Postcards from Yerevan (Spring)

14 September, 2016 | | 3 seen

Back at the March 2016, we made a short, but very remarkable trip to Armenia and of course its capital Yerevan. In today's Piece of Life series - a day from Spring in the city of Yerevan.

Republic Square in Yerevan

Read more detailed article about the Republic Square of Yerevan.

View towards mount Ararat

Architecture in Yerevan city center

Sculpture in Yerevan's park

Advertisement in Yerevan

Panoramic view of Yerevan

In the background - Yerevan's brandy factory - Ararat, more on that in some of the future articles

Cathedral of Cadiz

13 September, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 68 seen

Cádiz Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cádiz, southern Spain, and the seat of the Diocese of Cadiz y Ceuta. It was built between 1722 and 1838. The cathedral was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1931. 

When visiting Cathedral of Cadiz, don't forget to climb up the bell tower and get some spectacular pictures from above, see: The Bell Tower of Cadiz Cathedral

Cathedral of Cadiz

The Plaza de la Catedral houses both the Cathedral and the Baroque Santiago church, built in 1635.

The church was known as "The Cathedral of The Americas" because it was built with money from the trade between Spain and America. The 18th century was a golden age for Cádiz, and the other cathedral that the city had got, Santa Cruz, was very small for this new moment of Cádiz. The new cathedral was built from 1722 to 1838.

Cathedral of Cadiz

The first person who designed the church was architect Vicente Acero, who had also built the Granada Cathedral. Acero left the project and was succeeded by several other architects. As a result, this largely baroque-style cathedral was built over a period of 116 years, and, due to this drawn-out period of construction, the cathedral underwent several major changes to its original design. Though the cathedral was originally intended to be a baroque edifice, it contains rococo elements, and was finally completed in the neoclassical style. Its chapels have many paintings and relics from the old cathedral and monasteries from throughout Spain.

Choir

In the crypt are buried the composer Manuel de Falla and the poet and playwright José María Pemán, both born in Cádiz.

Dome at Cadiz cathedral

Levante Tower, one of the towers of Cádiz Cathedral, is open to the public and shows panoramas of the city from on high. See: The Bell Tower of Cadiz Cathedral

Georgia - The Most Beautiful Country In The World

12 September, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 59 seen

The other day I was reading an article in which the head of the World Tourism Organization Claimed - Georgia is the most beautiful country in the world.

Well, I can ONLY agree with the words from the head of WTO, Mr. Taleb Rifai, and to add my 50 cents  I have listed 32 places you should visit to make the most from your trip to Georgia. 

Georgian nature, culture and people make this country the most beautiful in the world,

said UN Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, the World Tourism Organization. Source: Глава Всемирной туристской организации: Грузия – самая красивая страна в мире

For more cool tourism sights, restaurants, or travel options in Georgia - check out the Living in Georgia section or use see my complete travel map in Georgia

The Bell Tower of Cadiz Cathedral

11 September, 2016 | Tourism objects | 117 seen

I don't know how many popular tourism objects in Spain's Cadiz there are, but the Cathedral of Cadiz and it's bell tower should be among them for sure.

We visited Cadiz for couple of hours in June 2016, arrived here from El Puerto de Santa Maria by the ferry in the morning and left afternoon. There is a small entrance fee - EUR 5, which gives access both to the Bell tower and access to the church, audio guides are available as well. There is no lift to get up to the bell tower. The total height of bell tower is about 40 meters.

Cathedral of Cadiz

Tried to apply the panoramic photography above. Not the best result, but somehow framed (fit) whole building in one frame.

Cádiz Cathedral  is a Roman Catholic church in Cádiz, southern Spain, and the seat of the Diocese of Cadiz y Ceuta. It was built between 1722 and 1838. The cathedral was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1931.

Climbing up the ramp

I was the only one visiting bell tower at this time (thus I met some German couple climbing down from the tower). The total height of bell tower is about 40 meters (131ft)

Levante Tower, one of the towers of Cádiz Cathedral, is open to the public and shows panoramas of the city from on high.

View from the Cadiz Cathedral tower

View towards bay of Cadiz

The Bell

The Bottom Line:

Probably the best sights of Cadiz just for EUR 5.

Postcards from Cadiz

10 September, 2016 | | 13 seen

My latest trip to Spain took us to the sunny and astonishing city of Cadiz. In today's Piece of Life series - a fraction, os simply Postcards from Cadiz.

Square in Cadiz

Cádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of Cádiz, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.

White arch in Cadiz

Cádiz, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in western Europe,has been a principal home port of the Spanish Navy since the accession of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century. The city is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.

Cadiz, Spain

Situated on a narrow slice of land surrounded by the sea‚ Cádiz is, in most respects, a typically Andalusian city with a wealth of attractive vistas and well-preserved historical landmarks. The older part of Cádiz within the remnants of the city walls is commonly referred to as the Old Town (Spanish: Casco Antiguo). It is characterized by the antiquity of its various quarters (barrios), among them El Pópulo, La Viña, and Santa María, which present a marked contrast to the newer areas of town. While the Old City's street plan consists of narrow winding alleys connecting large plazas, newer areas of Cádiz typically have wide avenues and more modern buildings. In addition, the city is dotted with numerous parks where exotic plants flourish, including giant trees "supposedly" brought to Spain by Columbus from the New World.

Bay of Cadiz

Among the many landmarks of historical and scenic interest in Cádiz, a few stand out. The city can boast of an unusual cathedral of various architectural styles, a theater, an old municipal building, an 18th-century watchtower, a vestige of the ancient city wall, an ancient Roman theater, and electrical pylons of an eye-catchingly modern design carrying cables across the Bay of Cádiz. The old town is characterized by narrow streets connecting squares (plazas), bordered by the sea and by the city walls. Most of the landmark buildings are situated in the plazas.

Cathedral in Cadiz

Postcards from Cadiz

Port of Cadiz Bay

9 September, 2016 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 2 seen

We used Port of Cadiz Bay (Puerto de Cadiz) twice - first for entering from El Puerto de Santa Maria, second for leaving back to, yes you re right, back to the El Puerto Santa Maria again.

At Reina Victoria pier in Cadiz-City Basin, there is a metropolitan maritime station from Cádiz, that attends to the passengers between Cádiz, El Puerto de Santa María and Rota, with modern catamarans. It has it access from Sevilla square and it is five minutes walking from the center of the city.

Inside terminal building

Passengers leaving Port of Cadiz Bay terminal

Puerto de Cadiz

See more: http://www.puertocadiz.com/opencms/PuertoCadiz/en/

Average Monthly Salary in Former Soviet Union Republics 2016

8 September, 2016 | Macroeconomics | 165 seen

About two years ago I first compared average monthly salary in Former Soviet Union Republics. Now, two years later, I decided to compare again. I was surprised after seeing results. Let me explain.

First - call it as you wish - major world economic crisis, sanctions against Russia, better integrated or worst integrated parts of the World, but after seeing huge drops in all but Baltic States and Armenia's average salary for me it seems, those countries are still very closely related with Russia, at least in economical plan, and I'm not saying it is good nor it's bad. It's just how it looks for me. 

If exchanged to US dollar Russia's monthly average salary in Russian roubles  in past two years have dropped by whooping -359 USD. If you are interested in former Soviet Union space, you have probably heard about events in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Russian rouble troubles against American dollar. Those of you who follows my blog, had probably read about my worries about weak Georgian Lari against American dollar. 

Not only national currencies have lost their value against USD. Euro have lost some value as well. So for example, two years ago, when I firstly compared average monthly salary rates in former Soviet Union space 1 USD to EUR = 0.7718.

Now, two years later 1 USD to EUR = 0.8893

About Former Soviet Union republics - The post-Soviet states, also collectively known as the former Soviet Union (FSU) or former Soviet Republics, are the 15 independent states that emerged from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its dissolution in December 1991, with Russia internationally recognized as the successor state to the Soviet Union.

Before getting down to the table, I must admit that gathering data for these 15 former Soviet States was pretty hard, with Central Asian countries been the hardest, some data are estimates (marked with *). All, but three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) maintains their national currencies. I have simplified data by using USD or EUR exchange rates for countries with national currencies. Baltic States have adopted EUR currency.

Data source: List of European countries by average wage

• Kyrgyzstan - Average monthly salary makes around $170 in Kyrgyzstan,
• I didn't''t find any average salary source for Turkmenistan, and made my adjustment to USD 250.
• For Tajikistan I took the average salary USD 100 from Tajikistan: Poverty Fears Rise as Economy Slides.
• No data for Uzbekistan as well, the best I could get: Поиск работы в Узбекистане. Принесите справку, что вы не верблюд​

As of 2016, the better situated where the Baltic states, with Estonia making a huge leap with EUR 957 net monthly salary, followed by Latvia (EUR 664) and Lithuania (EUR 601) Russia from the 2nd place in 2014 have dropped 4th with EUR 438 monthly net salary,

Armenia and Georgia follows. As an expatriate in Georgia it's nice for me to see Georgia climbing from the 8th place in 2014 to rank 6th. Cool. Still Georgia have lost USD -73 or EUR 15 in monthly average since 2015.

Central Asian countries (with exception Kazakhstan) receives the least. Yes, salary have dropped in Ukraine as well, if exchanged to USD/EUR.

Read next about average monthly salary in European Union 2016

Castle of San Marcos (El Puerto de Santa María)

7 September, 2016 | Tourism objects | 20 seen

While waiting for our ferry departing for Cadiz, we had a chance to visit a local fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria). I made some interesting photography here. One of the first tourism objects I noticed in El Puerto was Castle of San Marcos.

Castle of San Marcos (also Castillo de Alfonso X El Sabio) is a medieval castle located in El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain. The castle was erected as a fortified church by King Alfonso X of Castile. It was built on the site of a mosque of which the wall of the qibla survives.

Front view of Castle of San Marco

The castle was declared a national monument on 30 August 1920 and is currently listed in the Spanish heritage register as a Bien de Interés Cultural.

Statue of Alfonso X of Castile

Alfonso X (also occasionally Alphonso X, Alphonse X, or Alfons X,23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284), called the Wise(Spanish: el Sabio), was the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death. During the Imperial election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be King of the Romans (Latin: Rex Romanorum; German: Römisch-deutscher König) on 1 April. He renounced his imperial claim in 1275, and in creating an alliance with England in 1254, his claim on Gascony as well.

How I Made $1,000 with Google AdSense in 7 years

6 September, 2016 | Blogging | 6 seen

Yes, I know the title doesn't sounds too much promising. Do a quick Google search and there will be zillion of results pointing out how to make $1,000 a day, or at least in a month. No to speak about - how to make a million dollar from Google AdSense. I'm here to tell you my story how I made humble thousand dollars in seven years. Dude, I feel sorry for me.

Round a year ago I covered an article about Google AdSense achievements, it turned out I was using Google AdSense for already 6 years. Now it's already seven years, that's about 1/4 of my life or about one half of my adult life. 

Now to put a little bit of light of this sad entry I must tell that about 2/3 of this money I have made in last 365 days.

Here is how it all started: It was a late night of September 4th, 2009, when I finally decided to give it a try for Google AdSense. Back then I had dozens of different "projects", mostly powered on WordPress, I was exploring different niches and put a lot of time on too much directions. I decided to try to monetize my efforts - and of course I was thinking, yet yet - I will make those million dollars overnight. I didn't. Actually my most valuable asset back at those days generated me just about 6,000 monthly users (monthly, not daily). I made about four dollars in the first month, and maybe $10 in fourth month.

Soon I stopped my huge efforts on building the next big thing, and AdSense dollars stopped rolling in at all. From 2011 until the end of the 2013 I was not using Google AdSense actively (from reports I can see, I have made a dollar, or two, maybe four dollars per month in some of the months during that period).

In October, 2013 (that's about 3 years ago), I decided to stop spreading my efforts on many smaller projects and launched simple, personal blog, the one you are currently reading, where I have implemented and realized most of my previous ideas from previous projects. For example, All About Georgia -  a section dedicated to my travels and food experience in Georgia. This map can serve as a virtual guide for planing your travels to Georgia. The travel destinations on the map are grouped by tourism objects, restaurant & hotel reviews. Or Food Blogger (I had a separate blog for recipes), and so on.

Most of the money I have made with Google AdSense I have made with this blog in a period 2014 - 2016. With the last year being the top performing (about $690). My blog currently receives about 50,000 monthly users, which is more than 8 times I had with my previous best asset. For the past 6 month I make roughly two dollars a day. 

In fact Google AdSense makes less than 5% of my total blog income - affiliate marketing brings in way more. With help of the income from the blog - I have been able to heavily invest in a country house remodeling, things like changing a roof, digging a pond or drilling a bore hole are covered from the income from blog. Thus AdSense makes just about 5%, I can say that Google AdSense have covered a pond digging this year. Pretty cool right. From acorn to oak. 

I have no clue where the next year will take me, but it would be awesome to double earnings from Google AdSense, and at the end of the 8th year to report - $2,000.

Ferry from El Puerto de Santa Maria to Cadiz

4 September, 2016 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 217 seen

The other day we arrived to El Puerto de Santa Maria just for one reason, we had red in some travel guide, that if approaching from Jerez to Cadiz, a nice option to have is to take a ferry leaving El Puerto and connecting with Cadiz.

It took us some time to actually figure out where the terminal building is located and to find a free parking space for our rental car. Once we found both, we had some free time before ferry departing and luckily we got a chance to see a local fair, see Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria.

Yachts (boats) at Bay of Cadiz

Terminal Maritima El Puerto de Santa Maria

For a timetable please visit: B-042 - Cádiz-El Puerto de Santa María

​

A bull

While you are waiting for departure you can make a lovely photo session next to the bull (located at Terminal parking)

Ticket price

If I remember right, ticket price is EUR 2.65 round-trip (as of 11.06.2016)

Passengers entering ferry/catamaran

The sailing takes actually pretty long (about 45 minutes) during which you can get spectacular views of the Bay of Cadiz, City of Cadiz and of course El Puerto de Santa Maria.

Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria

3 September, 2016 | | 11 seen

Right, its time to continue our latest adventures from our latest Spain trip (visiting region of Andalusia). In today's Piece of Life series a trade fair in small town of El Puerto de Santa Maria.

We left Jerez early in the morning and followed by the advices on the internet decided to get to the Cadiz today, and one of the options was by making a stop at El Puerto de Santa Maria, from which a ferry departs to the city of Cadiz.

We arrived around 10:00 AM at El Puerto de Santa Maria, searched a while for a free parking lot and got one a bit out of the city center next to the matador and bull statue. 

Matador and bull statue

There is some arena actually behind this statue, but forgive me - I forgot the name, as we didn't planned actually a trip here.

Iglesia Mayor Prioral

I made a nice panoramic photo out of this, which according to the Wikipedia is Priory Church - religious building in El Puerto de Santa María, province of Cádiz, Spain. It is documented from 1486 when the building was under construction. It was damaged by an earthquake in the 17th century and was partly rebuilt in the Baroque style. As a result of being constructed in two phases, the church contains both Gothic and Baroque architecture, exemplified in its portals.

Postcards from El Puerto de Santa Maria

Pretty cool capture, right?

Spaniard way of grilling sausages

Now, we are talking. In case you would  like to try to cook yourself - try cool restaurant located in nearby town of Jerez and see how I grilled supper for us the other night - Meson del Asador Restaurant review in Jerez de la Frontera

Arts and crafts

Fair in El Puerto de Santa Maria

El Puerto de Santa María (Spanish: "The Port of Saint Mary", locally known as just El Puerto) is a municipality located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. The town of El Puerto de Santa María is 10 kilometres (6 miles) north east of Cádiz across the bay of Cádiz and is best known for having been the port from which Columbus sailed on his second voyage to the Americas.

Musicians 

Something medieval here.

Vulnerary plants and herbs

OK, it's more vulnerary plants than herbs. Cool thing - turns out there is a plant good to use for psoriasis treatment. Amazing - something to put in the witches brewing pot.

Bread loves

Leather goods

I bought here a leather belt for EUR 10, which later turned out with an inscription "Made in Sweden", strange, but belt is cool.

Now, El Puerto de Santa Maria is really cool place, plan your trip here. 

Campsite 'Miera Osta' near Pāvilosta

2 September, 2016 | Tourism objects | 27 seen

I'm a huge admirer of Latvian seashore town of Pāvilosta. I guess I first discovered it just last year. This Summer we spent many trips to Pāvilosta and vicinity - just by doing nothing - wandering around. 

The other weekend we found a new road end and decided to give it a try - at the end we were met by the campsite Miera Osta located near white sand Baltic seashore, some 240km from nation's capital Riga.

Tree house

Kids will enjoy this, and you can actually rent this tree house for about EUR 50. I had a chance to met with the owners of Miera Osta, and I was told that because of campsite being located at the nature reserve, it is forbidden to dig a well (for example) or have an electricity. And yes, it's forbidden to build any fundamental structure, that's why - owners have built a tree house, as long as it doesn't touch the ground - it's fine. Really creative folks there.

Playground at Miera Osta

Bathhouse on the wheels

As I already told - really smart guys here. You can rent a bathhouse next to the sea for about EUR 30 (2 hours). I definitely want to try this one, so let me forgive my beloved Tbilisi sulfur bathes.

Campsite Miera Osta

Thus I didn't camped here, I will definitely return to try that lovely bathhouse near the sea or spend a night at tree house. Camping sites available starting 5EUR per person. Fabulous. Don't forget to charge your phones, tablets and laptops before camping here :) Learn more on Facebook. Miera Osta

Deep in the Forest

1 September, 2016 | | 6 seen

I'm not a huge fan of wild woods, instead, I prefer parks, thus this time I agreed to accompany a person in a thing called mushroom gathering, and believe it or not - I even got a nice catch of mushrooms. 

In today's Piece of Life series - a hunt for mushrooms in the deepest forests in Courland (Latvia)

Ferns in the woods

Observant viewer will find chanterelles under these ferns.

Red-Capped Scaber Stalks

Polypore

The Polyporales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota, subclass Agaricomycetidae. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticoid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the genus Lentinus). Species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters. Those of economic importance include several important pathogens of forest and amenity trees and a few species that cause damage by rotting structural timber. Some of the Polyporales are commercially cultivated and marketed for use as food items or in traditional Chinese medicine.

In the forest

Dumped tree stump

Bog forest

Gravel and Crushed Stone For Foundation

31 August, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 6 seen

This Summer I will need a lot of gravel and crushed stone for home remodeling tasks, mainly for foundation sealing works.

Some time ago (while digging a pond),  I negotiated a few cubic meters of gravel from neighbor, who was sealing surface of the road meanwhile, it turned out that neighbors' gravel was not ideal for foundation as it consisted from clay particles, and we decided re-use clay/gravel for rock garden instead. 

I had no chance but to look for other source for gravel and crushed stone. I found a gravel quarry and ordered a load of gravel and crushed stone. Today I got the delivery. Cool. 

Pile of gravel and crushed stone

In total it's about 3 cubic meters of gravel and about one cubic meter crushed stone. 

Crushed stone

Now, I have already started digging trenches around existing house foundation, and next is to buy a concrete mixer and a lot of sacks of concrete powder. Exciting!

Sponge Cake With Wild Berries

30 August, 2016 | Food blogger | 14 seen

Here comes another post on food blogger series, and again I must admit I'm not the original creator of following sponge cake, my better part is. 

Sponge cake with wild berries

Really cool cake, here is photos and cooking directions:

Biscuit dough:

4 eggs, 4 tbs. flour, 4 tbs. sugar

Cooking directions:

Separate egg white form the egg yolk. Whip egg white to hard foam. Separately whip yolks with 4 tablespoons of sugar. Fold into the egg yolks Whipped egg whites and flour. Bake for about 10-15 minutes in 180-200 degrees. When done baking cut into 3 equal parts.

Cream: Sweet cream with vanilla and sugar.

Between the layers of sponge smear cream.Daub with cream also the top of the cake and decorate with berries. In our case - wild raspberries + blueberries.

Sponge cake with wild berries

Voila - the taste of Summer and yummy.