Lagidze Water near Sameba

4 March, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 39 seen

Welcome to another post in Tbilisi restaurant series. Today I will speak about cafe Lagidze Water located at Sameba Cathedral complex. 

I had heard previously about Lagidze Water, but I didn't know much about it, just something that it was pretty popular drink during Soviet times (and probably Tsarist Russia times as well)

My knowledge was short like it's some syrup mix with water - well I'm not found of syrup waters but seems that in Georgia it's pretty much popular drink. According to Wikipedia

Lagidze water  is a popular Georgian soft drink based on soda and a variety of natural syrups. It has been traditionally mixed in a glass from a soda fountain, but it is also available as a bottled soft drink in a range of flavors. Some American food writers liken it to egg cream, but the authentic Georgian drink includes neither milk nor chocolate syrup

Anyway - here you can enjoy a tasty Adjarian khachapuri or Penovani as well accompanied with syrup water.

Lagidze Water in Tbilisi near Sameba Cathedral

Menu at Lagidze Water

Lagidze Water lemonades

Sameba - Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi

4 March, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 134 seen

Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, commonly known as Sameba (Trinity in Georgian) probably is among the most known Tbilisi tourist attraction sites and of course it's the main cathedral of Georgian Orthodox Church.

For me it's always been interesting to look at Sameba from two points of view - it's third highest Orthodox cathedral in the world and it symbolizes Georgian national and spiritual revival.

Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi (Sameba)

Constructed between 1995 and 2004, it is the third-tallest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the world and one of the largest religious buildings in the world by total area. Sameba is a synthesis of traditional styles dominating the Georgian church architecture at various stages in history and has some Byzantine undertones.

View towards city from Sameba

The idea to build a new cathedral to commemorate 1,500 years ofautocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church and 2,000 years from the birth of Jesus emerged as early as 1989, a crucial year for the national awakening of the…

Blog Traffic Report - February 2015 - 14,579 Users

2 March, 2015 | Blogging | 14 seen

Welcome to 17 my blog's traffic and statistics report. This time covering month of February 2015.

I'm doing monthly traffic and income reports to measure were I was, were I am and were I am heading too. Those reports keep me track my progress (or bounces), and hopefully can inspire some other bloger(s) as well.

This February come with a traffic dip, when overall traffic dropped by -26.36% and totalled in 14,579 unique users. 

Blog Traffic February 2015 (Source: Google Analytics)

14,579 users is a -26.36% drop if compared to month of January

It's a -5,219 user drop if compared to previous month

14,579 in a month equals to 520.67 users in a day, again it's a down from 638.64 users in day last month

I must admit, this traffic dip didn't come as a surprise for me, following words I said last month when forecasted results for this month (February):

Speaking of forecast for February - I will keep my forecast modest - 14,000 unique visitors or a little bit less (I'm afraid of traffic drop, and there are only 28…

Restaurant / Cafe 'Accent' Review in Tbilisi

1 March, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 22 seen

Welcome to another Tbilisi Restaurant review. Today I will speak about a Cafe Accent. Though they call themselves a cafe - I prefer to use a word restaurant.

I believe this place is a new in Tbilisi opened just recently, we found it on local Georgian groupon clone site (hotsale.ge) - we bought a coupon for a steak, wine and a tiramisu.

Though Cafe Accent is located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town on Gorgasali street, we had a problems of actually finding it. Our first attempt to locate this place ended unsuccessful, after being lost somewhere on Vahkang Gorgasali street next to Mtkvari river, we ended our first approach of finding Cafe Accent by having our supper at other restaurant Maspindzelo.

We decided to try our luck other day, and when that happened we again almost missed this place - the signboard on a facade from street of Cafe Accent is barely seen

Hard to read sign of Cafe Accent Tbilisi

Another hard readable sign of Cafe Accent

After a few lousy minutes of thinking is it really a restaurant we went inside, luckily inside interior was almost perfect

…

Maximizing Revenue: A Guide to Google Adsense Experiments

28 February, 2015 | Blogging | 17 seen

Google AdSense is a popular advertising network that allows website owners to display ads on their sites and earn money when users click on them. AdSense offers a wide range of ad formats and customization options to help publishers maximize their revenue. However, even with the best practices in place, it can be challenging to determine what ad types and placements work best for your audience.

This is where AdSense Experiments come in.

AdSense Experiments are a feature that allows publishers to test different ad types, ad sizes, and ad placements to see which configurations perform better. With Experiments, you can test different ad layouts on a subset of your traffic and measure the impact on revenue. This feature helps publishers optimize their AdSense revenue and understand the impact of ad changes on user experience.

To get started with AdSense Experiments, you'll need to have an active AdSense account and an ad unit that is receiving traffic. Here are the steps to set up an experiment:

Go to your AdSense account, click on "Ads" in the left-hand menu, and select "Experiments." Click the "New Experiment"…

Building A Travel Map - Drupal Way (Gmap + Views + Selective Filters)

28 February, 2015 | Drupal Development | 19 seen

In this article, I'll show how I built a travel map using Drupal and a few extra modules.

For a starter, you can see a live preview by visiting my Travel Map.

In this map, I have listed all places I have visited since October 2013 (When I started my blog). I have used a few filters to allow limiting results on the map, for example,  users can filter by Country, Region, and Theme (Category).

To make it work better and more intuitive I have used a small but neat Drupal module - Views Selective Filters. 

Drupal travel map

First things first, you will need to download and enable the Location and Gmap modules. With help of these modules, we will actually enter and store Geospatial data on our Drupal site.

The next thing you should do is configure a location field for your content type (s)

Now that you have configured a location and map modules, as well you have added a few nodes with location details you can start creating your views page. 

Create a new view with a page, and give it a path, for example /…

'Maspindzelo' Tbilisi Restaurant Review

27 February, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 45 seen

Welcome to another series of Tbilisi restaurants, in this post I will speak about a restaurant 'Maspindzelo' located close to Tbilisi Sulphur baths. I first visited this restaurant just back in last summer, my visit here this time here was just a second time. 

Actually we were heading to another restaurant - a newly opened Accent restaurant, but we had a wrong coordinates of it's address an as it turned out we were staying next to 'Maspindelo' - Since I was a pretty hungry - I insisted - let's have a meal here, and lets find that other restaurant some other day.

Entrance doors at Maspindzelo Restaurant

Nadugi

I first pre ordered a typical Georgian food - Nadugi - it's a cottage cheese wrapped in Georgian Sulguni cheese. I must admit at this time of year (winter season) - they didn't taste so great - sulguni was a really salty.

A Glass of Georgian White Wine

A Long list of menu in Russian (they have English and Georgian as well)

I must admit - the longer the list, the harder to choose

A Chvishtari

Another Georgian food - A chivshtari is a corn fluor scone…

Beit Rachel Synagogue In Tbilisi

26 February, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 41 seen

Beit Rachel synagogue is located in Tbilisi Old Town on Leselidze street 28. I first discovered it a few years ago, when accidentally visited an alternative restaurant located just opposite to it.

Beit Rachel synagogue is actually located just a few blocks away from Tbilisi Main Synagogue.

Though this synagogue is located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town, it's pretty well hidden from public, to find it you must enter a yard.

Sign before entering a yard

Inside a yard

Beit Rachel synagogue wall

Entrance gates at Beit Rachel synagogue

Unfortunately gates were closed and I hadn't chance to enter inside Beit Rachel synagogue to make some more photos.

Info table about Tbilisi Beit Rachel synagogue

Information about Tbilisi Beit Rachel synagogue are provided in four languages - Hebrew, Georgian, English and Russian. Unfortunately I didn't take a better quality picture of this table, so I will try to rewrite some information what's written on it:

The Beit Rachel synagogue was rebuilt in 2009. Prior to the renovation, the building was known as the Ashkenazi…

Content Writing in the Age of AI: What You Should Expect

26 February, 2015 | Blogging | 8 seen

Content writing has come a long way in recent years, with the rise of digital media and the increasing importance of online marketing. However, with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the landscape of content writing is likely to change significantly in the years to come.

One major development in this area is the rise of AI-powered content creation tools, which use natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to generate written content automatically.

These tools are already being used by some businesses to create content such as product descriptions, blog posts, and social media updates. While there is some concern about the potential for these tools to replace human writers, many experts believe that they will simply become another tool in the content creator's toolbox, rather than a replacement for human talent.

Another area where AI is likely to have a significant impact on content writing is in the realm of personalization. As AI algorithms become more sophisticated, they will be able to analyze vast amounts of data about individuals' preferences, behaviors, and interests. This data can then be used to create highly…

11 Katkha Tbilisi Restaurant Review (Near Dinamo Stadium) (2015)

25 February, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 17 seen

Welcome to another great Tbilisi Restaurant review - today I will speak about 11 Katkha

Update 2023: This place has been closed for a while already. There are at least two other 11 Katkha restaurants in Tbilisi, one is in Saburtalo, second is on Baratishvili street (close to Freedom square), read my latest review here: 11 Katkha Tbilisi Restaurant on Nikoloz Baratashvili street

11 Katkha is a restaurant located in Tbilisi, Georgia, serving traditional Georgian cuisine. I believe there are two locations of this restaurant in Tbilisi. Today I will speak about the one located near Dinamo Stadium (Arena).

This place is lovely in the summertime when you can order and enjoy your meal in the outdoor garden.

We have been visiting this place already for some years, it's a nice starting (or ending place) if you are into cycling.

My favorite meal here at Restaurant 11 Katkha is a Chicken Barbecue (Katmis Mcvadi -  in Georgian), it's one of the most delicious shashlik found in Georgia, and the price for one portion of chicken barbecue is surprisingly low - 6-7 GEL, to make it sound better, it comes with…

My February Savings Report - GEL Loses Another 16.5% Against USD; -17% Against EUR

25 February, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 16 seen

Welcome to my third savings report, today I will look at historical exchange rates of GEL/USD and EUR and compare those with at the end of January (2015) with February 24.

I started to save some chunk of money back in September 2014, since my "investments" was too small to buy some bonds, stocks or mutual funds, I decided to open a Savings account here in Georgia (I'm currently living here) in local commercial banks.

I started low - by depositing some 300 GEL (what back then equaled to  to $169.68 or EUR 131.81).  I did deposit some 300 GEL for the next 4 months, then I noticed - GEL/USD exchange rates have gone mad (GEL was loosing it's value against USD). I had a feeling I have lost some 14% of my savings. I made probably irrational decision, I exchanged my money (spitted) into 3 currencies. I bought USD and EUR, in order to avoid further loosing moneys value against USD or EUR.

I bought EUR/USD for a very high price, as I believe, after my deal, I lost again 40.27 GEL (due to exchange rates). Now, today I decided to take a look, does my spontaneous decision was right or wrong (Am I still loosing money, or I have break even…

How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees

24 February, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 25 seen

Welcome to fourth and final part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives and redeems their checks in Republic of Georgia (South Caucasus).

How participants of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,

Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank checks in Georgia, at the end of 2016, I flew to the US and opened a bank account there, see: How To Open A Bank Account in the U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank

For complete series of my adventures while living in Georgia with Georgian banks and checks from Amazon, please see:

• How Amazon Affiliates get paid in the Republic of Georgia - Part 1
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees…

About Georgia: A Chef In Love (1996 Movie)

24 February, 2015 | Worth to Watch | 46 seen

Last night was the Oscar night - Estonian/Georgian movie Tangerines was nominated for best foreign language film. They didn't won, Ida did. 

I decided to look is there some more Georgian movies nominated for Oscar, and turns out one film prior to Tangerines actually was nominated, back in 1996 - A Chef in Love. I was a bit surprised to learn - that main role in this movie is portrayed by a very popular French actor - Pierre Richard.

A Chef in Love, (Georgian: შეყვარებული კულინარის 1001 რეცეპტი / Shekvarebuli kulinaris ataserti retsepti) is a 1996 Georgian film directed by Nana Dzhordzhadze. It stars Pierre Richard and Nino Kirtadze.

The movie tells the story of Pascal Ichak, a French opera singer and chef living in Georgia, who opens a restaurant. It also shows the life in Georgia in the beginning of the 20th century, including its short period of independence (see Democratic Republic of Georgia). After the Bolshevik coup attempt of Georgia (1920), the chef refuses to emigrate and endures the brutalities of the new regime.

The film was selected as the Georgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997. A…

Tbilisi - Gudauri Transfer By Vazha Travel

22 February, 2015 | Travel guides | 15 seen

Around two weeks ago we had a two day trip to Gudauri, where we stayed at Hotel Shamo, and enjoyed skiing opportunities in Gudauri.

In this post I decided to write about transfer options from Tbilisi to Gudauri by a local company called Vazha Travel. Owner of this company is a personal friend, so I had all opportunities to bargain price  down.

Since this road offers plenty of spectacular views, I decided to add some photos to better illustrate this trip.

• Total distance from Tbilisi to Guadauri: ~ 120km
• Total time: ~ 2 hours
• Price: (One way) Negotiable, could start from GEL 100 and up for a private car, 150 GEL for a minivan 

Update: See how can I save you time and money by helping to plan your itinerary to Georgia, see organized tours in Georgia.

A cozy minivan

Road to Gudauri

Road to Gudauri

Some valley

Some valley and a road

Some valley

Water reservoir close to Ananuri castle complex

Georgian Military Highway

…

Drupal module - For Embedding A SoundCloud Media Files

21 February, 2015 | Drupal Development | 6 seen