Tbilisi - Pearl of Caucasus

17 March, 2016 | | 12 seen

I have spent about five years as an expat living in Georgia, most of the time I have lived in Tbilisi (about six months I spent in Batumi). In today's Piece of Life post series I just wanted to share some piece of Tbilisi. Allow me to call this vibrant city - The Pearl of Caucasus (Thus Yerevan rocks, and most probably Baku too - I still haven't visited Azerbaijan, thus once I fished on the border with Azerbaijan, see Fishing on Jandari lake).

It has always been a pleasure for me to photo document Tbilisi, here are just a few interesting photo stories: Postcards from Tbilisi, Tbilisi - Fairyland in Winter or recent discoveries on Aghmanashebeli avenue.

It was on a sunny afternoon in Mid Ferbuary, when I took my camera and headed to the Old Town to capture something beautiful. At the end I found myself in the Rike park shooting from a tripod. See: Digital Photography school

The Bridge of Peace

The Bridge of Peace in Tbilisi is a pedestrian bridge and one of the most famous tourist spots in the city. It connects district of Tbilisi Old Town with Rike Park over a river of Mtkvari.…

Beautiful morning mist

16 March, 2016 | | 9 seen

It was an early morning of August, back in 2015, I was still sleeping, tired of yesterday's hard work of unloading few tones of sand from our rural house's loft, probably still dreaming to finish anytime soon roofing works, when my better part took DSLR camera and went out shooting - look - what a beautiful mist she captured today:

Morning mist 

Mist in our backyard territory

Mist in apple orchard

mist over pine coppice

Unloading Few Tonnes of Sand from Loft

16 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 10 seen

For a minute it seemed that all major removal, junk unloading and demolishing works are over, but then I realized we still have that soil coving floor in loft. And I'm speaking of some 25 cm thick layer of soil, for some reason covered there.

Few weeks ago I was still naive I hoped to remove that soil/sand from the loft without any help but myself. Yup, that was quite a naive. Now, when finally last shingles were removed it was time for another pushup - get rid of that soil. I had a two workers helping me around, and it took us about twelve hours to unload and transport soil to the construction pit.

All we needed here: shovels, wheelbarrow and a lot of strength and patience doing such a monotone work

Pile of sand

Black and White photography best describes that day - it was all about sand, dust and gray tones.

Uncovering planks

It took us some time to dig enough through 25cm thick soil to uncover planks underneath 

Author of this blog captured in action

That day I actually forgot that I'm actually a Drupal Developer. Now, I will most probably print…

Minimum Wages in European Union 2016

15 March, 2016 | Macroeconomics | 70 seen

In 2016 there were 22 out of 28 European Union member states with official minimum wage set by the government.

Update: Minimum Wages in European Union 2018

The most are receiving residents of Luxembourg (EUR 1,923.00) while the least in Bulgaria (EUR 215). 

By simple calculations, I averaged the average minimum wage in 22 EU member states - EUR 810.82. In most of the member countries there is an increase in minimum wage in 2016, still, there is one country with sharp decrease.

N.B. Countries that don't have a minimum wage set by the government in European Union - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Cyprus, Italy and Sweden (collective bargaining agreements effective, instead of minimum wage)

For this year's minimum wage table I decided to include data for 2014, 2015 and current 2016, added growth over year and growth over two years, to better understand the overall scene. Data used in this table are from Minimum wages on Eurostat, List of sovereign states in Europe by minimum wage and my previous articles: Minimum wage 2015; Minimum wage 2014;

Karabak Turkish Restaurant in Tbilisi

15 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 60 seen

Karabak is very cool Turkish restaurant located on the busy Queen Tamar Aveneu (Tamar Mephe) in Tbilisi not very far from Tbilisi Railway station.

When I first noticed a huge restaurant opening here on Tamar Mepe avenue, I got confused about its name - Karabak. My first thought was they are naming restaurant after Nagorno-Karabakh unrecognized Republic. Turns out (as I was told) it's not related to disputed land between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but it is actually the restaurant's owner surname)

It was on Valentine's day after two interesting photo journalism wanderings in Tbilisi (see: How Valentine's day was celebrated in Tbilisi and Reconstruction works on Agamashebeli avenue) we decided to visit one of my all times favorite Tbilisi restaurants - Katha 11... When we were at Katha 11... it was closed. I haven't checked lately, but back then I seem it is closed/closed like for permanent, we were sad and hungry... after few minutes of trying to figure out where to get a decent restaurant nearby (our options were: Shaurma club, Theater cafe or Bears restaurant) we agreed to say no to shaurma, theater cafe didn't sound like…

Art Cafe Kamara

15 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 18 seen

Art Cafe Kamara is a social enterprise art cafe which employs rehabilitated persons from different addicts, at least I was told so when first visited this place.

Funded by the Swiss Government, this social enterprise art cafe is located at the foothills of Tbilisi Botanical garden in the Old Town.

Art cafe Kamara

Being uninformed about this places social activities, we at start thought - just another art cafe, which wont survive long. But since we were off for a cup of Turkish coffee,  it was a great chance to get in, get some coffee and take a look on new artists trying to do business (or something like that)

So we went in - I asked to the bartender - so, tell me please, what this place is all about what you are doing and so on. The person replied - This is a Swiss government funded project for former drug addicts by employing them. 

Hmm.. I thought - that's actually changes the way I look on this place. We ordered some Turkish coffee and agreed to order a breakfast omelet as well (thus it was already an afternoon)

Swiss Confederation and International Organization for Migration…

Hotel Best Western Modena District, Italy

14 March, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 12 seen

Best Western Modena District hotel was our last hotel in Italy during our week long travels across the country. 

This Best Western hotel is a 5-minute drive from the Campogalliano exit of the A22 Motorway, 10 km from Modena. The property offers a gym, and free outdoor parking.

At check in I asked can they give us a smokers room, the receptionist lady told they have a lovely, large smokers room, which is designed for disabled persons, we didn't mind, after seeing our room - we concluded, they just love disabled persons here in Italy - super spacious room, double soft king-size bed and a very spacious bathroom. Best they had Russian TV channels (which was rare in Italy, most probably a lot of Russian tourists visits Modena vicinity)

Best Western Modena District hotel in Italy

The Modena District has excellent connections via local motorways and national roads. The cities of Bologna and Parma are around 35 minutes away by car. 

King size bed

All rooms at Best Western Modena District are large and air-conditioned. They come with a contemporary design, free Wi-Fi, and an LCD TV with film and sports…

Modena Town Hall

14 March, 2016 | Tourism objects | 21 seen

Looking for free toursit attraction sites in Italian town of Modena? You might visit Modena Town Hall. 

Facing the Piazza Grande (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Town Hall of Modena was put together in the 17th and 18th centuries from several pre-existing edifices built from 1046 as municipal offices.

Modena Town Hall, Italy

It is characterized by a Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio, late 15th century), once paired with another tower (Torre Civica) demolished after an earthquake in 1671. In the interior, noteworthy is the Sala del Fuoco ("Fire Hall"), with a painted frieze by Niccolò dell'Abbate (1546) portraying famous characters from Ancient Rome against a typical Emilia background. The Camerino dei Confirmati ("Chamber of the Confirmed") houses one of the symbols of the city, the Secchia Rapita, a bucket kept in memory of the victorious Battle of Zappolino(1325) against Bologna. This relic inspired the poem of the same title by Alessandro Tassoni. Another relic from the Middle Ages in Modena is the Preda Ringadora, a rectangular marble stone next to the palace porch, used as a…

Tartine Brasserie - French Restaurant in Tbilisi

13 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 24 seen

Tartine Brasserie is one of the rare places in Tbilisi where brunch is served in weekends. I have been in research for perfect breakfast restaurant in Tbilisi for past couple of weeks already, last week I tried so called breakfast menu at Barbarestan - Wine Shop and Restaurant in Tbilisi it didn't worked well. So another Saturday morning - another Tbilisi restaurant.

Located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town, this place have been on my radar for a very long time already (some few years ago I actually tried some time here, but back then I didn't had ultimate list of Tbilisi restaurant reviews). In fact - we were looking for a brunch at this place some month ago already, but again, we were here some 30 minutes before brunch was served (starting 10AM), so we left for another close by restaurant - Samikitno / Machakhela Restaurant review (Meidan square, Tbilisi)

It's time to tell a photo story of Tartine Brasserie

Brasserie Tartine in Tbilisi

Located at the Meidan Square Brasserie Tartine is one of the rare places in Tbilisi where brunch is served

Brunch menu

I did find it a…

How to Get around in Tbilisi by Taxify (Taxi Mobile Application)

13 March, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 15 seen

There is a very convenient way of getting around in Tbilisi by taxi using mobile application Taxify.

I probably first heard of this company at the end of 2014 by visiting Georgian Startup challenge organized by GITA. 

For my travels around Tbilisi I mostly use taxi either by calling to the central or just by catching taxi on the street (I prefer second over first still). Taxis are cheap in Tbilisi, but you never know about cars technical condition, the cabin cleanliness and so on. There have been cases I would rather call my taxi a tank instead of a car - broken handles, battered windshields, unbalanced seats and so on. Should I mention - smoky salon? As a smoker I don't pay much attention to the last, but I believe a non-smokers could get feeling he/she will get all those thousands lung diseases a smokers develop in their lifetime.

It was so until recently by using a random street taxi a noticed a huge Lenovo tablet in cars windshield and Taxify app installed on it - so I asked to the taxi driver - what does he thinks of it? Well, we all probably have heard of Uber - which is a pioneer…

How to add Custom Markers for Gmap Module Drupal

12 March, 2016 | Drupal Development | 15 seen

Gmap custom markers are cool way to enhance your Drupal site. My blog heavily really on Drupal Views + Gmap + Location module. Most of the articles listed in Restaurant reviews, tourist attractions or hotel reviews are nicely displayed on map and pinned with custom created markers.

Recently, when updating Gmap module to the latest stable version all my markers disappeared so I had to re-upload markers. That' s how I decided to write a simple tutorial on how to add custom markers in Drupal using Gmap module.

Custom markers using Gmap module

All markers in Gmap module are stored in markers folder, we will create a new folder inside it and will upload our config files and actual marker pins to it. There are a dozen of free markers you can download or you can draw your markers if you are familiar with Photoshop or any other drawing program. 

• Create a new folder Custom in sites/all/modules/gmap/markers so it looks like this /sites/all/modules/gmap/markers/custom
• Create a new file custom.ini and paste following

Pruning trees and shrubs

12 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 11 seen

One of my biggest challenges last summer was unstoppable fight with grass (see: Lawn Mowing), not to mention larger scale works on roof replacement. But there was another major issue we faced - overgrown bushes and totally deprived landscape. 

When dealing with trees and shrubs it's not only about landscape, but also about their health. You want healthy landscape right? Now, we had a really deprival and unhealthy landscape in our backyard territory.

Overgrown bushes

In the middle somewhere there are cherry trees, plum trees and apple trees. Barely can notice anyone yet.

I was tired from yesterday's roof removal works, and instead of myself trimming and chain sawing here I asked our worker to take care of this. God, that guy was our best find that summer, he is a virtues at anything he does, without help of him I doubt we would finish 20% of our works there. That is a good lesson, you cannot handle everything - you need help to achieve your goals. 

Pile of twigs

They are going to that huge fire place together with old wooden shingle from roof (Actually, you can sell twigs to some wood chip guys)

Roof Works, Part 5 - And once more let's remove old roofing

12 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 8 seen

Think roof works are cool? In fact - roofing is one of the hardest works in construction and if you have decided by your own to replace your old roofing - think again! 

Anyway - let me show - how once again (See: Replacing Roof - Part 1: Removing old roofing) we removed old wooden shingles from our rural house back in Summer of 2015. This time I hired two workers to help me out with demolishing works and ...things moved quickly. We were able to completely remove old roofing from the second roof plane and collect the construction waste and transport to nearby meadow (to later burn it). Since the construction waste consisted just from the old wooden shingles - a nice fireplace was the only suitable option (Make sure you bookmark my blog - as latter I provide some cool pictures on burning that shingle actually)

Removing old roofing

As you can see the mess is pretty huge.

To make works faster today - I took chain saw, saw up lath, while my assistants followed me with axes' and a lot of hand power to break down those shingles. It was really good synced team work and we moved on quickly today…

Actual Price Index at Tbilisi Market - March 2016

11 March, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 9 seen

Yup, another hipster style article about actual prices for consumer goods at local Tbilisi market (Bazroba).

It has been a while since I decided to measure how lari/dolar exchange rates influence actual prices, if you, just like me are an expat living in Georgia - you most probably have faced the consequences of weak lari against US dollar. Thus - I don't believe that foreign currency should affect local economy. National currency of Georgia is lari and lari we are spending in markets, metro or marshurtkas - even for rent we are paying in lari (well, adjusted to current exchange rates to US dollar)

Back at the October 1st 2016 GEL/USD/EUR exchange rates were following:

• GEL/USD: 1GEL = 0.42USD
• GEL/EUR: 1 GEL = 0.37EUR

Back then I paid following sum of money for following goods:

• 1 kg garlic - 6 GEL
• 1 kg potatoes - 0.70 GEL
• 1 bunch of spring onions - 0.60 GEL (or buy 3 for 1 lari)
• 1 bunch of parsley - 1 GEL
• 1 bunch of dills - 1 GEL
• 1 kg washed carrots - 2 GEL (1.5 GEL for…

New Life for Agmashenebeli avenue, Tbilisi

11 March, 2016 | | 21 seen

A major and very much needed reconstruction works recently (February 2016) have begun on one of the major Tbilisi streets - David Agmanashebeli avenue. Funded by Tbilisi Development Fund (which is pretty much financed from city budget + private investor capital) promises a completely renovated street by the Autumn 2016.

It was mid February and we decided to explore how construction  works were held on this street. Another reason I find these construction works very exciting - a few years ago we lived in this neighborhood on Rome street, back then we could only fantasy that one day city will take care of this city part as well and some day it will look here like in these Postcards from Tbilisi (which is the beginning of the same David Afmanashebeli avenue)

But for now take a look how it looked alike here in mid February.

Reconstruction works near Saarbrucken square

Wooden beams and laths

Construction workers

Agmanashebeli avenue

Looks like a scene from some war movie.

Scaffolding on Agmanashebeli avenue in Tbilisi

Old metal ornaments in wooden doors…