16 Things to do in Batumi
Batumi is a port city of Georgia, located on the shores of the Black sea.Pebbled beaches energize you with their natural force and astonish with the beauty of seashells that can easily be found right in the rocks, especially after storms.Close to the sea, you will find a new boulevard with lots of boutiques and cafes whereas in the old boulevard you can peacefully have a rest in the shade of giant trees. Being in the center of different kinds of musical events you can always find something close to you in Batumi.In this article, I've listed the top 16 things to do in Batumi
Postcards from Batumi
At the start of March 2016, after about a two-year break I visited Batumi again.This time I was equipped with a DSLR camera, a tripod, and two days of free time.I decided to capture as much as I can. Result? In the pictures below. Sunset in BatumiThis photo was taken from the top of the mountain at Argo Entertainment center (you can get there by a cable car)Batumi Miracle ParkA lot of wonders around here. The Chacha tower, alphabetic tower and a tower was once meant to wear the name of TrumpRocky Black Sea coast in BatumiLove to lay back in these pebbles.Bike rental in BatumiIn 2022, they still have bike rentals available, but more popular seems are electric scootersBatumi beachLove…
Spooky Images from Tarifa, Spain
We were heading from Gibraltar towards Tarifa, still searching for accommodation for tonight when we were surprised by a natural phenomenon - the mist.Mist rolling over the highwayMist rolling over the highwayIt was getting late and dark, so we decided to make a stop at a local store to buy some goodies, and I got an opportunity to capture another natural phenomenon - clouds covering the SunSun covered by cloudsDwelling houses
Gibraltar
I have never been to the United Kingdom, today, thus, I had a chance to step a foot on British Overseas territory - Gibraltar. Nope, they are driving the same as in the rest of Europe (left side wheel), but some particles of British taste you can enjoy here definitely. Approaching Gibraltar from Spain (The Rock of Gibraltar)There is a quick border control between Spain and Gibraltar. Passengers are not obligated to leave the vehicle. It took about 2 minutes for us to cross this border, and we were in.Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 (2.6 sq mi) and shares its…
Cafe-Bar El Hacho, Gaucin
Cafe-Bar El Hacho in Gaucin proudly bears hundredth cafe name featured on blog. See all the rest 100 restaurant reviews.We made a quick stop here, just shortly we left Ronda (Ronda Bridge) and took a small tapas and coffee con - lece's here. Inside sun terrace with outdoor poolOutdoor poolLight meal and freshly squeezed orange juiceOur bill here - around EUR 10.00Cafe-Bar El Hacho in Gaucin, Spain
How to Fix Missing MarkeClusterer Icons for Drupal Gmap Module
I have been using Drupal + Mapping for years already. My most favorite combination Location + Gmap module for entering and displaying location info.
Recently I did upgrade for Gmap module for this blog and things went wrong - customized province names disappeared and... Marker Clusterer icons were gone soon afterwards. My first thoughts were that latest Gmap module have done something wrong, turned out I was wrong. My next idea was it's related to Advanced Aggregation module - again wrong.
Finally the problem as it seems is related to - https://www.drupal.org/node/2734133 - Google has moved its source to github.
The MarkerClusterer library not shows the cluster icons…
Puente Nuevo (Ronda Bridge)
The Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) or as we called it - Ronda Bridge is the newest and largest of three bridges that span the 120-metre (390 ft)-deep chasm that carries the Guadalevín River and divides the city of Ronda, in southern Spain.We had a chance to visit the Puente Nuevo at the start of June (temperature that day was about 40 Celsius), for me, as for an eager excelling photographer this was a nice place to put my knowledge in place.Let's start with panoramic photography:Puente NuevoThe architect was José Martin de Aldehuela, who died in Málaga in 1802. The chief builder was Juan Antonio Díaz Machuca.The bridge was started in 1751…
Siempre Igual Tapas Bar in Ronda
We visited Ronda, town in Spain' with one particular goal - to visit and photograph the bridge of Ronda. It was very hot day at start of June. We parked our car in a good distance from our destination and started to explore Ronda. One of our first stops were at Siempre Igual tapas bar.It was already midday, a siesta has been started already so we opted for some tapas. Siempre Igual Tapas Bar in RondaMussel tapasFor about 6 EUR, you can get such dish with mussels. Delicious. TapasVeggies and octopus... for following dish, price about EUR 1.5Mini chorizo tapaPrice for above tapa - one euro. Amazing.Once in Ronda, make sure you check out Siempre Igual Tapas bar.
Postcards from Spain
I wish I was writting down names of all those lovely places, we visited in Costa Del Sol in Spain, as I marked just the major spots. Today we were heading from Marbela, via Estepona towards Ronda, I made following pictures somewhere in the middle.Pink boatCosta Del Sol beachWhite village in Spain
How to Renew Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate
Free SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt certify are issued for a short 3 month term. I first enabled secure HTTPS pages around at start of 2016, and now it's time to renew SSL.
The following tutorial is written for Nginx, but should work for Apache as well (with minor modifications)
Stop Nginx
sudo service nginx stop
To trigger the renewal process for all installed domains, run this command:
sudo /opt/letsencrypt/letsencrypt-auto renew
Start Nginx
sudo service nginx start
Now, check from your browser window your site, does SSL certificate validity has been extended for next 90 days,
Summer Solstice 2016
This is already third Summer Solstice featured on this blog, see how two years ago we made a barbeque on our Tbilisi's balcony and how we celebrated our first Summer Solstice in our newly inherited house, last year. This year we celebrated Summer Solstice second year in a row back in our rural house. I was pleased to apply my recently developed skills in night photography and experimented with long exposures, HDR and panoramic photography technique tonight.Fire placeMade a lovely fireplace this yearOur fish pondMaybe it is a good idea to great Summer Solstice near pond next year?Our small companyAuthor of this blog is holding dog. Dog seemed most enthusiastic here, caught and ate…
Estepona - Flower City in Costa del Sol (Spain)
Our this year's travels in Spain's Cos del Sol region, took us to lovely, I would even say charming flower city - Estepona. It's hard to recall, was it TomTom device what took us here or it was actually planned to make a stop here, but one I can say for sure - If you are planing a trip in Costa del Sol region - plan a trip to Estepona as well.Streets of EsteponaEstepona is a town and municipality in the comarca of the Costa del Sol, southern Spain. It is located in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its district covers an area of 137 square kilometers in a fertile valley crossed by small streams and a…
Marbella (Playa de la Fontanilla)
Marbella is one of the most important tourist cities of the Costa del Sol (Spain) and throughout most of the year is an international tourist attraction, due mainly to its climate and tourist infrastructure. Last evening I watched an interesting documentary about Julio Iglesias, and in that movie it was told that world famous singer celebrated his wedding at Marbella. Luxury lifestyle, yachts and lovely climate? Probably. In fact during our week long travels in Spain, we made about an hour long stop in Marbela, sipped lovely coffee con-leche, and observed mist.Our car were parked at local shopping center and most we saw in Marbella was about 200 meter radius from that.Apartment…
Drilling Borehole
That day finally come - a massive vehicle with drilling device arrived and promised that after some 3-4 days - there will be a drinking water just from the soil in our background. We waited for this day for about a year. It was originally planned to have a water in the first year (2015), we started to manage this property. Lack of the finances stopped us.Anyhow, this is what I told, when we started to manage this rural property: The house is in a very bad condition and asks for a lot of investments - one of the primary things we are looking to do next - is to change a roof (it is leaky), to dig the well, draw in water and to connect to the electricity.It feels that about 90% of tasks…
Playamar beach in Torremolinos
Playamar beach was located close to our hotel (Parasol Garden) in Torremolinos. I had a chance to vist this beach (thus no swimming or sunbathing) during a week long travels in Spain.This beach is characterized by the numerous apartment buildings lining the beachfront. It offers a wide variety of facilities and is very well marked with buoys. A variety of shows and performances are organised here during the summer.Playamar beachWhether you are coming direct from the airport or from any other point on the Costa del Sol, the signs for Torremolinos will not let you go wrong. The Mediterranean Expressway and the old N-340, which has now become a boulevard passing through the middle of the…
Hotel Parasol Garden Review in Torremolinos, Spain
Hotel Parasol Garden in Torremolinos was first hotel we booked during our week long trip in our Costa la Sol trip in Spain. After we landed at Malaga airport and picked up our rental car at Malaga airport we headed to nearby located beach resort town of Torremolinos. The hotel offered full board or all inclusive. We booked full board, as it was for about 15 EUR cheaper than all inclusive. Latter we learnt that Full board means all meals, except drinks, including still water during breakfast, dinner and supper. Luckily we got a cup of coffee next morning. Hotel Parasol GardenParasol Garden is just 51 m from Playamar Beach, in Torremolinos. It offers a free Wi-Fi zone…
Holiday Inn Berlin Airport Hotel Review in Schönefeld, Germany
We stayed at Holiday Inn Berlin airport hotel between connecting flight to Spain. At start we didn't planned to stay at hotel at all or to use some cheap hostel in Berlin city center, but after actually landing here in Berlin and visiting Berlin city center, we agreed a hotel is a must have. I was surprised to learn that hotels are way much expensive in Berlin than it is usually,This was one of the rare hotels we reached by foot, after arriving at local train station (located close to the airport) we decided to walk there, Unfortunately we had no idea which direction we should walk and I asked to the first passer by - Excuse me, do you have any idea which direction is…
Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm)
Berlin TV tower is located close to the Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany. The tower was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the administration of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was intended as a symbol of Berlin, which it remains today, as it is easily visible throughout the central and some suburban districts of Berlin. With its height of 368 meters, it is the tallest structure in Germany, and the second tallest structure in the European Union (by a half-metre).I was wondering around Alexanderplatx when noticed this giantic structure. I wasn't prepared good enough to capture this mega-tall structure in one frame, and felt a little bit tired to…
Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz most probably is Berlin's most famous tourist spot. Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the southwest.I had a chance to visit Alexanderplatz during a layover between flights to Malaga, Spain. We took a local train from airport and visited Alexanderplatz to spend few hours before checking in at hotel near airport latter this evening.Metro AlexanderplatzOne of…
How to Photograph the Big Dipper
Have you ever wanted to photograph the Big Dipper? It is on of the easiest and probably the most famous grouping of stars in the sky.
Fail short using auto mode on your camera? I hear you - I was there buddy. Once I was laying in warm beaches in Turkey (around Izmir) it was night already, the view around me was just amazing, city lights, sea and stars... I spent all night stargazing and trying to photograph at least something using my camera... well... I ended up with nothing. Back then I had little clue of other shooting modes than auto. Auto mode is not your best friend during night time.
In today's digital photography school tutorial I would love to start…