Chacha Tower in Batumi

16 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 20 seen

Chacha tower is really interesting tourist attraction site in Georgia's Black Sea resort town of Batumi. Originally built in 2012, it was meant to feature Georgian national spirit chacha fountain instead of water. 

It has been noted that noted that chacha will flow once a week for 15 minutes. Frankly speaking I have never seen chacha flowing here yet.

Chacha Tower in Batumi

The tower is surrounded by 4 fountain pools, near which the dispensers with sensor taps are installed.

Chacha dispensers 

Construction of 25-meter Chacha Tower costed around 800,000 Georgian Lari (around 500,000 USD) to Batumi City Hall, which financed the project. Tower was constructed in traditional style

Chacha tower in Batumi

Chacha is a strong Georgian spirit, sometimes described as grape brandy or grappa.

Alphabetic tower in Batumi

15 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 21 seen

Alphabetic tower is one of the many skyscrapers of Batumi. The tower symbolizes the uniqueness of Georgian alphabet and people.

Located in the Miracle park, Alphabetic tower of Batumi can be considered as one of the main tourist attraction sites in the city. 

Alphabetic Tower is a total of 130 meter tall. The structure combines the design of DNA, in its familiar double helix pattern. Two helix bands rise up the tower holding 33 letters of the Georgian alphabet, each 4 meters tall and made of aluminum.

In the middle of the building is an exposed elevator shaft leading to very the top of the building, in the crown of the structure, where a colossal silver ball is located.

Alphabetic tower in Batumi

Alphabetic Tower was built by Spanish company CMD Ingenieros. Construction began on 10 October 2010 with the exterior of the structure completed in December 2011. The building cost $65 million to build.

Batumi Miracle Park

14 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 48 seen

Miracle park located on the shores of Georgian Black sea resort town Batumi, features Alphabet tower, Statue of Lowers, Lighthouse, Ferris wheel and Chacha tower. It is directly connected to Batumi boulevard and Batumi city bay. 

Visitors of Batumi city will enjoy unique and really interesting architecture, featuring some of the tallest buildings in country.

View towards Batumi skyscrapers

When I first visited Batumi back in 2011, there was just one unfinished skyscraper (Radisson building at left). When I moved to live in Batumi for about six months in 2012, a new university were built (now it's turned into some city administration building, Alphabet tower was built and Chacha tower bas established here). That huge building (with crane on top if) was meant to be a Trumps Tower (he even visited Batumi in 2012 and together with former president Mikheil Saakashvili laid the foundation for this building)

Bicycle rental at Batumi Miracle park

I was not able to rent a bicycle here using that ATM box at the left (March 2016)

Ferris wheel and Batumi lighthouse

Alphabet tower and…

Batumi Bay and Port

13 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 20 seen

Once in Batumi, take a lazy walk at Batumi bay area, watch ships on anchor and enjoy a cup of tasty Turkish coffee at some of the bay cafeterias. 

From Batumi bay you could take an aerial tram and get some really spectacular views towards Batumi.

Boulevard at Batumi bay

Ship on anchor at Batumi

You can climb down from the boulevard and enjoy pebbled shore. 

Cargo ships at Batumi port

And really spectacular views towards Adjarian mountains,

Tashir Pizza at EastPoint Mall (Tbilisi)

12 April, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 15 seen

From local Armenian ex-pat community in Tbilisi we heard that famous Armenian 'Tashir Pizza' has entered market of Georgia. Back at this stage I never had even heard about Tashir Pizza before. 

It was on routine shopping day at East Point shopping mall in suburbs of Tbilisi, when we noticed a Tashir Pizza, since we had heard good words about it we decided to give it a try. And let me share my joy, how surprised I was  - this place is just wonderful - delicious pizzas for real budget prices. I really like their approach serving thin Italian style or thick American style base pizzas. Thus I prefer to cook pizza at home (I do it regularly) - Tashir Pizza - you just made one more loyal customer. 

Tashir Pizza at East Point mall

Remember this logo/brand as Tashir Pizza has great plans expanding huge across Georgia. According to the company, they intend to open 30 pizzerias in Georgia, 15 in Tbilisi and the other 15 in different cities of Georgia. It is worth mentioning that 23 Tashir Pizza pizzerias work in Armenia. Tashir Pizza largest network is in Russia, where over 270 pizzerias work…

Georgia / Armenia Border Crossing at Sadakhlo / Bagratashen

11 April, 2016 | Travel guides | 185 seen

One of the shortest routes for crossing Georgian / Armenian border, if traveling from Tbilisi to Yerevan, is Sadakhlo / Bagratashen border point. 

I have traveled this route several times, mostly for my travels to Yerevan  I have used private taxi cars or minivans leaving from Avlabari or Ortachala (in Tbilisi) and back from Kilikia bus station in Yerevan. Learn more about cheap travel between Georgia and Armenia by mini vans: Tbilisi - Yerevan transfers by taxi car

There are no Visa requirements for EU, US, Canada and most other Western country passport holders for crossing Georgia/Armenia border. Check before your departure.

Border crossing at Sadakhlo (Georgian side)

For passengers traveling in private vehicles there is no need to left car - passport checkup will be made at window. If you are traveling with bus or minivan you will be asked to take your belongings (at Georgian side) and cross border by foot (there is a terminal building at Georgian side, so you wont need to freeze in harsh weather conditions). You might be asked to put your backpack at scanner (again Georgian…

Kilikia Bus Station in Yerevan, Armenia

10 April, 2016 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 139 seen

I have used Kilikia bus station to travel from Yerevan to Tbilisi using minivan (marshrutka), but seems you can get from Kilikia to Istanbul (Turkey), Tehran (Iran) or Moscow (Russia), take in note those will be very long trips (starting 40 hours) and I would rather prefer to fly instead of traveling such long distances by bus.

I reserved a seat a day before by calling to firm in Yerevan - Tbilisi minivan (Read more:Tbilisi - Yerevan transfers by taxi car ). Cost for Yerevan - Tbilisi minivan (7 seats in comfortable Mercedes Benz minivan) is 8,000 AMD (USD 17) (As of March, 2016). Minivan was leaving at 10:30. I don't know for sure precise departing times, but they for sure have many daily routes to Tbilisi, like at 9:00,11:00,13:00,15:00 and 17:00. It took about 5 and half hours to reach Tbilisi (Avlabari metro), with a longer (about 20 minute stop) at some gas station near Georgian border, and about 15 minutes at Sadakhlo Georgian/Armenian border for passport checkup. 

Of course local (domestic) Armenian routes are served from here as well. They should be really cheap also.

Kilikia bus station is…

Narikala Fortress

9 April, 2016 | Military Heritage | 32 seen

Ask anybody in Georgia - what are the must have tourist sites to visit while in Tbilisi. Narikala fortress will be a top of the list.

And there is a good reason -  an ancient fortress, featuring rich history, overlooking Tbilisi, with some really spectacular views towards Tbilisi Old Town. 

Spectacular view to the Narikala Fortress

Above photo is shot from another monastery, located just opposite to Narikala fortress: See: Tabor monastery

Inside fortress complex there is located St. Nicholas Church

St. Nicholas Church inside Narikala fortress

There are many (at least three) options to get to Narikala - by Tbilisi Aerial tram, from Tbilisi Botanical garden or climbing up from Bath District (Abanotubani)

Tourist route to Narikala fortress from Abanotubani

You can get here by taxi as well.

View towards Tbilisi

Some really great views can be seen from here. Narikala is great for photography.

Ancient fortress walls

If you have been to Yerevean, Armenia - you might find some similarities with Erebuni…

Karas fast food on Mashtots Avenue, Yerevan

8 April, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 32 seen

We paid a visit to Karas fast food restaurant on Mashtots avenue in Yerevan, just shortly we checked in at nearby Park hotel on Koghbaci street.

We got to this place by simply asking on street to a passer by where are some cool places around to get some cool food experience. The lady told - Karas, it's just around corner. So we ended up in Karas.

Menu at Karas restaurant in Yerevan

This was the most interesting menu I have seen, featuring neat marketing element. Menu was illustrated with happy people eating at Karas with texts like this - Omelet with ham and tomato juice - its the best start of my day. Buy Tomato juice - AMD 300. 

Simple interior 

The restaurant is actually located at the second floor, at first floor take away food can be ordered. The Best - Karas on Mashtots avenue works 24/7

Armenian beer - Gyumri

Very good Armenian brewed light beer

Shaurma combo

A combo, with some interesting local sauce and Coke for AMD 1200. Frankly speaking - nothing special - want real shaurma - best are located in…

Cranberries in Powdered Sugar

6 April, 2016 | Food blogger | 93 seen

Cranberries in powdered sugar are one of my favorite sweets from my childhood (sorry, Georgian churchela).

I remember in my childhood there were little nice cardboard boxes available for sale at local stores around my native Riga. It was always like a little celebration when my mom or grandma bought me some of those cardboard boxes with cranberries in powdered sugar and let me eat them 

For a very long time I didn't find them around, but at the start of 2000's they started to appear again on shop shelves. Anyhow - many more years later I got this treat again, in my kitchen - homemade cranberries in powdered sugar. I haven't touched the following recipe (just eaten a lot of cranberries in powdered sugar), thus photographed.

Frosted cranberries just from the fridge

We bought a large 2kg sack of them at the local East Point Shopping mall in Tbilisi (imported from France)

Cranberries in Powdered sugar

Add 1/4 cup powdered sugar into 1 cup water for a simple syrup. Soak cranberries in the sugar/water mixture until coated. Sprinkle white granulated or powdered sugar across a cookie sheet. Sprinkle…

St. Nicholas Church, Tbilisi

5 April, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 153 seen

The chances you have seen or even visited St. Nicholas church, if traveled to Tbilisi, are huge - located on the lower court of city's most famous landmark's - Narikala fortress.

This Church has been "recently" restored. Newly built in 1996–1997, it replaces the original 13th-century church that was destroyed in a fire. The new church is of "prescribed cross" type, having doors on three sides. The internal part of the church is decorated with the frescos showing scenes both from the Bible and history of Georgia.

St. Nicholas church in Tbilisi

Located in the Narkala fortress complex, from here a lovely view towards Tbilisi is seen. The little church/monastery up in the hill is another interesting sight in Tbilisi, from which astonishing view towards Narikala and St. Nicholas church is seen. See: Tabor Monastery of the Transformation in Tbilisi

​

Church bells a top on the fortress walls

Inside St.Nicholas church at Narikala fortress

I just love church photography - there is something magical, something mystical.. 

Tombs, cross and Tbilisi

Tbilisi For Dummies- 10 Places To Visit When Planing Your Trip to Georgian Capital

4 April, 2016 | Travel guides | 11 seen

Planing your next trip to the Pearl of Caucasus - Tbilisi? Spending hours researching Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor and travel blogs?

I'm here to help you, save time on researches and let Georgia to surprise you - after five years spent in this South Caucasus republic I decided to craft list of ten interesting tourist attraction sites in Tbilisi which will please most of the travelers.

You don't need a fancy budget to visit these sites (as most of them are free of entrance or for symbolic price). How to get around city? Easy - download taxify mobile app and pay as you go (cheaper can be only marshrutka

How to replace all "http" hyperlink with "https" Drupal

3 April, 2016 | Drupal Development | 11 seen

Recently I made a switch from http to https. I was pretty pleased with results, and started to wait for possible SEO boost from Google. As time passed, instead of boost some traffic drop started to appear in my Google Analytics account.

I cannot say for sure is this because of https thing or some major update in Google Search algorithm (Penguins & Pandas) , I just wanted make sure everything works right on my site.

Traffic dropped to 0 (hourly view)

Most probably it is just some glitch in Google Analytics (it happens time after time), or my server was not accessible, but maybe it was some Google Algorithm update. I'm not sure what was that, but that was the reason to get rid of Mixed content on my site and fix this ASAP.

Since I have a pretty large website with tons of photos uploaded (I'm using both Drupal file upload, both inline uploading images using CKEDITOR) - I started to notice that on some (on most,actually) articles a Mixed Content warning appeared and instead of browser bar turning green it stayed gray, at least for Google Chrome.

This basically means…

Georgia - 5 years latter (Economic Developments 2011-2016)

1 April, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 11 seen

April 1st marks my five year anniversary since I opted to move to this amazing country on the edge where East meets West - Republic of Georgia.

Today, to celebrate this small anniversary I decided to take a look back - to see economic developments in Georgia 2011-2016 - how things how changed since I first landed at Tbilisi airport back at at April 1st, 2011. 

See: 3 years in Georgia and 16 places to visit in Georgia and Tbilisi , for my previous annul reviews about Georgia.

As for a small country, pretty much of daily life in Georgia is related to politics. During past five years a major political turnover happened at the end of 2012, when former Presidents Mikheil Saakashvilli party United National Movement lost a majority to rival Georgian Dream coalition, a year latter, when Presidents term of office ended, Misha flew away country (by know Mikheil Saakashvili has been appointed a governor of Odessa oblast in Ukraine).

Very rarely I have found some useful information about country's economic developments, instead there are plenty of politics, public…

Eldar's Bike Workshop at Kidobani Market (Tbilisi)

1 April, 2016 | Professional services | 51 seen

Eldar's bike workshop is a place where back at the end of 2013 we bought two mountain bikes as a Christmases gift for ourselves.

Take a look of my riding experience in Tbilisi: First ride, Cycling to Tbilisi sea or alternatively check out cycling topic.

At Eldar's place you can fix leaky tires, fix brakes order new details and of course to buy a new or used bicycle. It was at the start of March, warm weather approached Tbilisi and I decided to change the leaky tire for one of our bikes, so I went to Kidobani market and searched for this workshop. 

Eldar's bike shop in Tbilisi

Eldar asked me 8 lari for changing tube, he is a very nice and enthusiastic guy, can speak about bicycles a lot - he has some supplies from Europe - he is truly a master of his business.

Bikes are ready for the next cycling season

Shot at our Tbilisi apartments terrace.

Here are Eldar's contacts (Russian, Georgian)

+995 593 336 479 or +995 597 153 642