Postcards from Seville, Spain

28 November, 2016 | | 6 seen

We spent a whole day in charming Seville (Spain) back in June 2016. Although many tourism objects and sites were visited today, just one did find a separate article on blog, see Plaza De Espana.

Today I decided to experiment with mood photography and as I photographed a lot tourists in the streets of Seville, a nice addition to Postcards from series, I thought. Postcards from Spain have been featured already a few times on Piece of Life project, see Postcards from Cadiz, Sunflower fields in Andalusia, Spain, Postcards from Spain

Tourists buying postcards in Seville

I didn't bought one.

Spices in the streets of Seville

Spaniards love to sell spices, tea and other goodies, few days ago we visited a fair in Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria, the street scene was pretty much the same there. 

Streets of Seville

What's the best travel advice I can give to the tourist going to Seville? Get lost in the charming streets of Seville and enjoy!

Postcards from Seville

Simple and elegant

A huge rhododendron tree in Seville

Love…

Literatu street in Vilnius

26 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 53 seen

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 one of the visited tourist places in Vilnius.

Literatu gatve in Vilnius

Artworks mounted on the walls of the Literatu street (Literatų gatvė) are dedicated to the literature workers: writers, translators, everyone who has link with Lithuania and is important for Lithuanian or world literature. 
Various outdoor-proof techniques: ceramics, sculpture, glass, wall painting. Project started at 2008 is pure private social initiative: authors donated their works for free.

Literatu gatve

Iosebis Duqani (Joseph's Tavern) near Sasadilo

25 November, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 69 seen

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, is not this place at all, but the fact - I had to spend more than 2 hours to locate coordinates of it - let me explain, this website is built as a geospatial web. Which means most of of the restaurants, hotels and of course tourism objects are grouped on map, which gives me a lot of room to develop things like nearby places and so on.

The bad thing, while trying to locate this place on map, I discovered Panoramio photography service is shutting down. It's not about I have been using their service, but yes, it was a good photo site.

Anyway back to the topic (after all I found correct latitude and longitude values)

Iosebis dukani near village of Sasadilo

Our route took us…

Plaza de España: A Historical Marvel in Seville, Spain

24 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 21 seen

Plaza de España undoubtedly ranks among the top 10 must-visit tourist attractions in Seville, Spain.

Here's a delightful anecdote from my visit: I stumbled upon the name of this iconic place only after completing my photography session. By sheer chance, I decided to ask a passerby about the name of this fabulous location. To my surprise, the gentleman burst into laughter, revealing that he was, in fact, a guide for this very place. With a smile, he informed me that the place is called Plaza de España, sparking a short but engaging 5-minute conversation between us.

Embracing the true spirit of travel, I confess – who needs to conduct thorough research beforehand? Just kidding, but, truth be told, such serendipitous moments happen to me quite often, especially when exploring routes packed with numerous tourist attractions. This particular day marked our fourth in Spain, and we had already visited around 30 captivating tourist spots in the Andalusia region. Keeping track of them all can be quite a challenge!

Equipped with my trusty travel companion, a tripod, I decided to capture the grandeur of Plaza de España through panoramic photography. Given the…

Travelling From Telaviv, Israel to Yerevan, Armenia

23 November, 2016 | Travel guides | 14 seen

An Israeli traveler recently contacted me and asked could I give an advice on traveling to Yerevan (Armenia) from Telaviv (Israel).

As this is a pretty broad topic to answer in one single reply I decided to wrap up longer answer in this blog post. Hopefully other Israeli / Armenian travelers will find some helpful thought in this article as well.

Now, I must inform that I have never traveled directly route Telaviv - Yerevan, Thus I have done route Istanbul - Telaviv (once), Istanbul - Tbilisi (dozen of times) and Tbilisi - Yerevan (dozen of times). The further written is just my assumption on how I would most probably did a Telaviv - Yerevan trip. 

Message from an Israeli traveller

travelling from TLV Israel to Yerevan.
Was told best way is to fly to Georgia and drive to Yerevan. Can you advise ?

How is the driving conditions ?

My first guest would be for a direct flight - doing a quick Google search, I didn't find any direct flights from Telaviv to Istanbul, instead there are plenty of connected flights with connections in Tbilisi, Athens, Krasnodar, Kiev and so on. Flights are…

Postcards from Vilnius

22 November, 2016 | | 17 seen

Piece of Life has already featured postcards from two other Baltic state's capital cities, see Postcards from Tallinn and Postcards from Riga.

In today's postcards from series - cards from Vilnius, Lithuanian capital city.

For the third year in a row I have been celebrating my birthday in some of the former Soviet Union's country capital city, it all started with Yerevan (Armenia), followed by Tallinn (Estonia) and this year I was in Vilnius (OK, this was a longer trip, spending some time in rural Lithuania as well). It was my birthday morning, we left a country house somewhere near Kaunas, see: Country House 'Guronys' Near Pasuliai in Lithuania and dive in Vilnius,

Busy tourist street in Vilnius

Churches of Vilnius

Lithuania, unlike Latvia and Estonia is highly Catholic country. A lot of cathedrals, not only in Vilnius but all over across the country.

Cathedral square and bell tower in Vilnius

The Cathedral Square in Vilnius )is the main square of the Vilnius Old Town, right in front of the neo-classical Vilnius Cathedral. It is a key location in city's…

Sioni Water Reservoir (Georgia)

20 November, 2016 | Lakes | 70 seen

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 1950-ties.The dam is built on Iori river .

Anyhow I was here for new impression and for some photography.

.

Sioni water reservoir in Georgia
Sioni reservoir gets its feed basically from river Iori. Iori is a river rich with fish. It is a habitat of nearly all kinds of species of fish distributed in Eastern Georgia. There is a lot of fish in Sioni reservoir as well including sazan, common carp, silver carp. Unfortunately, due to uncontrolled fishing of poachers with banned means the number of fishing fauna decreased considerably both in the river and the
reservoir. There are several fishing farms near the reservoir.

Iori river valley next to Sioni water reservoir

Driver…

Opening Bank Account in Georgia - Bank of Georgia

19 November, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 49 seen

This is already the third time I have opened a bank account in Georgia as an individual. This time at the Bank of Georgia.

Let me explain -  I'm already using two local banks - Procredit bank and Bank Republic.

If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia

Unfortunately, my default bank for check operations, Bank Republic, has been sold to another large Georgian bank - TBC bank. I opened an account at Bank Republic about two years ago with one single aim - to redeem checks sent from the US. This September I read the news and learned that Bank Republic is merging with TBC bank, and my first thought was - OMG - no more check redemption in Georgia. It was true. When visited the central branch of Bank Republic in mid-November, 2016 - they didn't accept my check in US dollars (I was told they are still working with EUR currency although).

Statement on Bank Republic website:

Let us assure you, that the comfort of being with us that you are enjoying now, will be fully maintained: we will be working hard…

Hotel Review - Leflet Valme in Dos Hermanas, Spain

18 November, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 14 seen

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 easily accessible from A-4 motorway and SE-30 road. Seville is 12 km from the property and can be reached by public transport. There is a bus stop 1 minute on foot from the property. 

Leflet Valme hotel

Free continental breakfast with coffee and tea, natural orange juice, toast, and cake. Lovely!

All rooms have air conditioning, heating, and flat-screen TV. There is also a telephone and a safety deposit box. The private bathroom comes with a bathtub, free toiletries, and hairdryer, as well as rooms specially adapted for people with disabilities. Leflet Valme Hotel includes a bar with a satellite TV, where you can watch all the football games of the season.…

Vilnius TV Tower and Observation Platform

17 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 27 seen

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-so-ever devices here). Somehow we discovered that it's just here, well not the city center, but the tallest structure in Lithuania.

Vilnius TV tower

The TV tower played a major role in the events of 13 January 1991, when 14 unarmed civilians lost their lives and 700 were injured opposing the Soviet military seizure of the tower. A small museum dedicated to the January 1991 battle is housed on the ground floor, and various markers in the surrounding area indicate places where Lithuanian citizens died while trying to maintain the blockade against Soviet troops.

Observation platform and cafe at Vilnius TV tower

The observation deck 165 m (541 ft) from the…

Public Service Hall in Tianeti

16 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 27 seen

Georgia is well know of its unique style and design for Public service halls across the country.

The most famous probably is the Tbilisi Public service hall (Ups, I don't have a separate article about it yet, but yes, there is a good reason to make one soon). I was surprised when noticed a futuristic public service hall in Tianeti (small rural town located some 75km from nations capital Tbilisi), as the only cool sites I have found so far in Tianeti were Kuzh Park and a lovely roadside cafeteria Vanessa. 

Tianeti Public Service Hall

Tianeti public service hall have been built and opened for public just recently (in 2015) the cost for the State budget was GEL 2,735,114 (About USD 1,098,000). 

All sides of facade of new Public Service Hall building in Tianeti are rich with architectural and civil engineering solutions. The main panel is located on the south-west side of the complex. According to the project, the main hall is accommodated in the same part too. The central building is most different from the other parts and facades and is implemented…

Lord Restaurant Review in Tbilisi

15 November, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 28 seen

The Lord restaurant comes as the biggest discovery in my Tbilisi restaurant review series this year, located on the Left embankment of Mtkvari, this place is actually pretty close to our apartment, although after living in this neighborhood for more than three years, we never tried those restaurants located on neither sides of Embankment (with an exception being Zakhar Zakharich restaurant).

It was an evening, and we decided to try our luck at one of the Left embankment places - Restaurant Lord was first in our route. The lovely Russian speaking restaurant manager allocated us a separate cabin house, which actually seemed the same size as our country house. A spacious room with a huge and served table.

At restaurant Lord

This place looked kind of for VIP, and I insecurely asked, could I see a menu, before ordering (as I was afraid of possible price attached). The lady replied - I'm your menu for this evening. This might sound strange, yes. But she continued to call each menu items with price attached. Prices seemed OK, and I said OK, stop counting... I already know what to order. Let me explain - I really…

Country House 'Guronys' Near Pasuliai in Lithuania

13 November, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 9 seen

Guronys is located on a 7 hectare area and offers rooms and historic, wooden cottages with authentic décor of a Lithuanian village house. It is located on the bank of the lake, 8 km from Vilnius - Kaunas motorway and booking.com says it offers boat and waterbike rental, as well as a waterslide.

It was on our second day trip around Lithuania, when we booked this guesthouse, while eating Some Chinese food in Kaunas. It was a day before my birthday and we wanted o have some romantic and probably  even a remote place. The price seemed a bit too low for a good country house (we paid just EUR 27), I felt a bit antirust at start - what can you get for 27 EUR - I guess pretty much nothing (The other night we spent at hotel in Telsiai and spent about 50 EUR there, and didn't get much comfort). But we were on our way to Guronys. We stopped at some local shop, bought few kilos of meat, as we prepared to grill a bit this night.

No GPS, TomTom's or what-so- ever - just a true travel spirit and our reliable Honda CRV. We got lost, yes, we got lost in deep forests of Lithuania, but somehow (and I still don't now how)- we after all find this…

Kuzh Park in Tianeti

12 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 16 seen

Kuzh park is located in the town of Tianeti, Georgia.

We first discovered it at the end of October 2016, and ever since we have been returning here once in a while, especially now with our baby girl. 

I didn't find much info about this park on the internet, thus at the end of October I visited it, made some photographs, and decided to extend my Georgia travel app, by adding this place on map.

There is a lovely cafeteria - Vanessa located just before the entrance to this park.

Children's playground and wind brooms

This place is spectacular in every season. But best visited in Spring / Summer

Carvings

Park is well maintained, there are interesting carved objects, children attractions, stadium and even a small scene. 

Open air stage

Monument to Vazha Pshavela

We have been heading to Kuzh Park for years already. Really nice and tranquil place to spend a day.

Gas Burger Tbilisi Review

11 November, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 26 seen

Gas Burger on Marjanishvili street Tbilisi is among my latest discoveries from Tbilisi eatery's. In short  - a very good place, where rich burgers and milk shakes are served. A little but ecletic - I would call this a Turkish interpretation of American burger house - huge posters from 50-ties, juke box and combos.

Oh, I get what this place reminds me - another Elvis restaurant. Huh, seems I don't have review about Elvis bistro on my blog. Anyhow, the story is about Gas Burger.

Gas Burger in Tbilisi

It was a Fridays night and we decided to take a walk on David Agmanashebeli avenue, and ended up near Marjanishvili metro square - and here it was - Burger House Gas.

We dived in - get a table and very large menus with a lot of food items.

The menu at Burger Gas

You might wonder, why at the start of this article I named this a Turkish place - simple, the menu is written in Georgian, English and you name it - Turkish.

While we browsed the menu to decide what to order an Azeri guy entered this place with bunch of roses and offered to people sitting next to the tables…