Tori 'Cafe-Restaurant' near Akhaldaba

21 December, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 10 seen

Tori is a small roadside cafeteria located near the town of Akhaldaba.

We have made a stop and dinned here at the end of June when traveling to Borjomi

Cafe Tori Restaurant

Well, what can I say about this place? A typical roadside cafeteria, you can get here some coffee and decent food. Prices seemed kind of expensive, maybe because the cafe is located on a pretty touristic route close to Borjomi.

Road to Borjomi

There is free parking available in front of the restaurant.

A decent place to take a break from the road.

Grand Hotel Del Parco - Bergamo Airport

20 December, 2019 | Hotel reviews | 11 seen

The Grand Hotel is a modern, peaceful hotel set in parkland just 6 km from Bergamo.

It offers air-conditioned rooms and suites, a fitness centre and free parking. A scheduled shuttle service to/from Bergamo Train Station and Orio Al Serio Airport is available on request.

We booked this hotel in early November 2019, for a night after landed at Bergamo airport. Nothing fancy, but a decent 4-star hotel for budget money near Bergamo. We paid about USD 68 for a one night stay here.

Grand Hotel Del Parco - Bergamo Airport

Each elegant room has parquet floors, a flat-screen TV with satellite channels, a minibar, and a modern bathroom.

The Hotel Grand Del Parco offers a large buffet breakfast. Room service is also available.

The hotel is in Stezzano, 5 km from Bergamo Orio al Serio Airport and a 5-minute drive from the A4 Milan-Brescia motorway.

Breakfast at Grand Hotel Del Parco 

Weekend trip to Baku, Azerbaijan

19 December, 2019 | Travel guides | 22 seen

At the start of August 2019, we traveled to Baku Azerbaijan.

For me, this was my first time in Azerbaijan. Our trip here was in the frames celebrate a birthday in one of the former Soviet Union member country capital cities, so far we have been to Yerevan, Tallinn, Vilnius, Kyiv, and now Baku

To get here, we booked a train ticket from Tbilisi and traveled from Tbilisi central station. Before entering Azerbaijan we had to apply for an e-visa online (which has to be done some 5 days before departure).

Now, huge was our surprise arriving in Baku and trying to buy return trains tickets to Tbilisi - it turned out every ticket was sold out. We were left with no other option but to book a direct Baku - Tbilisi flight from Baku airport (see: About Buta Airways Baku - Tbilisi fight) 

Anyhow, this was one of the best birthday trips so far, we booked a 5-star hotel at Fairmount Flames tower, used taxi ride app to ride in (and out) the city. And spent our time in some of the best Baku restaurants. Keep reading to learn more.

• Planing a trip to Azerbaijan: How to get a Prepaid SIM Card with Internet
• How to…

Tesla Stock Project

17 December, 2019 | Options trading | 40 seen

It was on early November 5th, 2019 morning, I was reading an interesting story about a guy buying a Tesla car for his sons 9th birthday, here is the story in brief:

What is #TSLA4Tesla project? I am not into cars. My son, Arian, 8 years old, is different. He loves cars. Sometimes back, he got in love with Tesla. He asked me to buy a Tesla. I didn't need a new car. However, seeing Arian's craze for Tesla, and my love for trading stocks, we made a deal to trade TSLA stocks to see if we can buy a real Tesla.

Here it the blog: #TSLA4Tesla project

Now, I'm not into cars neither, though TSLA stock has been on my radar for a while, I even have sold some Iron Condors on in the past.

I decided to start a new project - with the goal to own 100 shares of TSLA stock.

To get there I will use options trading strategies only*.

Vertical spreads (calls and puts, and iron condors). The ultimate goal after having 100 shares of TSLA stock is not to buy a new TESLA car but to sell covered calls on TSLA stock (the easiest and less riskiest options strategy)

As on November 5th, 2019 I TSLA share is traded…

Mushtaidi Park in Tbilisi

14 December, 2019 | Tourism objects | 39 seen

Mushtaidi park and garden in Tbilisi is great for activities with kids - it features a Ferris Wheel, choo-choo train, carousels and more. The entrance in the park is free, but there is a fee for carrousels. 

Park is well maintained and quite popular among locals. I first discovered this park a couple of years ago while cycling around Dinamo arena. 

Sculptures at Mushtaidi park

The Mushtaidi is one of the oldest parks in Tbilisi and was founded in the 1930s. The first garden on the site of 5 hectares was opened by Mir Fetekh-Agha Seyed Tavrizi, who arrived in Georgia from Iran in 1828. He was a religious leader of the Shiites in Azerbaijan in Iran. The name of the garden-mushtaid was also derived from its clerical rank. Source (Mushtaidi Garden - Mushtaidi Park)

The foundation of the Mushtaidi Garden is based on a sad story. (Google Translate form Georgian, see: მუშტაიდის ბაღი – Mushtaidi Park)

Mushtaidi was married to a beautiful Georgian woman - Nino, who bought her in Istanbul's captive market. Exiled from Iran, he chose Tbilisi to live at his request. The woman was no…

Azcot Hotel in Baku

12 December, 2019 | Hotel reviews | 13 seen

Set in a 19th century building on Fountain Square, Azcot Hotel is located in the heart of Baku and offers air-conditioned rooms with a flat-screen satellite TV. It features a 24-hour front desk and free parking on site.

We booked Azcot Hotel for a one night stay (actually paid for two nights) in early August 2019, and paid for our stay about USD 120. We booked two nights because we had a plane back to Tbilisi in seconds night evening, not willing to spend the whole day on legs we booked two days.

The building and location where hotel is located is great. The service is OK, the interior is old and asks for renovation.

The stay at Azcot hotel partially reminded me a stay a couple of years ago in Tallin's Olav hotel, see: St.Olav Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia

The hotel is run by Azeri/Russian team. As we stayed the previous two nights at the 5-star Fairmount hotel it's hard to give an objective review for Azcot hotel, but I will try.

The most important thing about Azcot is that is very good located next to the Fountain square. The rest doesn't matter actually.

Azcot hotel in Baku…

Georgian Parliament Building in Tbilisi

7 December, 2019 | Tourism objects | 74 seen

The Parliament of Georgia Building is located in Tbilisi on Rustaveli Avenue, close to the foothills of Mount Mtatsminda.

The building complex was constructed as the House of Government of Georgian SSR on the site of the demolished 19th-century Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

For those of you interested in Soviet Architecture, here you go another cool object of interest in Tbilisi. See: Brutal Tours - Explore Soviet Georgian Architecture in Tbilisi

The complex consists of two buildings; the "upper" building was designed by Viktor Kokorin and Giorgi Lezhava and built from 1933 to 1938. The "lower" building, along Rustaveli Avenue, was constructed by the same architects with input from Vladimer Nasaridze from 1946 to 1953. The two buildings are connected with a courtyard, with staircases and fountains. The design of both buildings heavily uses elements of traditional Georgian architecture.

Georgian Parliament Building in Tbilisi

The exterior facing the avenue is dominated by a monumental arcade, with massive eaves and "arch" pediment. The buildings are built of lightweight reinforced concrete,…

How To Enable Google Adsense ads.txt file for Drupal on Nginx

6 December, 2019 | Servers | 56 seen

Around early September 2019, in my Google AdSense dashboard, I noticed a warning informing me to create a separate ads.txt file. 

I followed the on-screen instruction and did what was asked.

After two months (at the start of November) I noticed my earnings from Google AdSense have dipped more than half and the warning was still there. 

Earnings at risk - You need to fix some ads.txt file issues to avoid severe impact to your revenue.

Authorized Digital Sellers, or ads.txt is an IAB initiative that helps ensure that your digital ad inventory is only sold through sellers (such as AdSense) who you've identified as authorized. Creating your own ads.txt file gives you more control over who's allowed to sell ads on your site and helps prevent counterfeit inventory from being presented to advertisers.

We strongly recommend that you use an ads.txt file. It can help buyers identify counterfeit inventory and help you receive more advertiser spend that might have otherwise gone toward that counterfeit inventory.

I decided to check and huge was my surprise when trying to visit ads.txt file I got the following warning:

Tavada Restaurant in Baku

5 December, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 14 seen

Tavada restaurant is another fine example fo great Azerbaijani cuisine and service. Located on Mardanov Brothers street this place serves fine Azerbaijani and European cuisine.

Discovered in early August 2019, during a weekend trip to Baku.

Kid friendly - got a baby chair for our 13-month old daughter + asked to make mashed potatoes for her

Mashed potatoes especially for babies

Lovely

Dolma with a yogurt sauce

If there is a reason to visit Azerbaijan, then it' s because of Dolma

Chicken and veal kebabs at Tavada restaurant in Baku

November 2019 Dividend Income Report - $260.41

4 December, 2019 | Investments | 19 seen

Welcome to the thirty-first (#31) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks and peer to peer lending in November 2019.

Last November we spent a week in Italy and Switzerland. Traveling with a 16-month old might be complicated but we did it actually quite nice - Lake Como in Italy, Lugano in Switzerland. Quite a tranquil trip. Highly recommend.

Lugano, Switzerland

The last November was better than expected in terms of dividend income but was a total catastrophe for my options trades.

At the end of the month, I have collected $260.41 from dividend stocks and Mintos peer to peer lending platform.  Compared to the previous November in 2018, that is a growth of 133.34% (+$148.81). The growth is just awesome.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending and deribit.com options trading websites, by clicking on links on this page and by making investment mintos.com or derbit.com, I might earn affiliate income at no cost to…

My First Iron Condor Trade - Lessons Learned

3 December, 2019 | Options trading | 36 seen

This article has been in the blog's draft section for a couple of months and as it still bears some useful information I decided to publish as it is with little comments at the end.

On August 13, 2019 I made my first Iron Condor trade - I sold following IC SPY AUG 14'19 294 / 284 / 293 / 283.5 @ 0.51

This trade was with a 1 day to expiration (DTE), I collected 51 USD from this trade, and paid in fees 9.6 USD (Interactive Broker charges each direction, and Iron Condor consists from 4 legs - 2 puts and 2 calls)

Opening Iron Condor trade Interactive Brokers

Everything seemed good, except market quickly moved against me and SPY reached 293 just some 15 minutes after I entered this trade, and here I started to make mistakes - I decided to open one more Iron condor trade for August 16.

In parallel, my 13-month-old baby asked for attention, and I made a serious mistake - I entered second trade without double-checking the numbers, instead of opening second iron condor with 3 DTE - I closed some positions from the first one and at the end, I was left with something like two…

Nergiz Restaurant in Baku

28 November, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 24 seen

Nergiz restaurant is located on Fountain Square in Baku, this places serves typical Azerbaijani cuisine and let me name it as of the best Baku restaurants. 

Discovered in early August, during my birthday trip to Baku. 

Just like another excellent Baku restaurant Dolma, Nergiz also is located in a basement. 

Dolma at Nergiz restaurant

If there is a reason to visit Azerbaijan, then it's because of Dolma. The best Dolma I've tried so far. And I love Dolma.

Kebab at restaurant Nergiz

Delicious. We spent here good time ordering traditional pilaf, dolma, sweets and homemade lemonades (compot)

Traditional Azerbaijani sweets

Orio al Serio (Bergamo) International Airport

23 November, 2019 | Airports | 14 seen

Orio al Serio International Airport (IATA: BGY, ICAO: LIME), officially also known as Il Caravaggio International Airport, is the third busiest international airport in Italy.

The airport is located in the municipal territory of Orio al Serio, 3.7 km (2.3 mi) southeast of Bergamo in Italy. The airport is 45 km (28 mi) north-east of Milan, where it operates alongside Malpensa Airport and Linate Airport, the city's other two primary airports.

In 2018, airport served almost 13 million passengers

The airport is a hub for the low-cost Ryanair Avio carrier, and that's how we got here actually -  I had a chance to travel to the Bergamo airport in November 2019 flying with Ryanair from Tbilisi (Georgia)

The airport is called Milan-Bergamo by several airlines and it is managed by SACBO, a company partially owned by SEA – Aeroporti di Milano, the operator of Linate and Malpensa airports. SEA, the company that runs the latter two airports, also holds a 31% stake in SACBO. It is named "Il Caravaggio…

Gino Paradise Water Park in Tbilisi

16 November, 2019 | Tourism objects | 92 seen

Gino Paradise is a multifunctional water park located in Tbilisi near Tbilisi sea. At the complex, there is located a grand aqua park and unique relaxation wellness center, fitness hall and catering objects.

Gino Paradise is one of the most recommended places to visit with kids.

Tbilisi for kids (17 Places to Visit)

First discovered already a couple of years ago, while cycling to Tbilisi sea, but visited for the first time at the end of September 2019 together with our little baby girl.

One time visit for adult cost GEL 40, and it includes pretty much great stuff, a multi-pass is also available.

Gino Paradise Water Park in Tbilisi

The best of all - Gino Paradise is four seasons resort! GINO Paradise is one of the large scaled water centers with many attractions in the Eastern Europe, and the only one in South Caucasus, 31 meters toboggan and closed and open pools GINO Paradise also includes Tbilisi Sea coastal zone and offers full comfort to the customers. Coastal zone is equipped with chaise longue, umbrellas, different attractions, dressing room and showers.

GINO Spa Center offers you relaxation, aroma and…

Weekend trip to Dedoplis Tskaro and nearby vicinity

9 November, 2019 | Travel guides | 13 seen

This is a round-up post from a very easy weekend trip to Dedoplis Tskaro and the nearby vicinity. We did this trip the end of June 2019, traveling by car.

It was actually Summer Solstice if other years we had a large fire and amazing sunset photography, or at least a grill on Tbilisi apartments balcony, then this year it was completely different.

Originally it was planned to visit only lavender fields at Nukriani lavender, but then we extended this route to Dedoplis Tskaro, from here on we decided to find some local lake to take a swim while searching for one, the car malfunctioned and it was a question will we be able to get even back to Tbilisi this night. After having an unexpected stop at an interesting picnic area near the highway we booked a 5-star hotel and had a lovely morning swim there.