Oslo Bus Terminal

4 January, 2017 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 29 seen

Oslo Bus Terminal was our second stop from our first time short trip to Norway,we arrived here from Moss Airport, Rygge, in June, 2016 and left back from the same terminal to airport in the next morning.

Oslo Bus Terminal  is the main bus station serving Oslo, Norway. Owned by Vaterland AS it is located beside Oslo Central Station and serves local buses to Akershus as well as domestic and international coaches.

Oslo Bus Terminal

The station was built by the Akershus transit authority Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk as a bus station for their routes to Downtown Oslo. The station is five minutes walk from Oslo Central Station as well as the rapid transit station Jernbanetorget and the tram and city bus services at ground on Jernbanetorget. On the east side of the station is a tram station named Bussterminalen Grønland that allows the quickest transfers to the Ekeberg Line.

Foundation From Fibo Ceramsite Blocks

3 January, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 24 seen

It happened a a few weeks ago, when digging a trench around the existing foundation I discovered a missing foundation for one part of our rural house.

Back then I quickly realized I will use Fibo ceramsite blocks to boost construction works. 

The other day I poured in concrete footing, and today was the day to add first Fibo ceramsite blocks over footing

Hardened foundation footing

It rained for the last two days, I was a little bit worried, could too much rain could make some damage for footing, but it was just perfect - rock solid foundation footing to put Fiblo blocks over.

Fibo ceramsite blocks

I bought few at local DIY store and transported with our Honda CRV car. A reliable car is a must have.

Fibo clay blocks in foundation

Here is some technical background about Fibo blocks I used for foundation:

• Compression strength: 50 kg / cm ²

Now we are talking - soon, very soon we will start to remove walls and build our dream bathroom from scratch - amazing.

Postcards from Chiatura

2 January, 2017 | | 13 seen

Chiatura is an amazing and worth to explore city in the Imereti region, Georgia.

Famous because of manganese and iron ores. What makes this city special - cable cars, it's believed there are some 17 cable cars / lift systems in operation in Chiatura.

Chiatura have been on my travel list for a very long time already - first visited and documented in November 2016. Yes, we took a ride in those old and neglected, but awesome cable cars. Taking a ride in cable cars here is completely free (as of November 2016)

Soviet era monument in Chiatura

Amazing, charming and unique.

Old and neglected

Due to the steep sided river valley, production workers spent a large amount of time walking up from the town to the mines, there by reducing productivity. In 1954 an extensive cable car system was installed to transport workers around the valley and up to the mines. Still utilising the same infrastructure installed originally in the 1950s, today some 17 separate aerial lift cable car systems still exist around the town. Some of the most interesting lines are just outside the city and for those…

Road To Million Dollars in Saving Account

1 January, 2017 | Investments | 54 seen

I'm 31 now, I have a goal to save one million dollars by the time I will be 60. That's 29 years. That's $34,482.75 I should save each year, next 29 years in the row. That's a lot.

I currently make less than $20,000 per year, by US standard I'm the one who falls into the category - working poor. However, unlike my colleges in US, I live overseas (see living in Georgia) where standard of living in much much lower if compared to US , and in fact with funds I have here in Georgia I can afford pretty decent life style - travel a lot, spend evenings in fancy Tbilisi restaurants and even build a rural country house in other country.

I have some hopes for the bright future and I believe I could make about $45,000 per year in next 5 years (still sounds unrealistic today, let's say hard but doable).

I love challenges - more than three years ago this blog born as a challenge - can you blog 365 days in a row. It has been more than three years now and I still continue writing an article per day.

I always have loved photography, for years I was hanging around with my simple power and shoot…

Average Salary in Georgia 2016 - $ 389

31 December, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 20 seen

Average salary in the Republic of Georgia at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of 2016 was GEL 1035.98 equaling about USD 389.

For the simplicity of further written and calculated, here is the exchange rates I used from Bank of Georgia website on December 14, 2016.

• USD to GEL: 2.6599
• EUR to GEL: 2.8222

If measuring in actual increase that is a huge increase by more than GEL 200 from GEL 773 in 2013. If converted to US dollars that is a drop from $442 in 2013. The truth, as I believe, is somewhere in the middle. 

One thing haven't changed, thus -  inequality on how many receives male and female employees. For example, male employees in average received GEL 1172.9 at the end of Q2 2016, while their female colleague just GEL 746.2.

The biggest salaries in Georgia have been received in financial intermediation (GEL 1,964 / USD 738), construction (GEL 1,398 / USD 525) and public administration (GEL 1,377 / USD 517), while the lowest were set at agriculture, hunting and forestry (GEL 531 / USD 199), education (GEL 544 / USD 204…

Moss Airport, Rygge, Norway

30 December, 2016 | Airports | 29 seen

Moss airport Rygge officially marks my first entry point to Norway in Summer 2016. Unfortunately, or for good,  Rygge airport has been shut down to all civilian traffic on November 1, 2016.

We arrived here from Malaga by Ryanair cheap flight and stayed overnight in Oslo, to return back and have a flight to Riga next morning.

Moss Airport, Rygge  was an international airport serving Moss, Oslo and Eastern Norway. It is located in Rygge, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) outside Moss and 60 kilometres (37 mi) outside Oslo. It also served as a regional airport for Østfold county and owned and was operated by the private company Rygge Sivile Lufthavn AS.

Moss/Rygge shut down to all civilian traffic on 1 November 2016. The airport is however co-located with the still operational Rygge Air Station, operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force, who also own the land and runway. The control tower services (air traffic control) are operated by Avinor.

Coach departing Rygge airport to Oslo city center

That coach definitely was the most expensive…

Construction Materials Arrives (aerated concrete blocks and other goodies)

29 December, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 14 seen

That day finally came - construction materials arrived. 

We paused our construction works for about a month, because of a simple reason - lack of funds, or more precisely slow bank transfers, we did spent a lovely July harvesting mushrooms and even spent three days traveling around neighboring Lithuania to celebrate my birthday.

One thing made me worried - it was already second half of August and we still hadn't started works on rebuilding walls for our old log house. Haven't I mentioned - we are replacing log walls with aerated concrete blocks) I ordered these blocks at the first day I got money transferred to my bank account and today was the day when construction materials arrived. It turned out, it was a bit problematic for a driver to enter our yard, thus I assured him, that about a year ago a truck twice as big as his truck successfully delivered for us a metal roof. See: Roof Works, Part 4 - Metal Roofing Arrives

Construction materials arrives

I especially ordered a car with a manipulator. Huge was my surprise when driver invited me to climb in the trailer and climb on top of aerated concrete…

Katskhi Monastery of Nativity of the Savior

28 December, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 18 seen

Don't be surprised of the name Katskhi, this is a church located some 2km from the famous Katskhi pillar in Georgia.

The Katskhi Monastery of Nativity of the Savior, more commonly known as the Katskhi Monastery is a medieval monastery in Georgia, located in the village of Katskhi near the town of Chiatura. It was built at the behest of the Baguashi family in the period of 988–1014. The church building is noted for a hexagonal design and rich ornamentation. Closed down by the Soviet government in 1924, the monastery was revived in 1990 and is now operated by the Eparchy of Sachkhere and Chiatura of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Katskhi church

The Katskhi monastery is a octagonal building of more complex design than other similar polygonal Georgian monuments such as Gogiuba, Kiagmis-alty, Oltisi, and Bochorma. The exterior of the church features three gradually narrowing cylindrical levels formed by the faceted gallery, the main body of the church, and the drum of the dome.

The six apses are inscribed…

Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport

27 December, 2016 | Airports | 14 seen

Málaga Airport, officially Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid–Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. It is an important airport for Spanish tourism as it is the main international airport serving the Costa del Sol. It is 8 km (5.0 mi) southwest of Málaga and 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Torremolinos. The airport has flight connections to over 60 countries worldwide, and over 14.4 million passengers passed through it in 2015.

Our latest trip to Spain (region of Andalusia) started an ended here at Malaga airport. We arrived here from Berlin Schönefeld Airport and left to Oslo,Norway using Ryanair.

Waiting area at Malaga airport

Málaga Airport is the busiest international airport of Andalucía, accounting for 85 percent of the region non-domestic traffic. It offers a wide variety of international destinations. The airport, connected to the Costa del Sol, has a daily link with twenty cities in Spain and over one hundred cities in Europe. Direct flights also operate to Africa, the Middle East and also…

Pouring Concrete Footing

26 December, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 4 seen

Right, today I found a fix to the issue we discovered earlier this summer - missing foundation for the some parts of our rural house.

Some few days ago I bough a concrete mixer, gravel was already waiting to be mixed with concrete, now it was time to pour in footing for the missing part.

All setup

Concrete mixer, wheelbarrow with gravel, a shovel. yes pretty much the basics for mixing the concrete.

Simple template for foundation

Now its time to pour in a base footing, itš a bout 90 cm width and about 30 cm height. Latter on that we will continue to pour in foundation.It's just a footing to make things rock solid.

Pour in concrete

add some reinforcement from metal rods.

Concrete foundation footing

Now, I'm using some really strong plastizers which will make concrete rock solid already after a day, and I will continue to lay over the foundations. But for now - let's leave concrete to solidly for night.

Christmas Cooking Photo Session in The Kitchen - Olivie salads, Pirozhki and of course Pizza

25 December, 2016 | Food blogger | 11 seen

That time of the year have come and for the rare time this year I was actually operating with camera in our kitchen - in today's special Christmas menu - our "traditional Georgian Christmas" table - salad Olivie, pirozhki and of course that tasty pizza. 

It was that time of the year when again I installed a tripod, put a telephoto lens and decided to shoot macro's. 

Christmas time during our expat time in Georgia have always marked two essential things to do - first to visit annul Christmas charity fair and  second, on Christmas eve to cook something cool. Like we have baked gingerbreads, pirozhki and of course pizzas. 

Dough is been fermented

A mandatory ingredient for our Christmas table is dough, which we prepare by ourselves. 

Ingredients for salad Olivie

I just love traditional Russian Olivie salads, they are quite easy to prepare. 

Boiled carrots and potatoes for Olivie Salad

Yup, one of the rare times you boil whole carrots.

Coffee break

Might be a cool addition to our Peace of Life series.…

Katskhi Pillar

25 December, 2016 | Tourism objects | 24 seen

The Katskhi pillar is a natural limestone monolith located at the village of Katskhi in western Georgian region of Imereti, near the town of Chiatura. It is approximately 40 metres (130 ft) high, and overlooks the small river valley of Katskhura, a right affluent of the Q'virila.

If you have seen those amazing video clips about Georgia, you have most probably noticed this interesting object at some of them. It took me more than five years since I have been living in Georgia to actually visit it. Frankly speaking I have wanted to see Katskhi pillar since day one I arrived to Georgia, but things are as they are and it was on a late Autumn Saturday's afternoon we planned our trip to Chiatura and to this amazing place.

It's pretty hard to make a decent photography here without framing a lot or shooting from a long distance.

Katskhi pillar

The rock was once accessible to male visitors through an iron ladder running from its base to the top, but has recently been deemed inaccessible to the public.

The rock, with visible…

Hotel Zen Airport Torremolinos, Spain

24 December, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 30 seen

Hotel Zen is a 3-star hotel located in Torremolinos, Spain - a good location, pretty close to the Malaga airport. We booked Hotel Zen as our last hotel during our week long travels in Spain before departing to Oslo, Norway.

This property is 16 minutes walk from the beach. Featuring a heated outdoor pool and 2 terraces, Hotel Zen Airport is located in Torremolinos. This hotel offers air-conditioned rooms and free WiFi. A free airport and beach shuttle service is available.

Hotel Zen offers free shuttle service to airport and to/from beaches. We checked in early and decided to use free shuttle service to beaches, and spent very lazy afternoon in the beach.

Statue of Buddha at Hotel Zen

Kind of pretty spiritual hotel. 

Rooms at Hotel Zen Airport are built around an interior patio. Some offer modern design and décor, and others are in the classic Andalusian part of the hotel. All are en suite and include a TV.

Seems we got so called classical Andalusian part.

Room at Hotel Zen

Well - basic things, a bed, some chair, TV set,bathroom (not the best)…

Bad Discovery - Missing foundation for house

23 December, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 15 seen

Today I decided to keep digging trench around existing house fundament to prepare works for upcoming concreting works.

Yesterday I bough a concrete mixer and mixed first test of concrete, load of gravel were already waiting and of course a sacks of cement were bought. It was just a matter of shovel and hand work.

And then the bad news came - our house is partly missing foundation. 

It turned out that at the end of house, there is no foundation at all, for about 2,5 meters. Well that makes things a little bit complicated, as I need to lay down the foundation at this part of the house from a scratch - I will need to dig deeper and more wider here. Should I mention I was really pissed of after such discovery? 

Missing foundation

I kept digging and at the end dig 1 meter wide and about 1.5 meter deep pit just under the house. Tomorrow I will start first concreting works, but today I will sleep very restlessly.

Samtavisi Cathedral

22 December, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 34 seen

Samtavisi is an eleventh-century Georgian Orthodox cathedral in eastern Georgia, in the region of Shida Kartli, some 45km from the nation’s capital Tbilisi. The cathedral is now one of the centers of the Eparchy of Samtavisi and Gori of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

We discovered this church during our recent trip to town of Chiatura. My driver told me, this church seems to him as a copy of Kashveti church in Tbilisi. Although, recently Mikheil contacted me and told following:

Actually, it is vice versa (and makes an interesting story in itself): the current Kashveti church, built in 1904-1910, is an intentional exact replica of the Samtavisi cathedral. 

I love church photography and I love remote sites, so we agreed to spend some time here.

Samtavisi cathedral

The cathedral is located on the left bank of the Lekhura River, some 11km of the town of Kaspi. According to a Georgian tradition, the first monastery on this place was founded by the Assyrian missionary Isidore in 572 and later rebuilt in the 10th century. Neither of these buildings has survived however. The…