Listening to Classical Music at Tbilisi Baroque Festival

20 December, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 14 seen

Tbilisi Baroque Festival was held from November 13 till December 6, 2015 in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

There is something in the classical music. I don't know exactly what, but I have found that lately I'm starting to enjoy it. Maybe that was the reason I allowed to convince me to visit a Tbilisi Baroque festival.

On December 3rd we visited Sergio Azzolini and Christine Busch concert in Rustaveli Theater. 

Tbilisi Baroque Festival

The word "Baroque" (French) – means a "rough or imperfect pearl." This style has been conceived approximately in 1600-ies in genres of sculpture, painting, literature, music and spread all over the Europe of those times. The course was aspiring to the greatness of art and to more effective, non-domestic forms. Many layers of the world culture had their influences on the formation of this phenomenon. Performing with maximally close manner and on the corresponding instruments, has a great popularity in Europe for decades already. Besides aesthetical and exotic load, such performances are interesting from the point of view of the history as well. For example, we…

Visa Free Travel For Georgian Citizens Entering European Union

19 December, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 5 seen

December 18, 2015 marked another important milestone for Georgia - European Commission agreed to lift visa requirements for Georgian citizens entering European Union.

According to record from European Commission visa free travel will enter in force in 2016.

I have been following Georgia's aspirations and developments entering and joining European organizations probably since day 1, when first arrived to Georgia back in April, 2011, and I believe this is a very important step for Georgia. 

Here are few notes from my blog: Back on 2014 Georgia has signed Association Agreement with European Union after a short time Georgian government announced that Georgia Expects Visa Free Travel to EU by End of 2015 and that actually Georgia Plans To Have Full membership in EU in 5-10 Years.

Now the visa part is formally completed, it's time to look into further steps of joining EU. Who knows, maybe we will see Georgia joining European Union in a decade or so.

Georgian and European Union Flags in streets of Tbilisi

​I took above picture on December 19, 2015 in the…

Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art in Tbilisi

19 December, 2015 | Museums | 117 seen

I don't call myself an art or museum person, thus time by time I visit some exhibition, and that's exactly happened again at start of December, 2015 - For the first time I visited Tbilisi MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). And it happened by accident. It started as a planed visit to classical music event in frames of Tbilisi Baroque Festival. We left our apartment early and had some time to spend on lively Rustaveli avenue, for a starter we headed to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to enjoy cup of tasty latte, when another great spontaneous idea arrived - let's visit a museum which proudly bares the MOMA name. 

It turned out to be - Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art, as I have learnt now, by writing these lines - Zurab Tsereteli is very well known artist in Georgia and Russia, according to Wikipedia - Zurab Tsereteli is a Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect who holds the office of President of the Russian Academy of Arts.

At Zurab's Tsereteli's Museum of Modern Art museum are featured his own works, as well other artist works are featured here in this…

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Rustaveli Avenue (Tbilisi)

18 December, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 36 seen

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf seems is a popular coffee shop brand in US. Thus I thought this is some Georgian brand when first noticed (and a lot of times actually visiting) the one located at Tbilisi Mall. In today's article about Tbilisi restaurants I will speak about The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.

In this location there were before another great French style pastry Entree. Entree still is in business and you can find it on other locations in Tbilisi. 

Located on lively Rustaveli avenue in Tbilisi

It features an outdoor patio which most probably best is enjoyed in Summertime

Gingerbread cookies

Huge latte

Tasty chicken sandwich 

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is a great place offering great coffee, delicious cakes and tasty sandwiches. It is run according to Western standards. Prices at this place are well above average, but hey you are getting what you paid for.

Restaurant Tsiskvili in Tskneti

16 December, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 34 seen

It was a mid day of working day at the start of December when I came up with spontaneous idea  - lets leave our work behind and let's go out. I was eager to photography a daylight photography for my 365 photo project. We decided to use public bus instead of using a taxi to get to the Freedom Square in Tbilisi center. So we were standing at bus stop and couldn't figure out which bus actually goes to Freedom Square. I proposed, hey let's take bus #34 heading to Tskenti, which already approached our bus stop.

And so instead of Freedom Square we were heading to Tskenti. Tskenti is very lovely suburb close to Tbilisi, I have been there several times, either during some hiking activities or playing a bowling at Kopola bowling center.

And here we were - wandering around Tskneti. Shortly we found an interesting facade of a place that looked from scenes from Mexico.

Tsisiskvili restaurant in Tskneti

Bird cage with a lot of apartments in restaurants territory

Winter terrace in Tsiskvili restaurant

Thus it was at the start of December we visited this place it was already decorated in best Christmas…

Tex-Mex Klondaika Restaurant in Liepāja

14 December, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 25 seen

Tex-Mex Klondaika in Liepāja is among one of my favorite Liepāja restaurants. I can't say I'm visiting this seaside town too often, but once I'm here I'm looking for this brand.

Located on lovely Stendera street in almost Liepāja city center, this restaurant has a lot to offer - starting traditional Tex-Mex style cuisine ending traditional Latvian cold soup (made from beets).

Menu at Tex-Mex Klondaika restaurant

Refreshing water with mint drink

Traditional Latvian Cold soup

Paella at Klondaika Tex-Mex

Sorry for the bad image here. Frankly speaking I first tried a traditional paella in Catalonia, Spain back in the 2014, the one prepared here in Liepāja was good as the Catalonian.

Empanada or something

Dessert with strawberries

Outdoor Patio at Tex-Mex Liepāja

Tex-Mex Klondaika restaurant in Liepāja is a must have place. They offer a really good menu with both Tex-Mex and traditional Latvian cuisine. Prices are pretty average.For above seen food we paid about EUR 30.

Visit www.texmex…

Car Service in Kazdanga

13 December, 2015 | Professional services | 13 seen

If you are having troubles with engine, need to change a tire or just looking to replace oil and you are stuck in Kazdanga area (Latvia) there is one car service I can recommend. Since I believe it's the one and only one in Kazdanga, let's name it  - Kazdanga car service.

At this service we fixed a leaky muffler and straightened  a dent on car's surface for about EUR 50

Car service in Kazdanga

Since this service is located in rural Latvia they mainly specializes on repairing tractor machinery and agricultural vehicles.

Repairing hydraulics 

Agricultural machinery

Tractor

Oils and other

How to Capture and Post-Process Professional HDR Photos Using HDR Efex PRO

12 December, 2015 | Digital Photography School | 22 seen

In today's digital photography school tutorial I will show how you can take and make professional looking images using technology which is called HDR photography.

In fact before teaching you how to take and process a HDR images please take a note - I have been doing HDR photography less for one month. My findings so far are - like HDR is the best thing (I know as time will go I will probably change my mind and will go back to the routes, who knows maybe I will find a B&W the next BIG thing?!). I'm not a professional photographer, just a regular dude with a DLSR camera eager to learn some new things. I'm more than glad sharing my findings with you, my dear reader.

For this Tutorial I'm using: 

• Adobe Lightroom
• HDR Efex PRO
• Canon 1200D DSLR camera
• Sturdy tripod

Final HDR image created with HDR Efex PRO and fine tuned in Adobe Lightroom

I submitted the above image as day 63/365 entry image on my Flickr page. I gave it a name - "It is still Autumn", taken on November 26, 2015 in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Now let me show how you can take and create similar…

Dzveli (Old) Shuamta Monastery

11 December, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 57 seen

If you are traveling to region of Kakheti and your road is leading through Telavi town, there are few interesting tourist sites to visit and one of them is a very old monastery complex called Dzveli Shuamta.

For the first time I visited this site together vith my mom in the middle of October 2015. It was a rainy and foggy day so not very spectacular images this time, anyway Dzveli Shuamta still has one of the oldest Christian churches of Georgia – the triple-nave basilica that dates back to the 5th century. Two other cross-domed churches were built in the 7th century. The walls of these churches still have fragments of frescos and inscriptions made in the old Georgian Asomtavruli alphabet. The monastery is situated in a hollow between forest-covered mountains so that it has natural protection from three sides. The fourth side used to be fortified by a thick wall. A tradition has it St. King Tamar once spent 40 days fasting in solitude on Shuamta hill. Source: Kakheti.travel

Dzveli Shuamta monastery complex near Telavi

​

Clay pots for storing wine

I don't know for sure the reason why those clay pots…

November 2015 Blog Traffic and Income Report 54,446 Users / $947.05

10 December, 2015 | Blogging | 8 seen

Welcome to the #23 traffic and income report covering blog traffic and earnings/expenses for November 2015. #23 means just one - one more month and it will be already two years since I have opted into thing called - making money from blogging. Two years are a lot of time, it's has been a long journey, but... I still feel it is day 2 or day 3.

I was doing separate reviews both for traffic and income until September, when I realized - how time consuming it is to provide 2 similar articles on related topic. Traffic and Income for a website goes hand to hand. You might wonder what stimulates me publish my traffic and revealing earnings for  the past 23 months already? The reason for publishing such reports and revealing secrets beyond the scenes are simple - Transparency matters. I hope my success or failures can give some ideas to you as well. 

Past November was just brilliant - for the very first time it cracked 50K unique users milestone and totaled in 54,446 unique users. Compared to October it is 36.36% traffic growth.

Blog Traffic November…

How to Make Homemade Dumplings from Scratch

9 December, 2015 | Food blogger | 7 seen

In today's food blogger series I will demonstrate how to make homemade dumplings from scratch. Well, almost from scratch, there are a few handy tools that might be very useful preparing this delicious food.

I love dumplings, in most cases dumplings is a cost effective solution when you are in hurry and really hungry. It hasn't been rare for me to visit local groceries shop at 2AM just to buy a pack of frozen dumplings. Today I will show how you can prepare dumplings at home. It's a really simple and doesn't take a lot of time or a lot of effort.

Ingredients for dumpling dough.

• 1 kg of flour
• 600 ml water
• 100 grams of butter
• 1 tsp (with top) salt

Rest the dough for 30 minutes :
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Total cooking time: 40 minutes

I took this dough recipe from a Russian language culinary blog: Заварное тесто для вареников и пельменей

Let's start cooking:

Tumanishvili Theater Cafe in Tbilisi

8 December, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 17 seen

Some people visits theater to watch spectacles, some people visits to theater to enjoy a cup of coffee at theaters' buffet. That's exactly what happened to us in late November Sunday afternoon. After wandering around David Aghmeneshabeli avenue we headed here to enjoy cup of latte and try some sweets.

Entrance at Tumanishvili theater

You probably have noticed this lovely sculpture if wandered in this neighborhood - now you now - there is a lovely cafe inside and of course the Tumanishvili theater

Artistic interior 

There are few elements I really like here and would like to implement something from above scene in our rural house. The round dinning table is a must have.

Wide selection of alcoholic beverages 

Glass of good brandy / cognac perhaps is a good idea after or before spectacle. Although I prefer coffee and cola.

Posters and paintings

Tumanashvili's cafe seems a nice place where to enjoy a cup of coffee or try some sweets. Prices are pretty well above average in city. For two lattes, bottle of Coca Cola and a…

Tabor Monastery of the Transformation in Tbilisi

6 December, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 112 seen

You have probably noticed Tabor Monastery of the Transformation in Tbilisi if wandered around Abanotubani district - it's the one you can see up in the hill left from Narikala. The idea to visit this site arrived for me when some of the Georgia Expat Photographer club members posted a picture of this church.

I believe you can climb up here and have a lovely and a very spectacular hiking trip doing that, but for this time we opted for a more convenient way - a taxi. We took a regular street taxi and he took us up here, agreed to wait for 30 minutes while I will take photography here, and the took us back to the city for 20 Lari. 

And this is actually the way I suggest to you for getting here if you aren't familiar with area.

Tabor Monastery of the Transformation in Tbilisi

Tabor Monastery of the Transformation in Tbilisi

In the background you can see Tbilisi TV tower (on the top left) and almost all city of Tbilisi. 

Jesus Christ on the cross

Altar inside church

As I learned later this church has been built just recently (2012), some construction…

Painting Floor - Final Touch For Maximum Effect (Second Paint Layer)

5 December, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 1 seen

Right, we have arrived to the second post in my painting floor adventures from home remodeling series. Today I will show you how after adding second paint layer to our rural house's paint we achieved the maximum effect.

Paint work was performed at the start of July, 2015

Make sure you read other posts in our adventurous efforts of remodeling an old country house.

Floor ready for second layer of paint

Read more how I prepared this floor and applied base layer of paint here:

Floor waiting for a new layer of paint

As you can see in the background - it is a kitchen starting to get already a decent look

Applying second layer of paint

Wow,that's a dramatic makeover

Painted floor

Looks much better. Now our new temporary bedroom is almost ready, it's time to put in some furniture, finish kitchen works and start thinking of changing a leaky roof.

Wanderings In The Tbilisi Old Town (HDR Efex Pro)

4 December, 2015 | Digital Photography School | 18 seen

It was day 62 from my 365 photo challenge project and I felt I'm out of good photography locations. For couple of the last days I have been doing nice landscape photography in close to me locations, and it seemed that I'm out of options. I asked a friend (photographer) and asked could he give me some advice. He advised me to make a list with items to photograph, like birds, macro's e.t.c.

Still I felt I need to continue improving my landscape photography. Then another person asked have I tried HDR Effect PRO (For HDR photography I have been using just Photomatix) - my answer was no. 

And here did came the inspiration - I decided to head to the lovely Abanatobuani district in Tbilisi Old town and make some cool looking HDR's with public bath houses and hopefully some sun in the background.

I downloaded trial version of HDR Effect pro, took a tripod, fully charged battery and my Canon DSLR camera. Latter when doing post processing I was impressed of dramatic effect HDR Effect Pro created:

Abanotubani district in Tbilisi

That's a nice looking HDR actually. Make sure you are exposing property when doing bracketing. I did a…