the season.

Georgian military road at Gudauri

Turtle lake in Tbilisi

7 February, 2016 | Lakes | 64 seen

Turtle lake is a direct English translation of Kus Tba (Georgian: კუს ტბა), a small lake at the outskirts of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, so named due to the perceived abundance of turtles living in these places.

Those of you who have been following my blog, probably have noticed I have mentioned Turtle lake a lot on my blog, I have been heading here in hot summer days to breath a fresh air and done some Drupal development from here, also I have headed here for lovely hiking treks around and up Turtle lake. Read more: Best Hikes In Tbilisi Are Located Near Turtle Lake

Turtle lake is very popular recreational area both for locals and foreigners, so it's just that time I'm submitting it as another tourist attraction in Tbilisi.

Although the best time to visit Turtle lake is in Summer, when you can enjoy swimming, renting a boat or just spending your time at some cafe's outdoor patio, it's visited a lot in Winter season as well. For today's article I decided to share some images I have taken here in mid January, 2015 when Turtle lake was frozen.

Frozen Turtle lake in Tbilisi

Turtle Lake is located on the wooded northern slope of Mtatsminda Mount at elevation of 686.7 m above sea level and fed by a small river Varazis-Khevi, a tributary to the Mtkvari (Kura). The area of surface is 0.034 km², while the catchment area is 0.4 km². Maximal depth is 2.6 m.

Recreational area near Turtle lake in Tbilisi

The Turtle Lake area is designed as a recreational zone and is frequented by the Tbilisians on weekends. It is also a place where festivals and concerts are held. It could be reached either via a road or an aerial tramway leading from Tbilisi’s Vake Municipality, but it is now defunct. West to the lake is the Open Air Museum of Ethnography, a large exhibition of Georgia’s folk architecture.

Frozen Turtle lake in Tbilisi

Panorama view of Turtle lake in Tbilisi

If you are into photography, Turtle lake is great for landscape photography. Read more: Digital photography school

Linode: How To Secure Nginx with Let's Encrypt on Ubuntu 12.04

6 February, 2016 | Servers | 66 seen

Encrypted HTTPS websites are pretty much a hot topic nowadays. I have seen a lot noncommercial websites and blogs using HTTPS protocol lately.  I believe cheap prices for certificates and possible SEO boost from Google are pushing more and more to add HTTPS. Including me!

In fact this article is first since my blog is HTTPS, to celebrate that I decided to write shot tutorial how you too can enable HTTPS on Ubuntu 12.04 running Nginx and optionally running a Drupal site on Linode VPS.

Install free TLS/SSL certificates

Wait, did I just said a free certificate? Totally free? No hidden costs? Yup, that's exactly what I've said, - Let's Encrypt is a new Certificate Authority that provides an easy way to obtain and install free TLS/SSL certificates, thereby enabling encrypted HTTPS on web servers. It simplifies the process by providing a software client, letsencrypt, that attempts to automate most (if not all) of the required steps. 

Install guide

You can read article on Digital Ocean - How To Secure Nginx with Let's Encrypt on Ubuntu 14.04, most of the written bellow is originally taken from that article, just adapted for Ubuntu 12.04 and Linode.

So why Linode and why Ubuntu 12.04 when there is 14.04 already out there. Well.. Linode just rocks I have been using it for some five years already, I have served dozens (if not hundreds of sites on Linode). Ubuntu 12.04 instead of 14.04? Well, this is related to Drupal and PHP version 14.04 ships with. Mine Drupal powered blog is not yet ready to befriend with php 5.5. 

​Update your server's package manager 

Then install the git and bc packages with apt-get:

We can now clone the Let’s Encrypt repository in /opt with this command:

I'll show you how to use the Standalone plugin to obtain an SSL certificate.

Lets open port 80

Change directory to letsencrypt

​Now use the Standalone plugin by running this command:

After letsencrypt initializes, you will be prompted for some information.

Note that if you want a single cert to work with multiple domain names (e.g. example.com and www.example.com), be sure to include all of them.

After obtaining the cert, you will have the following PEM-encoded files:

• cert.pem: Your domain's certificate
• chain.pem: The Let's Encrypt chain certificate
• fullchain.pem: cert.pem and chain.pem combined
• privkey.pem: Your certificate's private key

It's important that you are aware of the location of the certificate files that were just created, so you can use them in your web server configuration. The files themselves are placed in a subdirectory in/etc/letsencrypt/archive. However, Let's Encrypt creates symbolic links to the most recent certificate files in the /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain_name directory. Because the links will always point to the most recent certificate files, this is the path that you should use to refer to your certificate files.

You are almost done here, now it's time to configure nginx.conf

sudo nano /opt/etc/nginx/sites-available/reinisfischer.com

Within your server { block, add the following lines but replace all of the instances of reinisfischer.com with your own domain:

Lastly, outside of the original server block (that is listening on HTTPS, port 443), add this server block to redirect HTTP (port 80) to HTTPS. Be sure to replace reinisfischer.comt with your own domain name:

Restart Nginx

The Let's Encrypt TLS/SSL certificate is now in place. At this point, you should test that the TLS/SSL certificate works by visiting your domain via HTTPS in a web browser.

Congratulations! You have just enabled secure HTTPS pages for your website. Now you might to enable auto renewal for your certificates acquired from Let's Encrypt, as they last only 90 days, I recommend to follow this article on Digital Ocean to learn more: 

Loft cleaning - Preparation works for replacing that leaky roof

6 February, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 4 seen

It was already last weeks of July, and we had bought already our return tickets back to Tbilisi, Georgia, and there was still one urgent task to complete if we wanted our rural house to survive upcoming rain and winter season - we had to replace roofing.

Oh, boy - back then I had no idea how frustrating, yet fun experience it will be. After finishing temporary repair works at home's first floor - I went upstairs and decided it's time to clean house's loft before moving on to more drastic roofing works. Instead of removing just old junk from loft, we had to remove about a ton of bricks and about 2 tons of ... soil. For some reason, the previous owner (R.I.P) decided to insulate loft with plain soil. I started to dug... gosh... 

Bricks and junk at loft

As you can see its hard to call this place a loft, its more some construction which needs urgent repair. That huge construction you can see in background is called a mantel chimney:

Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling. Mantelpiece is now the general term for the jambs, mantel shelf, and external accessories of a fireplace. For many centuries, the chimneypiece was the most ornamental and most artistic feature of a room, but as fireplaces have become smaller, and modern methods of heating have been introduced, its artistic as well as its practical significance has lessened.

Nothing artistic here

Leaky roof and rotted floor

Due to the leaky roof and additional weight of soil on lofts floor its completely damaged and must be replaced anytime soon. Our goal at this stage was to change roofing to stop further damage to the house.

My weak attempts to dug off soil from lofts floor

I was so naive and thought that I'll be done in couple of hours.. ha ha ha

Bricks from the loft stacked outside

All I was able in couple of hours - to remove about one third of bricks from loft. We have an idea for the next Summer to re-use these bricks by building open furnace in garden.

I dug twice - once at the loft, second a pit for the soil from loft

Naive, what else can I add to this?!

Stay tuned, it's just gets starting to be interesting!

How to open a bottle of wine with a hand drill

6 February, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 7 seen

There are many options to open a bottle of wine without using a cork screwer, last summer I tried a new method - using an old school hand drill.

f you have been following my blog and especially home remodeling series you have probably noticed I have been trying out a lot of interesting tools lately, how about mowing a grass with a scythe? 

Tools you will need:

• A bottle of Badagoni, semisweet Khvanchkara wine (produced in Republic of Georgia)
• An old school hand drill
• Optional: A good company

Here is the drilling process

Author of this blog captured in action

Opening bottle of wine with hand drill

Stacking firewood in barn

5 February, 2016 | | 6 seen

Last summer taught me a lot of new things. I tried mowing grass with a scythe after which I "upgraded" to a trimmer. After all I was doing a new thing for me - home remodeling. 

In today's Piece of Life photo series I will share with you another great outdoor activity I did last summer - stacking firewood in barn. 

Firewood waiting to be stacked in barn

Stacking firewood in barn

Stacking firewood in barn

Stacking firewood in barn

Turns out there are even tutorials on how to stack firewood in barn the right way:

When it comes to preparing firewood, stacking may be the most pleasant part of the job. The hard and sometimes dangerous work of disassembling a tree with a chain saw is done. The tedious splitting is over. Now comes the time to convert a loose, messy pile of wood into an orderly stack—a satisfying transformation that appeals to the builder in me. Read more: The Right Way to Stack Firewood

How to prepare traditional Solyanka soup

5 February, 2016 | Food blogger | 15 seen

In today's food blogger series I'll share a photo recipe on how to prepare traditional Solyanka soup. Solyanka is among my favorite soups and I prepare this some 3-4 times in a year. Pictures in this article are back from summer 2015 when I boiled a large pot with this delicious soup.

Solyanka is a thick, spicy and sour Russian soup that is common in Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union. There are three basic types of solyanka, with the main ingredient being either meat, fish, or mushrooms. All of them contain pickled cucumbers with brine, and often cabbage, salted mushrooms, smetana (sour cream), and dill. 

Ingredients for Solyanka soup

I spent about EUR 10 to buy ingredients for this soup: instead of meat, I prefer to use smoked sausages. There are not many ingredients for this soup - meat/sausages, potatoes, carrots, onions, pickles

Start with pealing potatoes

Since it was mid Summer already, there were available new potatoes, so instead of actually pealing them I scrubbed them

Then peel carrots

After you have done with peeling job, it's time to grate, slice and chop. I forgot to mention, you will need to peel and chop some onions as well.

Author of this blog captured in action

It's time to preheat your pan, we are going to put chopped onions and grated carrots on it

Chopped onions and grated carrots on pan

Now you need to brown them, after them put them in a pot with water and start boiling - we will add more ingredients to the pot just in couple of minutes. Now we need to slice those smoked sausages and fry them on pan as well, before adding them to the pot.

Cutting sausages

Adding tomato pasta

You can add a little bit tomato pasta to give a lovely color and sweetener taste to your soup. Once sausages are fried, add them to the pot together with carrots and onions. Add potatoes to the pot now, if you haven't done it early already. Now you can cut pickles in small pieces, we will add them at the end when soup is done.

Pickles

Add pickles to the soup when its done boiling

Don't boil pickles or they gone become like a rubber.

Its time to serve your homemade solyanka - add some dills and ofcourse sour cream.

Homemade solynaka

Mmm, delicious. Don't forget to leave me a comment bellow and subscribe to my newsletter!

Michelangelo Square in Florence, Italy

4 February, 2016 | Tourism objects | 25 seen

Michelangelo Square is one of the best place in Florence to take picturesque panoramic views of Florence. We found this place thanks to suggestions on some travel guide and indeed, the pictures taken here are amazing.

We were lucky enough to find this place quickly as it was located in just some 3 minute drive from our hotel. Read more: Villa Carlota hotel review. We parked our car at Michelangelo Square, I installed a tripod and took some lovely views towards city of Florence.

Views toward Florence from Michelangelo Square

Views toward Florence from Michelangelo Square in HDR

Yup, I couldn't resist here to take HDR photography.

Bronze cast of David facing Florence from the center of the square at Michelangelo Square

This Florentine piazza was designed by architect Giuseppe Poggi and built in 1869 on a hill just south of the historic center, during the redevelopment of Oltrarno, the left (South) bank of the Arno river. In 1869, Florence was the capital of Italy and the whole city was involved in an urban renewal, the so-called "Risanamento" or the "Rebirth" of the city's neighborhoods. Lungarni (riverside walkways; "lungarno", singular) were built on the riversides. On the right bank, the fourteenth-century city walls were removed and turned into the Viali di Circonvallazione, mimicking the French "boulevard" design, six lanes wide and lined with trees. On the left bank winding up the hill of San Miniato the Viale dei Colli was built, a tree-lined street over 8 kilometers long ending at the Piazzale Michelangelo which was built as a terrace with a panoramic view of the city.

The square, dedicated to the Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo, has bronze copies of some of his marble works found elsewhere in Florence: the David and the four allegories of the Medici Chapel of San Lorenzo. The monument was brought up by nine pairs of oxen on 25 June 1873.

Poggi designed the loggia in the neoclassical-style that dominates the whole terrace, which today houses a restaurant. Originally it was intended to house a museum of works by Michelangelo, never realized. In the wall of the balcony, under the loggia, there is an epigraph in capital letters referring to his work: Poggi turned this into his monument in 1911.

The view captures the heart of Florence from Forte Belvedere to Santa Croce, across the lungarni and the bridges crossing the Arno, including the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, the Bargello and the octagonal bell tower of the Badia Fiorentina. Beyond the city are the hills of Settignano and Fiesole.

The Piazzale Michelangelo can be accessed by car along the tree-lined Viale Michelangelo, constructed at the same time, or by walking the stairs or going up the ramps from the Piazza Giuseppe Poggi, also known as the "Poggi Ramps" in the district of San Niccolò.

Michelangelo Square in Florence

You can buy some souvenirs here as well.

Michelangelo Square in Florence

Viewing platform with binoculars

How To Take and Post-Process Night HDR Images

4 February, 2016 | Digital Photography School | 8 seen

In today's digital school photography project I'll show how to take night HDR images and post-process them in Adobe Lightroom and Postmatix. 

A year ago - taking a decent night photo sounded mission impossible for me, since I have acquired a DSLR camera a lot has changed, and I'm starting to feel being capable of creating even night HDR's now. Take a look on this tutorial: Practicing Photography: Doing Night Shots - Tbilisi By Night.

Although I don't like to spend a lot of time on post processing images, I must admit - post processing is very valuable science to master to make your photos look even better. Since there is post processing involved in HDR photography, I'll shoot in RAW mode just not to loose details of scene (as it might happen shooting in JPEG mode). Another important tool you will need to have - a sturdy tripod, because shooting at night involves long exposures, without a sturdy tripod your long exposures will be blurry. For post processing our HDR night images we are going to use Adobe Lightroom and Photomatix. Actually I have a basic tutorial on HDR photography for HDR Efex Pro , you can take a look on that article. Actually there is not much difference on using HDR Efex Pro or Photomatix.

If you don't have a DSRL camera, that's OK, most point and shoot cameras might handle this task, alternatively check out TOP 13 DSLR cameras for beginners as of 2016

HDR Final Night image

HDR night image

I shot above image (s) from my Tbilisi apartments balcony (lately I'm photographing a lot from it, take a look how I captured fireworks from the same spot just few days ago).

Now speaking about Night HDR images, you should avoid to photography moving elements like trees, since we are going to use long exposure shots, the chances that wind will move trees are huge. So did happened in above image. I could use deghosting, but still if there is trees and wind, our best shot will be a little bit blurry, just because it was shot in longer exposure. I will probably do another night HDR image photography with some wider landscape.

The bonus track: If you will look carefully in above image you will notice there is Ursa Major also known as the Great Bear just above the Railway Telecom building.

For above image I decided to shoot in Manual mode, aperture 5.6 and ISO 100. Since in HDR mode a bracketing is involved meaning each shot will be in different exposure time, I experimented with 3.2, 5 and 6 second basic exposure, which got me the longest exposure to be just 20 second long. Since most DSLR cameras can go up to 30 second long exposure without involving Bulb mode (and this is what I didn't wanted to do, since I don't have a shutter release cable) 8 seconds probably are the most you should set as your base exposure.

You should experiment on your own with aperture and exposure.

Three different exposures for night HDR photography

As you can see from the longest (13 sec) exposure, trees are moving and there is nothing much I could do to make them not. 

After photo shooting make sure you are importing your pictures to Adobe Lightroom, you can fix some details here. Although I prefer to load them at first in Adobe Lightroom, them straight export to Photomatix, and let the program do the magic, and then when imported back I'm using some lens correction from Adobe Lightroom, adding some warmer colors e.t.c. once you are pleased with the result, just export your photo and... leave me a comment, how did it went?!

Hotel Villa Carlota in Florence, Italy

3 February, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 14 seen

Villa Carlota hotel in Florence is a 4-star hotel. We stayed here overnight just day before New Year in 2015. We arrived here after paid a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa and short wanderings around Tuscany vineyards.

Previous night we spent at another 4-star hotel in Lucca. Read more:  Albergo Celide Hotel Review in Lucca, Italy. Villa Carlota compared to Albergo Celide is a truly a 4-star hotel and I will definitely return to this hotel next when spending time in Florence.

Villa Carlota hotel in Florence, Italy

Villa Carlotta is a 19th-century country manor surrounded by parks and gardens. It is near the panoramic terrace of Piazzale Michelangelo, and a 15-minute walk from the Ponte Vecchio bridge. This 4-star hotel offers free parking, a pool and free Wi-Fi. Each room comes with air conditioning, satellite TV, and elegant parquet floors. The style is classic, with chandeliers, and furniture in lacquered wood. At Hotel Villa Carlotta you can relax out on the veranda and in the garden. International cocktails are served at the bar, while for lunch and dinner you can choose from a selection of hot and cold dishes. Take a bicycle at reception and go through the pretty Boboli Gardens to reach Pitti Palace. There is also a bus stop nearby with regular local buses connecting you to the centre of Florence.  Palazzo Pitti is a great choice for travellers interested in food, shopping and culture.

Queen size bed at Villa Carlota

Interior at Villa Carlota

TV set could be bigger, but it was fine for one night here

Dinning/Restaurant area at Villa Carlota in Florence

Croissants 

Breakfast table

Decorations at Villa Carlota hotel in Florence

Lobby at Villa Carlota hotel

The Bootom Line

We paid about EUR 130 for a night at Villa Carlota in Florence, the price included a free parking place, free breakfasts, but what's most important it is located very close to city center of Florence, next morning it took us just some 10 minutes driving and we were at the heart of Florence. Definitely worth of every euro cent spent here. Book now on Booking.com