Bazaleti Lake in Georgia

16 December, 2016 | Lakes | 17 seen

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 around it. In fact, kind of, there are some buildings and even some restaurants. Thus when I first visited it, after returning from Vazha Pshavela house museum in Chargali in November 2016, I found just a lot wind and a lake. Kind of reminded me the Lisi Lake in Tbilisi. Not many recreational activities, not counting in some lazy walks around the lake.

Update: We returned to Bazaleti lake at the end of May 2021, not many improvements could we see. Except it looked like some more houses are built around the lake. Which is good and gives a lot of potential for this area in the future.

Bazaleti lake

A wooden deck and catamarans for rent - should be a lot of fun in Summer.

…

El Torcal de Antequera

15 December, 2016 | Tourism objects | 15 seen

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 Torcal de Antequera popped on our radar. It was not easy to get there for us, see: In The Searches For El Torcal - Wilderness in Spain, but after all we made it. It was already getting late, and I rushed to make the most of ending golden hour (HDR photography).

El Torcal kind of reflected me memories from our Spontaneously visit to Montserrat Mountain near Barcelona, during our previous trip to Spain (Region of Catalonia), kind of reflected, but was totally different experience. Thus there is one thing common for both - the crazy serpentine road to access these amazing sites.

El Torcal de Antequera

The Sierra del Torcal (or El Torcal) is a small mountain range…

Motel Istros Aviaparkas

14 December, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 6 seen

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 meters from Via Baltica route (E67) - this hotel/motel kind of offers WI-FI, a TV set (with mostly Persian language channels) and not the best quality water in the shower (water with a high iron content)

Lonely motel Istros AviaParkas

This is definitely not an expensive motel - they have rooms like for 40 EUR and they have one deluxe room for 60 EUR. We took the duplex deluxe room for 60 EUR.

Duplex room

Bedroom

Vazha Pshavela House Museum in Chargali

13 December, 2016 | Museums | 20 seen

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 museum.

The Big Head - Sculpture of Vazha Pshavela 

Vazha Pshavela House Museum in Chargali

Vazha-Pshavela, simply referred to as Vazha is the pen name of the Georgian poet and writer Luka Razikashvili, noted Georgian patriot and author of the highest calibre in the field of Georgian literature. "Vazha-Pshavela" literally means "a son of Pshavians" in Georgian.

How To Unsubscribe From Web Push Notifications

12 December, 2016 | Blogging | 8 seen

In case you are reading this - most probably I have just sent you a link here. In this article I will explain how to unsubscribe from notifications sent by ReinisFischer.com or (hopefully) from another website sending you push notifications. 

Why are you receiving push notifications from me or any other website? Chances are by 99.9% you have chose opt-in to receive them by visiting and reading some of the articles here or on the other site you are willing to unsubscribe.

Web push notifications are relatively new marketing channel, promising for marketers higher open rates than traditional e-mail newsletters - thus making some confusions. And one of the biggest most probably is how to unsubscribe from them. Here is how:

Let's say you signed up for notifications on ReinisFischer.com. You thought I might send you notifications related to your interests, I made it wrong - sent some unrelated notification and you determined it's time to get rid of those spammy messages. I hear you, seriously  - I was wrong and you were right.

To unsubscribe from ReinisFischer.com Chrome…

In The Searches For El Torcal - Wilderness in Spain

11 December, 2016 | | 4 seen

In the searches for el Torcal is a story worth to mention and complement with amazing (IMHO) travel photography - say - Wilderness of Spain

Earlier today I practiced for the first time as a bird photographer, see Flamingo Lagoon near Fuente de Piedra in Spain, while searching for flamingos, we marked another tourism object to visit today - El Torcal de Antequera, mainly important because of possible great photography of rocks. 

We checked in at amazing hotel in a olive grove, which turned out to be just some 12km from El Torcal. Right, after a quick shower - let's drive there.

In short - instead of 12 km we drive about 60km. Instead of comfortable highways we used some unpaved roads. Did we did it special? Nope! We got lost. This time we had a TomTom device, and it just fooled us. Gas was running low. It was getting dark already. Sounds tragic? Actually it was pretty scary. Lost somewhere in wilderness. On the other hand - that's one of the most tremendous memories we have.

And some amazing photography. Piece of Life after all!

Rural areas of Spain

Some form…

IKEA Shopping in Vilnius, Lithuania

10 December, 2016 | Shopping Venues | 28 seen

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't  no idea where this store is actually located as we are not familiar with topography of Vilnius. No TomTom's here. We got a small tourist map (covering just Old Town) at tourism information center. Not a single word about IKEA there. My guess was - I believe it should be located somewhere on the highway connecting with Minsk. So we took the route towards to Minsk. 

Yeah... not the best idea. We got lost nowhere in the surrounding forests of Vilnius, when suddenly a small village appeared in the outskirts of Vilnius, we made a stop in front of one house and I asked - hey, do you have any clue where IKEA could be located? The guy looked to me. IKEA? Sure, follow me! He…

Wilderness in Georgia

9 December, 2016 | | 8 seen

During my long stay in Georgia I have documented a lot of Tbilisi restaurants, Georgian hotels, even museums, but little to nothing I have covered about wilderness in Georgia.

Wilderness, in fact, makes this country among the most beautiful countries in the world. Georgia is literally surrounded by wilderness, mountains, rivers, and a shepherd forcing his sheep from one mountain meadow to other (most probably crossing Georgian military road). 

In today's Piece of Life series a little wilderness from Georgia (on the way to Vazha Pshavala house museum in Chargali)

Shepherd forcing sheep in Georgia

A common scene when traveling around Georgia.

Zhinvali water reservoir

Horses on Pasture

How to Import Canon DSLR .mov Files Into Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

8 December, 2016 | Digital Photography School | 39 seen

In this article you will learn how to import Canon DSLR .mov files into video editing software Adobe Premiere CS 4 and how to possibly deal with a choppy playback. 

It's all about codecs when dealing with video editing. If you don't have right codecs CS4 wont recognize videos shot with a Canon DSLR (Although, never version should).

One of the simplest ways to make Adobe Premiere CS 4 to recognize .mov files is by simply installing QuickTime player. After you have installed QuickTime just restart Adobe Premiere Pro and you should be able to import and edit your video's.

The chances are you will face the choppy playback issues now - making your video editing a pain. The reason being is that when videos come off your camera they are in a H.264 format, which is a finishing format. Editing with H.264 in Adobe Premiere Pro CS 4 means choppy playback and frequent crashes. To avoid this, you will need to convert your video files to a format that is better suited for editing. And here is how (based on Ian Durkin's post  DSLR Video Importing & Conversion) :

Download the free software, MPEG streamclip and open it…

Flamingo Lagoon near Fuente de Piedra in Spain

7 December, 2016 | Tourism objects | 15 seen

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 after José Antonio Valverde

The Visitors Centre has a reception for information, restrooms, gift shop and vending area. Also free 2 exhibition room and a 12 minutes long audiovisual.  In the Visitors Centre you can also rent binoculars, audioguides in different languages and children karts. The audiovisual schedule is at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30 and 13:30 in the morning and afternoon at 16:30 and 17:30 in winter and 17:30 hours and 18:30 hours on summer. 

National Park of Doñana

José Antonio Valverde Gómez (Valladolid, March 21, 1926 - Seville, April 13, 2003) was a biologist, naturalist, ecologist and environmental activist. In…

Osteria de Luca Italian Restaurant in Vilnius

6 December, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 17 seen

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 Osteria's, prosciutto's and of course Pizza's. I made a lot of Italian restaurant reviews back then. Restaurant Antica Drogheria in Lucca, Italy near the leaning tower of Pisa is among my favorite Italian restaurant by now.

Osteria de Luca in Vilnius doesn't inferior from those Italian Osteria' s in Italy.

Now, being in Lithuania, I was not eager for Italian cuisine, instead I was in the search for an authentic Lithuanian cuisine, surprisingly but I didn't find any place in Old Town. Chinese, Italian - they are literally zillions in Vilnius. Strange, right?

Wrapped Italian Pizza

Let me forgive Italians and Georgians,but I tried such interpretation of Pizza for…

TOP 15 Boutique / Luxury Hotels in Vilnius (Lithuania)

2 December, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 32 seen

There are at least three reasons to visit Vilnius - exploring Old Town, city walks and of course architecture.

To make your stay more comfortable in Lithuanian capital city, in this article you will find TOP 15 boutique / luxury hotels in the Old Town of Vilnius. Vilnius together with other Baltic capitals is not an expensive city, here you will find stunning hotels in price range $100-$200.

Located on the main street of Vilnius’s Old Town, The Narutis Hotel features 2 restaurants and a paid spa area with an indoor pool. Internet and parking are free of charge.

Each air-conditioned room is individually decorated with unique frescoes, wall paintings, and original 16th-century ceilings. All rooms overlook the old town. The rooms feature a minibar, flat-screen satellite TV, and a bathroom with hairdryer.

The elegant Narutis Restaurant offers Lithuanian and international dishes and a selection of fine wines.

The spa area at the Narutis Hotel includes a sauna, a steam bath, and a hot tub. It also boasts a massage parlour. The staff is available 24/7 and provides tourist information.

All major sights of…

Restaurant El Arador, Estepa, Spain

1 December, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 9 seen

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)

30 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 7 seen

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 thought - what a cool site, I should put this on my travel list. Now, here is what it is all about: In 1997, the residents of the area declared the Republic of Užupis, along with its own flag, currency, president, cabinet of ministers, a constitution written by Romas Lileikis and Thomas Chepaitis, an anthem, and an army (numbering approximately 11 men). They celebrate this independence annually on Užupis Day, which falls on April 1st. Artistic endeavours are the main preoccupation of the Republic; the life-long President of the Republic of Užupis, Romas Lileikis, is himself a poet, musician, and film director.

Tourists visiting the Republic of Uzupis

Artūras Zuokas, long time (now…

Ujarma Fortress

29 November, 2016 | Military Heritage | 42 seen

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 destroyed by Arabian forces of Abul Kassim. In the 13th century, the fortress was restored by King George III, where he arranged treasury.

This was my second attempt visiting Ujarma fortress, and I even managed to capture some pictures here, thus I believe such large objects should be photographed either with a drone or from a larger distance.

Ujarma fortress in Georgia

The fortress is located on the roadside connecting Telavi with Tbilisi. We made here a stop after had a lunch at nearby village of Sasadilo, see Iosebis Duqani (Joseph's Tavern) near Sasadilo

​There is a little ticket office at Ujarma and I was asked to pay an entrance fee of 3GEL for having access to fortress.…