Argo Entertainment Center and Cable Car (Viewing Platform in Batumi)

21 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 23 seen

By saying Argo Entertainment Center and Cable car I wanted actually to say - Batumi viewing platform. As this place is located at the other end of Batumi Aerial tram ropeway, and from here a spectacular view towards Batumi bay can be seen. 

Cable car station at Anuria mountain in Batumi

There is a small lovely church located next to the station building.Inside the building there are small cafeteria.

I have headed here especially for taking lovely sunset photography, the ride price in cable car 10 GEL (as of 2016). Speaking of actual entertainment here, I can't name anything than just a small cafeterias and few paid binoculars, but here is what gobatumi.com has to say about it:

Entertaining center Argo is located on Anuria Mountain, 250 meters high from the sea level. The complex offers spectacular views of Batumi, the Black Sea and the surrounding mountains. The center comprises restaurants, cafes, retail shops, open air halls, podium and roof terraces as well. The building is designed using Argo symbols, the ship by which mythical Jason and Argonauts sailed to Kolchida. Entertaining center also…

Cafe - Bar Qaravan in Batumi

20 April, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 19 seen

If there is a reason to visit Qaravan restaurant in Batumi, Kiev's Cutlet, Olivie salads are just a few of my reasons.

First discovered by accident back at the start of 2011, this place has been on my radar ever since.Located next to the Batumi Circus building on Nikoloz Baratashvili street 23.

Kiev's Cutlet at Qaravan in Batumi

Gosh, the best Kiev's Cutlets here

Olivie salads

The interior here at Qaravan bar-cafe is a bit old and neglected, the music box in the corner playing top songs from Soviet era will throw you in a few decades back in the history, thus the food is just amazing and prices are really affordable.

Ali and Nino- The Statue of Love in Batumi

19 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 27 seen

Batumi will never end to surprise you, and so does the Miracle park close to Batumi Bay. Exactly here is located a really cool statue of Love, meet Ali and Nino.

I spent a lovely morning at Batumi Miracle park and photographed here a lot, when was turn to photograph Ali and Nino, I had already switched my kit lens to more powerful telephoto lens - got a really cool close ups at the end.

Ali and Nino Statue of Love

Created by Georgian artist Tamar Kvesitadze (Georgian: თამარ კვესიტაძე), the figures move toward each other and merge into one piece every 10 minutes. (Source: ABOUT ART – “STATUE OF LOVE” IN BATUMI) 

It was fun to learn that idea behind the statue was taken from Kurban Said novel with the same naming - Ali and Nino a novel about a romance between a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and Christian Georgian girl in Baku in the years 1918-1920.

Ali and Nino

Q1 2016 Blog Traffic and Online Income - 136,784 Users / $2,467.48

18 April, 2016 | Blogging | 14 seen

For the past two years I was doing online income reports each month, at start I even had separate versions for traffic and income reports, as time went, and in last September I decided to combine them in one post, latter at the end of the year I got a feeling that monthly reports are probably a bit overdose -  today I'm representing first quarterly report covering early months of 2016 - January, February and March.

In a long run - I believe quarterly reviews can give a better understanding of what actually happens, also it gives more time to observe effects of new implementations.

For a complete list of tools and resources I use to power my blog, check out resources page.

Right, if you had red until this place, you already know my results for website traffic and pure online income from it at Q1 of 2016. If you would love to learn more what' s behind scenes and see some comparison with past quarters, please continue reading. 

Blog traffic for the past six month had been very stable - about 45,000 monthly users. First quarter of 2016 if compared…

Kalina Ukrainian Restaurant in Tbilisi

17 April, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 28 seen

Kalina is a Ukrainian cuisine restaurant in Tbilisi (located on 18 Shalva Dadiani street). Last time I was here (2016), you could try varenyiki, dumplings and other Ukrainian goodies..

The place has a pretty decent retro style interior, seems this interior style is trendy for Tbilisi. The same interior you can find at Gardenia, Barberstan... this retro interior style is trendy all over the world, chandelier lamp shades, jars on shelves and so on.

Interior at Kalinka

Overall the interior is pretty fine (just boring, as have been seen a dozen of times already) let's speak about food - Since this place serves Ukrainian cuisine I opted for Herring in coat, dumplings in a pot with sour cream and vareniki. 

Look at Herring in coat:

Herring in coat at Kalinka restaurant

Vareniki

Dumplings in the pot

Chacha Tower in Batumi

16 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 21 seen

Chacha tower is really interesting tourist attraction site in Georgia's Black Sea resort town of Batumi. Originally built in 2012, it was meant to feature Georgian national spirit chacha fountain instead of water. 

It has been noted that noted that chacha will flow once a week for 15 minutes. Frankly speaking I have never seen chacha flowing here yet.

Chacha Tower in Batumi

The tower is surrounded by 4 fountain pools, near which the dispensers with sensor taps are installed.

Chacha dispensers 

Construction of 25-meter Chacha Tower costed around 800,000 Georgian Lari (around 500,000 USD) to Batumi City Hall, which financed the project. Tower was constructed in traditional style

Chacha tower in Batumi

Chacha is a strong Georgian spirit, sometimes described as grape brandy or grappa.

Alphabetic tower in Batumi

15 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 23 seen

Alphabetic tower is one of the many skyscrapers of Batumi. The tower symbolizes the uniqueness of Georgian alphabet and people.

Located in the Miracle park, Alphabetic tower of Batumi can be considered as one of the main tourist attraction sites in the city. 

Alphabetic Tower is a total of 130 meter tall. The structure combines the design of DNA, in its familiar double helix pattern. Two helix bands rise up the tower holding 33 letters of the Georgian alphabet, each 4 meters tall and made of aluminum.

In the middle of the building is an exposed elevator shaft leading to very the top of the building, in the crown of the structure, where a colossal silver ball is located.

Alphabetic tower in Batumi

Alphabetic Tower was built by Spanish company CMD Ingenieros. Construction began on 10 October 2010 with the exterior of the structure completed in December 2011. The building cost $65 million to build.

Batumi Miracle Park

14 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 48 seen

Miracle park located on the shores of Georgian Black sea resort town Batumi, features Alphabet tower, Statue of Lowers, Lighthouse, Ferris wheel and Chacha tower. It is directly connected to Batumi boulevard and Batumi city bay. 

Visitors of Batumi city will enjoy unique and really interesting architecture, featuring some of the tallest buildings in country.

View towards Batumi skyscrapers

When I first visited Batumi back in 2011, there was just one unfinished skyscraper (Radisson building at left). When I moved to live in Batumi for about six months in 2012, a new university were built (now it's turned into some city administration building, Alphabet tower was built and Chacha tower bas established here). That huge building (with crane on top if) was meant to be a Trumps Tower (he even visited Batumi in 2012 and together with former president Mikheil Saakashvili laid the foundation for this building)

Bicycle rental at Batumi Miracle park

I was not able to rent a bicycle here using that ATM box at the left (March 2016)

Ferris wheel and Batumi lighthouse

Alphabet tower and…

Batumi Bay and Port

13 April, 2016 | Tourism objects | 21 seen

Once in Batumi, take a lazy walk at Batumi bay area, watch ships on anchor and enjoy a cup of tasty Turkish coffee at some of the bay cafeterias. 

From Batumi bay you could take an aerial tram and get some really spectacular views towards Batumi.

Boulevard at Batumi bay

Ship on anchor at Batumi

You can climb down from the boulevard and enjoy pebbled shore. 

Cargo ships at Batumi port

And really spectacular views towards Adjarian mountains,

Tashir Pizza at EastPoint Mall (Tbilisi)

12 April, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 17 seen

From local Armenian ex-pat community in Tbilisi we heard that famous Armenian 'Tashir Pizza' has entered market of Georgia. Back at this stage I never had even heard about Tashir Pizza before. 

It was on routine shopping day at East Point shopping mall in suburbs of Tbilisi, when we noticed a Tashir Pizza, since we had heard good words about it we decided to give it a try. And let me share my joy, how surprised I was  - this place is just wonderful - delicious pizzas for real budget prices. I really like their approach serving thin Italian style or thick American style base pizzas. Thus I prefer to cook pizza at home (I do it regularly) - Tashir Pizza - you just made one more loyal customer. 

Tashir Pizza at East Point mall

Remember this logo/brand as Tashir Pizza has great plans expanding huge across Georgia. According to the company, they intend to open 30 pizzerias in Georgia, 15 in Tbilisi and the other 15 in different cities of Georgia. It is worth mentioning that 23 Tashir Pizza pizzerias work in Armenia. Tashir Pizza largest network is in Russia, where over 270 pizzerias work…

Georgia / Armenia Border Crossing at Sadakhlo / Bagratashen

11 April, 2016 | Travel guides | 193 seen

One of the shortest routes for crossing Georgian / Armenian border, if traveling from Tbilisi to Yerevan, is Sadakhlo / Bagratashen border point. 

I have traveled this route several times, mostly for my travels to Yerevan  I have used private taxi cars or minivans leaving from Avlabari or Ortachala (in Tbilisi) and back from Kilikia bus station in Yerevan. Learn more about cheap travel between Georgia and Armenia by mini vans: Tbilisi - Yerevan transfers by taxi car

There are no Visa requirements for EU, US, Canada and most other Western country passport holders for crossing Georgia/Armenia border. Check before your departure.

Border crossing at Sadakhlo (Georgian side)

For passengers traveling in private vehicles there is no need to left car - passport checkup will be made at window. If you are traveling with bus or minivan you will be asked to take your belongings (at Georgian side) and cross border by foot (there is a terminal building at Georgian side, so you wont need to freeze in harsh weather conditions). You might be asked to put your backpack at scanner (again Georgian…

Kilikia Bus Station in Yerevan, Armenia

10 April, 2016 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 139 seen

I have used Kilikia bus station to travel from Yerevan to Tbilisi using minivan (marshrutka), but seems you can get from Kilikia to Istanbul (Turkey), Tehran (Iran) or Moscow (Russia), take in note those will be very long trips (starting 40 hours) and I would rather prefer to fly instead of traveling such long distances by bus.

I reserved a seat a day before by calling to firm in Yerevan - Tbilisi minivan (Read more:Tbilisi - Yerevan transfers by taxi car ). Cost for Yerevan - Tbilisi minivan (7 seats in comfortable Mercedes Benz minivan) is 8,000 AMD (USD 17) (As of March, 2016). Minivan was leaving at 10:30. I don't know for sure precise departing times, but they for sure have many daily routes to Tbilisi, like at 9:00,11:00,13:00,15:00 and 17:00. It took about 5 and half hours to reach Tbilisi (Avlabari metro), with a longer (about 20 minute stop) at some gas station near Georgian border, and about 15 minutes at Sadakhlo Georgian/Armenian border for passport checkup. 

Of course local (domestic) Armenian routes are served from here as well. They should be really cheap also.

Kilikia bus station is…

Narikala Fortress

9 April, 2016 | Military Heritage | 32 seen

Ask anybody in Georgia - what are the must have tourist sites to visit while in Tbilisi. Narikala fortress will be a top of the list.

And there is a good reason -  an ancient fortress, featuring rich history, overlooking Tbilisi, with some really spectacular views towards Tbilisi Old Town. 

Spectacular view to the Narikala Fortress

Above photo is shot from another monastery, located just opposite to Narikala fortress: See: Tabor monastery

Inside fortress complex there is located St. Nicholas Church

St. Nicholas Church inside Narikala fortress

There are many (at least three) options to get to Narikala - by Tbilisi Aerial tram, from Tbilisi Botanical garden or climbing up from Bath District (Abanotubani)

Tourist route to Narikala fortress from Abanotubani

You can get here by taxi as well.

View towards Tbilisi

Some really great views can be seen from here. Narikala is great for photography.

Ancient fortress walls

If you have been to Yerevean, Armenia - you might find some similarities with Erebuni…

Karas fast food on Mashtots Avenue, Yerevan

8 April, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 32 seen

We paid a visit to Karas fast food restaurant on Mashtots avenue in Yerevan, just shortly we checked in at nearby Park hotel on Koghbaci street.

We got to this place by simply asking on street to a passer by where are some cool places around to get some cool food experience. The lady told - Karas, it's just around corner. So we ended up in Karas.

Menu at Karas restaurant in Yerevan

This was the most interesting menu I have seen, featuring neat marketing element. Menu was illustrated with happy people eating at Karas with texts like this - Omelet with ham and tomato juice - its the best start of my day. Buy Tomato juice - AMD 300. 

Simple interior 

The restaurant is actually located at the second floor, at first floor take away food can be ordered. The Best - Karas on Mashtots avenue works 24/7

Armenian beer - Gyumri

Very good Armenian brewed light beer

Shaurma combo

A combo, with some interesting local sauce and Coke for AMD 1200. Frankly speaking - nothing special - want real shaurma - best are located in…

Cranberries in Powdered Sugar

6 April, 2016 | Food blogger | 94 seen

Cranberries in powdered sugar are one of my favorite sweets from my childhood (sorry, Georgian churchela).

I remember in my childhood there were little nice cardboard boxes available for sale at local stores around my native Riga. It was always like a little celebration when my mom or grandma bought me some of those cardboard boxes with cranberries in powdered sugar and let me eat them 

For a very long time I didn't find them around, but at the start of 2000's they started to appear again on shop shelves. Anyhow - many more years later I got this treat again, in my kitchen - homemade cranberries in powdered sugar. I haven't touched the following recipe (just eaten a lot of cranberries in powdered sugar), thus photographed.

Frosted cranberries just from the fridge

We bought a large 2kg sack of them at the local East Point Shopping mall in Tbilisi (imported from France)

Cranberries in Powdered sugar

Add 1/4 cup powdered sugar into 1 cup water for a simple syrup. Soak cranberries in the sugar/water mixture until coated. Sprinkle white granulated or powdered sugar across a cookie sheet. Sprinkle…