Day Trip to Kakheti in Georgia

26 March, 2016 | Travel guides | 19 seen

Day trips to the region of Kakheti in Georgia are quite possible and I would actually recommend taking one if you have a chance. I have explored the region of Kakheti in different ways (mostly by marshrutka and car). I prefer a personal car with a driver. If you feel you are indie or rough traveler you might try marshrukta leaving from Tbilisi.

Today I'll show you one of my favorite Kakheti day trip routes which is accessible by car.

This route will take you from Tbilisi to Telavi, then to nearby Kvareli and in the evening back to Tbilisi. (You should plan this day trip as early as possible)

It might seem like an easy route, but it will take all your day (especially if you will take your time to take pictures at these sites). You will visit a few really interesting Georgian Orthodox Churches (Nekresi monastery complex is among my favorite), a wine tunnel (you can have a wine tasting here, for additional money), you will see a Giant Plane Tree (more than 900 years old and about 12 meters wide/ 46 meters high). I would suggest trying local Telavi khinkali at Zodiako bar, and if you will be lucky enough (the day won't…

Meet the New Roof (Pictures Before and After)

26 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 17 seen

Yesterday we told Goodbye's to our old roof by setting up a large bonfire. Today we are saying hi to the new roof. Although officially major roof works were done a few days before - today is the day when final images of new roofing appear.

We still have some unfinished roof related works to do, but the final roof construction is here. To make a better understanding what's going out - see before and after.

Moss covering the roof

Not only moss is covering roof, the construction is skew and what's major the right side of roofing is leaky. For a complete photo story of what we got, please see: home remodeling - how it all starts

Metal roof installed

Yes, we lost one chimney, see:replacing roof - part 3: removing the old roofing (losing chimney) . The new roof is not only almost linear, but gives a much attractive and lively overall view.

Back view of the house

New roofing

OK, I agree, with that uncut crosswind sheet it looks a bit ugly, but you got the idea. 

…

How to Make Traditional Italian Pizza

25 March, 2016 | Food blogger | 42 seen

An Italian pizza was the reason for our latest travels to Italy, it was at the start of November 2015, I was kneading dough for pizza, when my beloved told me - hey, we should visit Italy and try real Italian Pizza. So we did - we spent about a week in Italy, traveling a lot and trying real Italian cuisine. 

Speaking of Italian pizza in Italy, here is the craziest pizza topped with a lot of prosciutto I ever have tried - Restaurant Antica Drogheria in Lucca, Italy, those guys just rock, if you are in vicinity of Lucca (the most famous landmark of that area probably is the leaning tower of Pisa), make sure you check this place out. 

We returned home back to Georgia with a lot of new ingredients, including salami, prosciutto and many cheeses. In today's food bloger series I will show my perfect Italian pizza recipe.  

Making pizza is not hard at all, the hardest to make ideal dough for pizza (you could of course buy already made dough, but that wouldn't be the same - I really love and enjoy dough creating and kneading process - it's mind freeing hobby - clear your thoughts and focus on things that…

Vake Park in Tbilisi

25 March, 2016 | Tourism objects | 82 seen

Nestled in the Vake district of Tbilisi, Georgia, lies a historic recreational area known as Vake Park. Since its opening to the public in 1946, the park has undergone numerous transformations, becoming a popular destination for both ex-pats and locals.

Visitors can enjoy various free and paid kids playgrounds, carousels, ice cream shops, upper-end restaurants, and cafes located near the park.

 Vake Park is home to significant landmarks, such as a monument of Victory built during Soviet times and a beautiful staircase with cascading fountains. The park's beautiful landscapes, including hundreds of thousands of conifers, fruit trees, and shrubs, make it a green oasis in the heart of Tbilisi.

First opened to the public in 1946, it was built in the former wastelands. The park has gone through many reconstructions ever since

Designed by architect K. Dgebuadze and dendrologist N. Tsitsishvili a lot of work on the drainage and landscaping with the use of blasting was carried out, created soil, planted hundreds of thousands of conifers, deciduous fruit trees (successful experience of mass transplanting adult specimens) and…

Fire, Water, Burn - Goodbye Old Roof!

24 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 14 seen

It was time to make a bonfire and burn wood shingle (what use to be a roof cover). At the end of Summer (2015) our bonfire place ready to be set on fire, also it was very large. I still decided to wait for a rainy day, to minimize fire risks.

I negotiated with our construction worker, who turned out to be a semiprofessional industrial burner (10 years in forestry), called to the local fire station and asked for permission, informing about precise location. They have local watch towers, and just to make sure there is no misunderstanding it's good to inform local authorities (it might be even requested by law).

For me, it seemed like a simple task - pour with petrol that large pile of shingle and it's done. My burner told me - that instead of pouring all pile you need to start small and direct fire to the rest of pile, or more correctly transship the pile to the bonfire. I trusted him and meanwhile built a doghouse for Bob.

Bonfire place

Located next to the small pond, set on fire on rainy day

Start small

Instead of starting to burn that large pile all at once, burner did set a…

Building a Dog house

24 March, 2016 | DIY | 11 seen

Recently we inherited not only a bad managed rural house, but also got a German shepherd dog Bob. I have posted a lot about our home remodeling works, and in one article you can see Bob.

Bob is very scared dog, he doesn't trust people, as his owner passed away, he haven't approached any people, even me. After a summer spent in our rural house, the best we could achieve - Bob laying in front of house and observing us. We feed Bob well and during our absence we have negotiated good people to help us out to take care of Bob, thus Bob doesn't approves any help, just a daily dose of dog food. 

The real owner of our house is Bob. To make at least some better life conditions for our stubborn Bob, I decided to build a dog house for him, here is how:

Base for a doghouse

The pallet is ideal for base, by nailing additional planks I was able to shape the basic concept of doghouse

Chainsaw

With help of chainsaw I was able to saw up the edges (Gosh, after a few months of rebuilding our house I'm not afraid of chainsaw anymore)

Roof for a doghouse…

Shooting Hanheld HDR Photography

23 March, 2016 | Digital Photography School | 6 seen

As some of you already know lately I'm a lot into HDR photography. For most of the times I'm shooting from a tripod, but sometimes (just sometimes) I'm lazy enough to take tripod with me. In most cases I end up damning myself for not taking tripod this time and most often avoid HDR shooting. Also in a lot of popular tourist spots (churches,cathedrals) it's forbidden to use a tripod - so you are left with handheld and no flashlight photography.

Thus, that doesn't mean you cannot shoot HDR without a tripod, you can actually make really striking HDR photography handheld. You don't need flash neither.

Here’s a three-exposure shot with bracketing set to +/- 2 increment.

Canon Rebel T5 with kit 18-55mm lens f/11 three brackets merged with Photomatix, ISO 100

​A few months ago I did a similar HDR photography but with a tripod - the scene was pretty much the same - some interesting architectural element, blue sky and cool clouds. 

Here is how I did above shot handheld:

Otium Restaurant in Tbilisi

23 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 37 seen

Otium restaurant is a very stylish, but what's interesting not at all expensive venue, located in neighborhood of Vake in Tbilisi (uphill on the Turtle lake road).

I have dozen of times passed by this restaurant during some of mine hiking trips around here (See: Hiking in Tbilisi - Turtle lake (Kus Tba) - Vake Park) but I always refused to visit it, because I thought it should be out of my league (all those SUV cars parked in front of the entrance, with CD number plates). I usually avoid too much extravagant places, but I was wrong - I really enjoyed Otium restaurant, and as said - I was surprised of relatively low price for their lunch menu.

In short - Otium rocks, their lunch menu offer is high end restaurant meal for budget price

Entrance doors at Otium restaurant in Tbilisi

Yup, that huge red/mirror construction is actually an entrance doors and stairways down to the Otium kingdom. I remember a few years ago, when construction works were held at this site, I was a bit pissed of, because down there was an abandoned garden from which I took a hike just inside the Vake park.

Probably that's…

Invest in Georgia - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending - Mintos.com

22 March, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 18 seen

After almost five years spent as an ex-pat and passive investor (savings accounts only) in Republic of Georgia, time after time I'm looking for some other liquid investment opportunities in Georgia. Mostly I end up with stock exchange, but for now Georgian Stock Exchange market doesn't seems transparent enough and easy accessible.

By saying - not enough transparent I mean - I haven't find yet a broker offering real-time stats. 

Time after time I end up in official Invest in Georgia website www.investingeorgia.org, there are good information provided for investment opportunities in this country. If you have spare few millions you might end up investing in energy, hospitality & real estate, manufacturing, logistics or agriculture & food processing. If you still feel you don't have such much money and you call yourself a small investor with funds less than $10,000 to invest in this gorgeous country - you are left with savings accounts or opening your small business. And this is what I would recommend - a small business. That's what I'm doing here - I'm a freelance programmer working 80% overseas. …

The Roof Works are Done (Almost)

22 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 7 seen

That August, 2015 day was a huge day - we finished roof covering works in our rural country house. It took us about a month as we launched roofing works, and it will take us few more days to complete roofing completely.

I didn't photographed today much, or day before (when most covering were done), in fact I didn't photographed at all, my better part did. Here is what we got:

Almost done here

Just three more roof plates (int total for both sides its 26 plates) and the large roof works are officially done

Couple of hours latter

Its done!

Few more bolts

Now, its time to add roof ridge,  wind boards and chimney ridge. More on that in upcoming posts in home remodeling.

Aerial photos from rooftop

22 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 4 seen

Today we continued covering roof with metal plates, in a short break I took my DSRL camera a top on the roof and made some aerial photos.

You won't get here views as nice as you could get from Tbilisi or Batumi aerial trams, but taking into consideration that we are speaking of an old rural house - these views are as much great.

Roof masters a top on the roof (Edgars and Guntars)

Aerial view to our veggie garden

Few months ago we planted some goodies in the wooden boxes - and look what a harvest we have. Yes the new roof cover looks great as well.

Skewed barn

One day I will fix this too

At the edge of roof

view towards apple orchard

Intelligentsia Coffee Bar Tbilisi

21 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 67 seen

I have spent countless hours at Intelligentsia Coffee Bar near Turtle lake in Tbilisi - this place has been my offsite office in hot Summer days (see: Turtle lake - my working place for today) or starting point before taking a hike (see: Hiking in Tbilisi - Turtle lake (Kus Tba) - Vake Park) 

As the name of this place stats - it's a coffee bar, but you can order delicious meal here as well, starting Panini ending French fries.

Intelligentsia Coffee Bar near Turtle lake

Stylish interior

Coffee bar Intelligentsia is a super place whether just to chill out or take your laptop with you and work. 

Cozy sofa and great view towards Turtle lake

Azerbaijani Restaurant Agha in Tbilisi

21 March, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 159 seen

Azerbaijani cuisine restaurant Agha is located near Heroes square (access is from the Circus side) in Tbilisi. After a meal here - I'm already planing my next trip to the land of fire - Azerbaijan. At this restaurant I tried something new for me - Dushbara soup, piti soup and veal saji on Fire.

Lately I have tried a lot new non-Georgian cuisine places in Tbilisi, see Turkish restaurant Karabak, Chinese restaurant Dzin Chao or French Tartine Brasserie are just a few to name, now it was time for Azerbaijani cuisine. Thus this is not the first time I'm visiting Azerbaijani restaurant, I have tried Shirhan in Riga. But speaking of Shirhan, sorry - I cannot even compare you to this place. Restaurant Agha is out of any league (Perhaps just in Azerbaijan I will found something better)

Entrance doors at Restaurant Aga in Tbilisi

Before restaurant Aga moved in here, there was a Russian cuisine restaurant - Matreshka. The inside log house interior and menu with Matreshka logo's will remind you the history of this place.

Inside interior

As it is not rare here in Tbilisi and I have already been use to…

How To Change a Flat Car Tire

20 March, 2016 | DIY | 11 seen

Last summer I learnt not only how to change a roof for old rural house, also I excelled as a tire guy. During last summer I changed tires for our old junk car at least six times. 

To this day I still don't know why we got so many flat tires (most probably, because I bought cheap used tires at local tire workshop). Anyhow, it was the next morning after we added first metal roof plates a top of our house, when I noticed a flat tire has happened again (without any reason).  I was already equipped with leg pump (and luckily I had bought a spare tire just some few days ago)

N.B. By living in rural area - a spare tire, tools and basic know how is required to survive.

at first I pumped in some air into the tire

jacking up car

make sure you are on the flat surface and most recommended on hard soil as well. I had a problems with soft soil, so I used additional bricks just in the case if jack will lean or fall apart.

you can use a spare tire also as an emergency safety net

More experienced drivers taught me to put spare tire under car while removing flat tire. 

Roof Works, Part 6 - Finishing lathing and adding first plates of metal roof

20 March, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 8 seen

Today was a big day, we managed not only to finish lathing works, covered roof with cross wind sheet but actually installed two plates of metal roof.

Today was a very long working day also, by now I feel excelled a lot if roof works and home renovation.

We started early in the morning (around 7:30 AM) as I knew this will be a very long day, and I really wanted to start cover roof with metal plates.

Construction workers stretching cross wind sheet

I hired two local craftsmen to help me out in roofing works - the most awesome guys I have met so far. 

Improvised outdoor workshop

While guys were on the roof, I was sawing laths from the ground. Synchronized teamwork.

Leisure time

We had a lot of fun today, many jokes (black jokes). I will remember these days as one of the most fun (you can have fun doing some hard work). Thank you Edgars and Guntars, you are such an amazing guys!

Roof works

...still lathing

Sawing laths with chain saw

This was the fun part - to saw up the ends of laths covering the edge of roof.

…