Osteria de Luca Italian Restaurant in Vilnius

6 December, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 18 seen

Osteria de Luca is an Italian restaurant located in the Old town of Vilnius, Lithuania.

During my latest visit here in August 2016, they served delicious Italian cuisine, I tried a wrapped pizza - intrigue and amazing. I got the feelings they have taken all the best ingredients straight from the Italy.

I love Italian cuisine, and especially pizzas, once my better part and me, we visited Italy especially for Pizza tourism, gosh we tried so many Osteria's, prosciutto's and of course Pizza's. I made a lot of Italian restaurant reviews back then. Restaurant Antica Drogheria in Lucca, Italy near the leaning tower of Pisa is among my favorite Italian restaurant by now.

Osteria de Luca in Vilnius doesn't inferior from those Italian Osteria' s in Italy.

Now, being in Lithuania, I was not eager for Italian cuisine, instead I was in the search for an authentic Lithuanian cuisine, surprisingly but I didn't find any place in Old Town. Chinese, Italian - they are literally zillions in Vilnius. Strange, right?

Wrapped Italian Pizza

Let me forgive Italians and Georgians,but I tried such interpretation of Pizza for…

TOP 15 Boutique / Luxury Hotels in Vilnius (Lithuania)

2 December, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 32 seen

There are at least three reasons to visit Vilnius - exploring Old Town, city walks and of course architecture.

To make your stay more comfortable in Lithuanian capital city, in this article you will find TOP 15 boutique / luxury hotels in the Old Town of Vilnius. Vilnius together with other Baltic capitals is not an expensive city, here you will find stunning hotels in price range $100-$200.

Located on the main street of Vilnius’s Old Town, The Narutis Hotel features 2 restaurants and a paid spa area with an indoor pool. Internet and parking are free of charge.

Each air-conditioned room is individually decorated with unique frescoes, wall paintings, and original 16th-century ceilings. All rooms overlook the old town. The rooms feature a minibar, flat-screen satellite TV, and a bathroom with hairdryer.

The elegant Narutis Restaurant offers Lithuanian and international dishes and a selection of fine wines.

The spa area at the Narutis Hotel includes a sauna, a steam bath, and a hot tub. It also boasts a massage parlour. The staff is available 24/7 and provides tourist information.

All major sights of…

Restaurant El Arador, Estepa, Spain

1 December, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 9 seen

I just love roadside cafeterias, so did happened today, we left Seville and had a direction towards Granada, after an hour of driving we started to feel hungry, it was lunch time. Luckly Restaurant El Arador popped up. 

Restaurante El Arador

What to order in a typical Spanish restaurant? How about a fresh orange juice and a chorizo? 

French fries, chorizo and orange juice

The Republic of Užupis (Vilnius, Lithuania)

30 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 7 seen

I have traveled to Vilnius, Lithuania a lot, for most of the times using Vilnius just as a transit stop. I decided to change this. It was my 31st birthday, and I opted for celebrations in Vilnius (I have a goal - to celebrate my birthday each year in one of the capitals of former Soviet Union's republics, so far I have celebrated already in Yerevan and Tallinn).

I had read in some tourist brochures about The Republic of Užupis, and thought - what a cool site, I should put this on my travel list. Now, here is what it is all about: In 1997, the residents of the area declared the Republic of Užupis, along with its own flag, currency, president, cabinet of ministers, a constitution written by Romas Lileikis and Thomas Chepaitis, an anthem, and an army (numbering approximately 11 men). They celebrate this independence annually on Užupis Day, which falls on April 1st. Artistic endeavours are the main preoccupation of the Republic; the life-long President of the Republic of Užupis, Romas Lileikis, is himself a poet, musician, and film director.

Tourists visiting the Republic of Uzupis

Artūras Zuokas, long time (now…

Ujarma Fortress

29 November, 2016 | Military Heritage | 42 seen

Ujarma  is a medieval Georgian fortress in the Kakheti region, located some 45 km east from the nation's capital Tbilisi.

It's believed than in the second half of the 5th century, famous Vakhtang Gorgasali (founder of Tbilisi) erected numerous buildings in Ujarma and moved his residence there. After Vakhtang’s death, his heir Dachi was ruling Kakheti for some period from here. In the 10th century, Ujarma was destroyed by Arabian forces of Abul Kassim. In the 13th century, the fortress was restored by King George III, where he arranged treasury.

This was my second attempt visiting Ujarma fortress, and I even managed to capture some pictures here, thus I believe such large objects should be photographed either with a drone or from a larger distance.

Ujarma fortress in Georgia

The fortress is located on the roadside connecting Telavi with Tbilisi. We made here a stop after had a lunch at nearby village of Sasadilo, see Iosebis Duqani (Joseph's Tavern) near Sasadilo

​There is a little ticket office at Ujarma and I was asked to pay an entrance fee of 3GEL for having access to fortress.…

Postcards from Seville, Spain

28 November, 2016 | | 6 seen

We spent a whole day in charming Seville (Spain) back in June 2016. Although many tourism objects and sites were visited today, just one did find a separate article on blog, see Plaza De Espana.

Today I decided to experiment with mood photography and as I photographed a lot tourists in the streets of Seville, a nice addition to Postcards from series, I thought. Postcards from Spain have been featured already a few times on Piece of Life project, see Postcards from Cadiz, Sunflower fields in Andalusia, Spain, Postcards from Spain

Tourists buying postcards in Seville

I didn't bought one.

Spices in the streets of Seville

Spaniards love to sell spices, tea and other goodies, few days ago we visited a fair in Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria, the street scene was pretty much the same there. 

Streets of Seville

What's the best travel advice I can give to the tourist going to Seville? Get lost in the charming streets of Seville and enjoy!

Postcards from Seville

Simple and elegant

A huge rhododendron tree in Seville

Love…

Literatu street in Vilnius

26 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 53 seen

The chances are you will love this narrow street in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania if you are an avid reader, writer or just a true hipster (OK, just joking). 

"Literatu street project" - formally name of the project. The wall with mounted artworks - dedications to the literature workers in the Vilnius old town.  Literatų str. is situated very close to the main street of the Vilnius Old Town Pilies str. and is one of the visited tourist places in Vilnius.

Literatu gatve in Vilnius

Artworks mounted on the walls of the Literatu street (Literatų gatvė) are dedicated to the literature workers: writers, translators, everyone who has link with Lithuania and is important for Lithuanian or world literature. 
Various outdoor-proof techniques: ceramics, sculpture, glass, wall painting. Project started at 2008 is pure private social initiative: authors donated their works for free.

Literatu gatve

Iosebis Duqani (Joseph's Tavern) near Sasadilo

25 November, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 69 seen

Iosebis Duqani is just another cool roadside cafeteria, located near village of Sasadilo, in Mtskheta-Tianeti region, Georgia. 

Often readers of my blog are familiar on my passion on roadside cafeterias, in most cases they are just excellent. It' s not that I have visited this place for the first time (as I did it actually already in 2011), it is just the first time I'm featuring it on blog.

The most fun fact about this place, is not this place at all, but the fact - I had to spend more than 2 hours to locate coordinates of it - let me explain, this website is built as a geospatial web. Which means most of of the restaurants, hotels and of course tourism objects are grouped on map, which gives me a lot of room to develop things like nearby places and so on.

The bad thing, while trying to locate this place on map, I discovered Panoramio photography service is shutting down. It's not about I have been using their service, but yes, it was a good photo site.

Anyway back to the topic (after all I found correct latitude and longitude values)

Iosebis dukani near village of Sasadilo

Our route took us…

Plaza de España: A Historical Marvel in Seville, Spain

24 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 22 seen

Plaza de España undoubtedly ranks among the top 10 must-visit tourist attractions in Seville, Spain.

Here's a delightful anecdote from my visit: I stumbled upon the name of this iconic place only after completing my photography session. By sheer chance, I decided to ask a passerby about the name of this fabulous location. To my surprise, the gentleman burst into laughter, revealing that he was, in fact, a guide for this very place. With a smile, he informed me that the place is called Plaza de España, sparking a short but engaging 5-minute conversation between us.

Embracing the true spirit of travel, I confess – who needs to conduct thorough research beforehand? Just kidding, but, truth be told, such serendipitous moments happen to me quite often, especially when exploring routes packed with numerous tourist attractions. This particular day marked our fourth in Spain, and we had already visited around 30 captivating tourist spots in the Andalusia region. Keeping track of them all can be quite a challenge!

Equipped with my trusty travel companion, a tripod, I decided to capture the grandeur of Plaza de España through panoramic photography. Given the…

Travelling From Telaviv, Israel to Yerevan, Armenia

23 November, 2016 | Travel guides | 15 seen

An Israeli traveler recently contacted me and asked could I give an advice on traveling to Yerevan (Armenia) from Telaviv (Israel).

As this is a pretty broad topic to answer in one single reply I decided to wrap up longer answer in this blog post. Hopefully other Israeli / Armenian travelers will find some helpful thought in this article as well.

Now, I must inform that I have never traveled directly route Telaviv - Yerevan, Thus I have done route Istanbul - Telaviv (once), Istanbul - Tbilisi (dozen of times) and Tbilisi - Yerevan (dozen of times). The further written is just my assumption on how I would most probably did a Telaviv - Yerevan trip. 

Message from an Israeli traveller

travelling from TLV Israel to Yerevan.
Was told best way is to fly to Georgia and drive to Yerevan. Can you advise ?

How is the driving conditions ?

My first guest would be for a direct flight - doing a quick Google search, I didn't find any direct flights from Telaviv to Istanbul, instead there are plenty of connected flights with connections in Tbilisi, Athens, Krasnodar, Kiev and so on. Flights are…

Postcards from Vilnius

22 November, 2016 | | 20 seen

Piece of Life has already featured postcards from two other Baltic state's capital cities, see Postcards from Tallinn and Postcards from Riga.

In today's postcards from series - cards from Vilnius, Lithuanian capital city.

For the third year in a row I have been celebrating my birthday in some of the former Soviet Union's country capital city, it all started with Yerevan (Armenia), followed by Tallinn (Estonia) and this year I was in Vilnius (OK, this was a longer trip, spending some time in rural Lithuania as well). It was my birthday morning, we left a country house somewhere near Kaunas, see: Country House 'Guronys' Near Pasuliai in Lithuania and dive in Vilnius,

Busy tourist street in Vilnius

Churches of Vilnius

Lithuania, unlike Latvia and Estonia is highly Catholic country. A lot of cathedrals, not only in Vilnius but all over across the country.

Cathedral square and bell tower in Vilnius

The Cathedral Square in Vilnius )is the main square of the Vilnius Old Town, right in front of the neo-classical Vilnius Cathedral. It is a key location in city's…

Sioni Water Reservoir (Georgia)

20 November, 2016 | Lakes | 70 seen

I had never been to this area of Georgia before, the lucky day come and I negotiated with our driver to visit town of Tianeti. It was from Tianeti driver suggested us to visit Sioni lake, or more precisely Sioni water reservoir. In short - another spectacular place to see and visit while in Georgia.

I didn't find much background of this place, thus I'm guessing this is an artificial water lake, built during soviet era, probably in 1950-ties.The dam is built on Iori river .

Anyhow I was here for new impression and for some photography.

.

Sioni water reservoir in Georgia
Sioni reservoir gets its feed basically from river Iori. Iori is a river rich with fish. It is a habitat of nearly all kinds of species of fish distributed in Eastern Georgia. There is a lot of fish in Sioni reservoir as well including sazan, common carp, silver carp. Unfortunately, due to uncontrolled fishing of poachers with banned means the number of fishing fauna decreased considerably both in the river and the
reservoir. There are several fishing farms near the reservoir.

Iori river valley next to Sioni water reservoir

Driver…

Opening Bank Account in Georgia - Bank of Georgia

19 November, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 49 seen

This is already the third time I have opened a bank account in Georgia as an individual. This time at the Bank of Georgia.

Let me explain -  I'm already using two local banks - Procredit bank and Bank Republic.

If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia

Unfortunately, my default bank for check operations, Bank Republic, has been sold to another large Georgian bank - TBC bank. I opened an account at Bank Republic about two years ago with one single aim - to redeem checks sent from the US. This September I read the news and learned that Bank Republic is merging with TBC bank, and my first thought was - OMG - no more check redemption in Georgia. It was true. When visited the central branch of Bank Republic in mid-November, 2016 - they didn't accept my check in US dollars (I was told they are still working with EUR currency although).

Statement on Bank Republic website:

Let us assure you, that the comfort of being with us that you are enjoying now, will be fully maintained: we will be working hard…

Hotel Review - Leflet Valme in Dos Hermanas, Spain

18 November, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 14 seen

Leflet Valme is a 3-star hotel located in a small town of Dos Hermanas in province of Sevile, Spain.

We booked this hotel for one night prior of visiting Seville next morning. Our road took us here from Cadiz, and in fact we almost missed exit to Dos Hermanas town, luckily rental car's tomtom device helped us to locate both town and hotel.

In short a decent hotel for a decent money.

Leflet Valme hotel in Dos Hermanas, Spain

The hotel is easily accessible from A-4 motorway and SE-30 road. Seville is 12 km from the property and can be reached by public transport. There is a bus stop 1 minute on foot from the property. 

Leflet Valme hotel

Free continental breakfast with coffee and tea, natural orange juice, toast, and cake. Lovely!

All rooms have air conditioning, heating, and flat-screen TV. There is also a telephone and a safety deposit box. The private bathroom comes with a bathtub, free toiletries, and hairdryer, as well as rooms specially adapted for people with disabilities. Leflet Valme Hotel includes a bar with a satellite TV, where you can watch all the football games of the season.…

Vilnius TV Tower and Observation Platform

17 November, 2016 | Tourism objects | 27 seen

The Vilnius TV Tower  is a 326.5 m (1,071 ft) tower in the Karoliniškės microdistrict of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is the tallest structure in Lithuania, and is occupied by the SC Lithuanian Radio and Television Centre.

It was my birthday morning when by chance we made a visit to Vilnius TV tower. We simply get lost in Vilnius, as we tried to find city center (remember no tomtoms or what-so-ever devices here). Somehow we discovered that it's just here, well not the city center, but the tallest structure in Lithuania.

Vilnius TV tower

The TV tower played a major role in the events of 13 January 1991, when 14 unarmed civilians lost their lives and 700 were injured opposing the Soviet military seizure of the tower. A small museum dedicated to the January 1991 battle is housed on the ground floor, and various markers in the surrounding area indicate places where Lithuanian citizens died while trying to maintain the blockade against Soviet troops.

Observation platform and cafe at Vilnius TV tower

The observation deck 165 m (541 ft) from the…