How To Withdraw PayPal to Bank Account in Georgia
| Living in Georgia | 44 seen
Withdrawing funds from PayPal to a local bank account is a popular question in many countries, including Georgia.
As recently I had to renew my VISA card here in Georgia (Bank of Georgia) I decided to test - can I actually withdraw funds from Paypal to a Bank account in Georgia?
If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia
Turns out I can. And it is done at blazing speeds. Funds were transferred in seconds, Awesome.
For the test purposes, I decided to transfer $40 from my PayPal balance to my Georgian bank account.
the transfer took about 3 seconds and cost $5.
Not sure will the speed be as fast for larger amounts, say $1,000 also not sure about commission for larger amounts, but hey it works.
Remember, you need a VISA card, not MASTERCARD. VISA card cost about GEL 150 for two years, see:
If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia
Rike Park Concert Hall - Music Theater and Exhibition
| Entertainment | 116 seen
As the name suggests, the Rike Park Concert Hall is located inside the territory of Rike Park, Tbilisi.
The other name Music Theatre and Exhibition hall
Rike park concert hall in Tbilisi
The project site is located inside the green area called Rike Park, in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The building consists of two different soft shaped elements that are connected as a unique body at the retaining wall. Every shape has its own function:
The north part of the building contains the Musical Theatre Hall (566 seats), the foyer and several facilities, together with technical spaces for theatre machinery and various storages. The Exhibition Hall opens its great entrance with a ramp that brings visitors from the street level. The Music Theatre Hall, on the contrary, soars from the ground and allows the users to stay in the foyer and in the cafeteria to have a view to the river and the skyline of the city. It is a periscope to the city and looks towards the river framing the historic core of the Old Tbilisi.
Source: Rhike Park / Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall
…Italy/Switzerland Travel Guide
| Travel guides | 3 seen
This is yet another roundup post listing places from our latest trip to Italy and Switzerland at the end of 2019.
Long story short - we travel to Italy's Bergamo by Ryanair from Tbilisi airport, took a rental car, and went to cool places both in Italy and Switzerland. To make it more fun we traveled together with our 16 months old toddler
Also, see my notes from the 2015/2016 travels - My Italy Travel Guide
Paragraph Resort & Spa Shekvetili, Autograph Collection Hotel in Georgia
| Hotel reviews | 244 seen
Set in Shekhvetili, some 40km from Batumi, Paragraph Resort & Spa Shekvetili, Autograph Collection offers 5-star accommodation with an outdoor swimming pool, a tennis court and a fitness center.
We booked this hotel for an about a 4-day stay in early August 2020, to celebrate my 35th birthday here.
For this stay here we spent GEL 3030 / USD 980. Arrived here from another great hotel in Batumi (Radisson Blu Hotel Batumi) using Bolt taxi application (About 40 GEL)
Family room at Parapgrahp Resort and SPA hotel in Shekvetili
As we were traveling with our 2 years old toddler girl, our room was upgraded (for free) to the family room. We saved at least GEL 1500 from this free upgrade. Which is a very nice perk.
Indoor aqua park
We spent most of our time at the aqua park / as our daughter just loves water. I even took her for a ride (twice from these big slides). What an adrenaline!
Sunset views in the Black sea
Guests of the 5-star property enjoy sea views in the rooms, and can enjoy access to a hot tub. The accommodation features a sauna, free WiFi throughout the property and a 24-…
Rustaveli Borjomi Hotel
| Hotel reviews | 7 seen
Set in Borjomi on Rustaveli street this Hotel has a bar, shared lounge, garden, and free WiFi throughout the property.
This 4-star hotel offers a 24-hour front desk and room service. Free private parking is available and the hotel also offers bike hire for guests who want to explore the surrounding area.
We booked this hotel for a one night stay at the end of September 2020 and paid just GEL 88 (USD 26). Now that's definitely a bargain deal. From several hotels we have stayed in Borjomi, this stands out (budget friendly)
6 Best Value Hotels in Borjomi, Georgia
All guest rooms come with air conditioning, a flat-screen TV with cable channels, a fridge, a kettle, a bidet, a hairdryer and a desk. With a private bathroom fitted with a shower and free toiletries, rooms at the hotel also have a river view. At Rustaveli Borjomi Hotel, all rooms include a seating area.
Rustaveli Borjomi hotel
The accommodation offers a terrace.
Rustaveli Borjomi Hotel provides an ironing service, as well as business facilities like fax and photocopying.
Bakuriani is 29 km from the hotel.
Carved Stone Sculptures near Sno - Akhaltsikhe - Juta road
| Tourism objects | 11 seen
Driving into the village on the winding Sno-Akhaltsikhe-Juta road, just before the entrance, you pass a collection of massive stone heads, somewhat reminiscent of Easter Island, carved out of granite.
It was in mid-August 2020, we took a day trip to Juta village to fly drone when our guides told - hey look there are these cool carved stones, let's take a stop here. I thought cool, I will google this place later, but for now, will just take some photos with a drone.
And so I did
Carved stone sculptures near Sno village in Georgia
It took me some time and technical knowledge to find more information about this place using metadata for photos from my DJI Mavic Mini drone (Adobe Lightroom metadata to find GPS coordinates)
Sno village in Georgia from a drone flight
Doing my research on this place it was fun to learn that the village of Sno is famous not only for mineral water but also is known as the birthplace of the current head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II.
Carved stone sculptures near Sno village
I was able…
Orio Center Shopping Mall in Bergamo
| Shopping Venues | 125 seen
Located next to the Bergamo airport, Orio center is one of the largest shopping centers in Italy.
We visited this shopping mall in mid-November 2019, a day before departing back to Tbilisi from the Bergamo airport.
Arrived here from Hotel 'Castello Visconteo' in Cassano dʼAdda, Italy in the late evening, some 2 hours before the mall was closing. Bought some goodies and ate at KFC
Orio Center in Bergamo
In front of the Orio al Serio international airport you can find one of the largest shopping centers in Italy, the Oriocenter. With over 200 stores distributed on 2 floors, you can find everything you’re looking for in this mall. You can spend an entire day window shopping or walking through the numerous food stops like ice-cream parlors, delicatessens, cafes.
In addition to clothes and accessories, you can visit the Apple store to see the latest in technology, or stop at the Lego store and its thousands of small colored bricks. You can see the many events organized in the Mall, with the presence of famous people such as singers, actors and TV celebrities and maybe take a selfie with your favorite star!
…Samsung Galaxy A51 6GB RAM 128GB Review
| Gadget Reviews | 48 seen
Samsung Galaxy A51 was first released in December 2019. I bought this phone as a replacement phone for the Samsung Galaxy A50, to whom glass cracked on the tiles at the Champions Academy in Tbilisi after a good workout, at the start of September 2020
My previous Galaxy A50 had served me for about a year and was still a very decent phone, to avoid dealing with repairs I decided to take a new one. I was very happy learning that there is the same version but an upgraded model for my phone. Without much thinking I just took it.
I'm not the phone photographer/videographer (for that I have a DSLR camera and a drone), but the phone has a very decent camera and plenty of storage (extendable up to 128GB). Taking videos for Facebook is quite good, so do share pictures on Whatsapp.
I'm using this phone together with my DJI Mavic Mini drone controller, works awesome
Samsung Galaxy A51
It works very well together with my Samsung Galaxy Fit activity tracker
Bought this phone at the AltaOk store in Eastpoint Tbilisi. The price was GEL 999…
And We are Back / DJI Mavic Mini drone
| Documentaries | 13 seen
The wait is over - today I picked up my already second DJI Mavic mini drone here in Tbilisi.
See how I crashed the first one at the Jvari: Jvari monastery from a drone flight / DJI Mavic Mini crash
We headed straight to the Tianeti / Khatsiri Forest Park
And we are back - short drone videography from drone 2.0
Khatsiri Forest Park near Tianeti
Music by: Scott Holmes - We made it!
Today I bought my first flat on online auction site
| Real Estate | 9 seen
On September 18, 2020, I won an online auction for a property in the countryside Latvia.
This was the second time me using E-izsoles platform, and the second time winning an online auction (for the truth I won the first time a plot of land, but that place turned out not good for a house building and I revoked it, back in Summer of 2019)
In total today, I agreed to pay EUR 3,760 for a 53,7 m2 flat in a 3-storer building in rural Latvia. The name of the village is Vilgāle, and it's located some 171 km from Rīga. There is a huge Vilgāle lake located nearby the property. Can't wait to fly a drone nearby
wow what an adrenaline, there was more competition than I thought,with 2 additional 5min overtimes but I won this auction and now we have a flat in Vīlgāle. average buy price EUR 71/per m2. at the start i was looking to get this for EUR 45/m2
Can't wait to visit the place, invest some additional 5k and trade stocks from the Vilgāle
Gudauri View Point from a drone flight
| | 340 seen
Gudauri viewpoint is a cool attraction located some 2 km up from the Gudauri to the Kazbegi (Russian border)
Officially named as the Russian -Georgian Friendship monument, this place has been "installed" back in 1983, but seems to have gone under major reconstruction works recently.
We were returning from a weekend trip to Kazbegi when it was agreed to fly my little DJI Mavic mini drone around the monument.
Gudari viewing platform
Located on the Georgian Military Highway between the ski resort town of Gudauri and the Jvari pass, the monument is a large round stone and concrete structure overlooking the Devil's Valley in the Caucasus mountains.
Parking lot near the viewing platform
This monument has been built in 1983 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Georgievsk and ongoing friendship between Georgia and Soviet Russia.
Gergeti church from a drone flight
| | 10 seen
In today's Piece of Life series - Gergeti Church from a drone flight
The region of Kazbegi is very nice for drone photography and videography.
Gergeti Trinity Church is a must-have destination in Georgia. The church is located at an elevation of 2170 meters, under Mount Kazbegi some 160 km North from the nation's capital Tbilisi.
It was in the middle of August we did a short trip to the Kazbegi region in Georgia and I had a chance to fly my DJI Mavic Mini drone in the area. Thanks Johann Kritzinger Photography for organizing this trip
Gergeti church from a drone flight
The Gergeti Trinity Church is built in the 14th century, and is the only cross-cupola church in Khevi province. The separate belltower dates from the same period as the church itself. Its isolated location on top of a steep mountain surrounded by the vastness of nature has made it a symbol for Georgia. The 18th century Georgian author Vakhushti Batonishvili wrote that in times of danger, precious relics from Mtskheta, including Saint Nino's Cross were brought here for safekeeping. During…
List of Georgian laboratories offering to make a test (Paid) to diagnose COVID-19
| Living in Georgia | 14 seen
Colin (form a parent's group here in Tbilisi) shared a link to the spreadsheet containing a list of Georgian laboratories offering to make a test to diagnose COVID-19.
The list was published on the Agenda.ge website and contains the medical facilities name, and address, the original list also contains the e-mail of the facility (to avoid spambots harvesting the e-mail list here, I'm pasting info without e-mails)
I don't have exact info, but for the test, we have to pay (at least in September 2020) - according to different sources some should expect to pay GEL 120 - 200 for a test to Diagnose Covid-19
There are medical facilities in several cities of Georgia, including - Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Ozurgeti
I believe there is a chance to call for a test to be done at home (expect to pay a higher price)
Source: List of Georgian laboratories offering to make a test to diagnose COVID-19
Tbilisi
- The First University Clinic – Tbilisi, 4 Gudamakari Street
- Aversi Clinic – Tbilisi, 27b Vazha Pshavela Ave
- NeoLab – Tbilisi, 47 Tashkenti Street …
Tbilisi Open Air Museum of Ethnography
| Museums | 35 seen
The open-air Museum of Tbilisi is one of the coolest attractions in Tbilisi, situated in the footsteps of Turtle lake. Many cultural events are held here.
The museum is located west to Turtle Lake on a hill overlooking the Vake district, Tbilisi. It is essentially a historic village populated by buildings moved there from all main territorial subdivisions of Georgia.
I've been heading here ever since I remember myself in Tbilisi. See: Few shots from Tbilisi Cheese Festival
Open air museum from a drone flight
There is an awesome restaurant located near the park (upper side), offering spectacular views towards the city and of course delicious meals - see: Rachis Ubani Tbilisi Restaurant Review
The Giorgi Chitaia Open Air Museum of Ethnography is an open-air museum in Tbilisi, Georgia, displaying the examples of folk architecture and craftwork from various regions of the country.
Open air museum in Tbilisi
The museum is named after Giorgi Chitaia, a Georgian ethnographer, who founded the museum on April 27, 1966. Since December 30,…
Expats in Georgia (Facebook group)
| Living in Georgia | 152 seen
I have been living in Georgia since 2011. During my time here I have been exploring the country, as an Indie traveler, crosswise from the pebbled seashore beaches near Batumi to the desert sand in David Gareji, and have gathered a great collection of my travel notes all across Georgia
Also, I have been contacted zillions of times online asking Georgia-related questions, starting with how to get a residence permit and ending - is there snow in July in Georgia? (Yes, there is, somewhere atop mount Kazbek)
I've decided to launch a separate Facebook group aimed for ex-pats living in Georgia. In this group, we are going to discuss schools and pre-schools, business-related questions, good services, ask for advice, and more
If you are an Expat in Georgia, or just looking to relocate here, feel free to join here: Expats in Georgia (Country)
This group has been launched at the start of September 2020, two years latter group unites already 1,000 members
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