Sapara Monastery
| Churches and Monasteries | 9 seen
Sapara Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox monastery located in the Akhaltsikhe District of Samtskhe-Javakheti region, Georgia.
I had a chance to visit this monastery at the end of September 2020 and capture really awesome drone photography / catching colors of the fall
Sapara monastery from a drone flight
It has existed from at least the 9th century, and has numbered among its monks many important figures in Georgian ecclesiastical history. At the end of the 13th century Sapara became a possession of the Jakeli family, whose leader, Sargis Jakeli, was adept at staying on good terms with the Mongols, which enabled Samtskhe to enjoy a peace unusual for the time. When he grew old, Sargis took monastic orders and changed his name to Saba. His son Beka built the largest of the 12 churches here, St Saba's Church, named after the saint whose name his father had adopted, one of the most architecturally important churches of its time. The 14th-century frescoes inside are of high quality
Sapara monastery complex in Georgia
From the end of the 16th century…
Ķemeri Forest House
| Museums | 19 seen
Ķemeri Forest house is really cool outdoors tourism attraction located close to Jūrmala
The park centre is located in Ķemeri, in the “Forest House” . We first discovered this place back in Spring 2018 and made some nice hiking in the area, see: Hiking Trails in Kemeri National Park (Near Forest House)
We have been returning here for a few more times ever since.
Forest House in Ķemeri
The history of the “Tree House” dates back to the summer of 1933, when in the newly constructed building, a centre for sports and recreation (arch. Fridrihs Skujiņš) was opened, pleasing the visitors with “a exemplary shooting range, various American sport type apparatus, ping-pong, bowling alley, billiards, chess and bridge premises, good beer, delicious tea and coffee”.
Later the sport centre was changed into a restaurant “Fun mosquito”, which was operating up until World War II and offered fine meals for the resort guests, and the dinner entertainment included dancing and cabaret.
Forest house from a drone flight
During the Soviet era, it hosted a children’s sanatorium. Now, it is the ĶNP…
Another Daytrip to Kakheti in Georgia
| Travel guides | 6 seen
I have said it already several times in the blog - day trips to the region of Kakheti are quite possible and easily done from Tbilisi
Day Trip to Kakheti in Georgia
In today's article, I'll share our route details and discoveries from the latest day trip to Kakheti on October 3, 2020
We left Tbilisi and headed to Telavi via Gombori Pass, here we made a stop at Ujarma fortress where I made some cool drone photography, see: Ujarma Fortress from a drone flight, our next stop is Italian restaurant Enzo's ezo at Chateau Mere close to Telavi.
From here on we head to the Lopota lake side to find some cool vineyards for more drone videography, see: Daytrip to Kakheti / Ujarma fortress / Alazani river / Vineyards in Georgia / DJI Mavic Mini
it was agreed to head back home, but using the other highway, now we go to Gurjaani - Chalaubani to return back to Tbilisi
Quite a good day trip
Church of Saint George near Borjomi from a Drone flight
| | 14 seen
The Sadgeri St. George Church is the XV century monument. It is located in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, in the village of Sadgeri in Borjomi municipality, on the high bank of the river.
I have been heading ever since I remember myself in Georgia, the place is really cool, tranquil and cool. But when taken from a drone flight, the place gets completely another view. See it yourself
Church of Saint George from a drone flight
Look at that massive rock church is standing
The church is a hall type and it has no apse. It is covered with a cylindrical vault of uneven outline. The temple is built of grey ashlar. Between the stitches is a thick layer of solution, that is bordering the squares like a frame. The facades are adorned with twisted shaft trims, which environs reliefs and apertures. There are two entrances, from the west and from the north. Both entrances are decorated with a framed double-twisted shaft with a rectangular outlined portals and the relief image of the cross at the top of the apertures.
nearby view of the valley and mountains
Majori Beach from a Drone Flight
| | 10 seen
About two years ago (back in 2018) we rented a little space next to the beach in Dubulti. We lived there for more than 6 months. Photographing the Baltic sea was part of our everyday routine.
Now, two years later we have returned to the town of Jūrmala in Latvia.
Not looking to stay here 6 months, rather than just 10 days for our Covid-19 self-isolation. We rented a spacious 2 storey house next to the beach and I was eager to fly a drone around the area:
Majori Beach from a Drone flight
Here we can see Baltic beach hotel and Former bath-house of Emilija Racene in Jurmala
River Lielupe and the Baltic sea near Majori
Golden Autumn at Majori beach, Latvia
Taken October 17, with a DJI Mavic Mini drone
Top 20 Best Selling Intel Core i9 processor Laptops 2021
| Laptop Reviews | 33 seen
Intel Core i9 laptop processors are getting more affordable and in 2021 we will see even more prices going down.
For an updated version see: Top 20 Best Selling Laptops with Intel core i9 2023
With their high number of cores, high power draw, high thermal output, high performance, and unique desktop socket, LGA 2066, they are intended to be used by enthusiasts. A mobile version based on the standard BGA1440 socket was released in 2018, featuring six hyperthreaded cores and 12 MB of cache. It has been proven to attain 5 gigahertz under ideal conditions. It is rumored that the next generation of Intel CPUs will feature the Core i9 9900K, an eight-core hyperthreaded processor, while the Core i7 9700K will also feature eight cores without hyperthreading. The top-end model may have 28 cores.
Intel Core i9 powered laptops come with the price attached. You should be willing to spend about $2,500 in 2021, to get one.
Top 5 Best Selling Intel Core i9 (Gaming) Processor Laptops
A quick note: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on…
Atskuri Fortress
| Military Heritage | 20 seen
Atskuri is a medieval Georgian fortress located on the right bank of the Mtkvari River, approximately 30 kilometres from Borjomi, in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
We discovered this fortress by accident while driving to the town of Akhatiskhe. As I was equipped with my DJI Mavic mini drone I made some cool aerography here
Atskuri fortress
Built on a massive rock back in the 9th century, Atskuri Fortress was an important stronghold for the defense of Georgia during the Middle ages.
The fortress was probably situated near the town of Atskuri, of which no traces have been found. First mentioned in the 9th century, the fortress was significantly damaged in the 16th century when it was occupied by the Turks. It was rebuilt in the 17-18th centuries.
Reconstruction works at Atskuri fortress
Set on the top of high cliff, the fortress occupies a vast area, and is made of several parts, with the citadel at its highest point. The fortress territory includes also ruins of a church with remnants of frescos. The water-supply tunnel connects the fortress with the river.
Colors of Georgia / Failed Attempt to Reach Betania Monastery
| | 11 seen
It was at the start of October, we decided to visit Betania monastery not far from Tbilisi. We took our almost SUV car - Volkswagen Touareg and started the journey.
The road sign said 6,7 km and we will reach the monastery.
Cool, I thought, I have wanted to visit this place for ages, let me make some cool drone video.
Colors of Georgia, on the road to Betania monastery
Little we know that the drive is not the best, and can take about an hour. it was getting dark, our toddler girl was crying, and it was decided to turn back the car and return here some other day.
Author of this blog captured in action
Piece of Life after all!
Seven Year Blog Anniversary
| Blogging | 9 seen
Today, on October 10th, 2020, the ReinisFischer.com website is celebrating its 7th birthday. Each blog anniversary is a huge milestone for me and the 7th birthday is no exception.
What has started as a simple experiment has turned out to be a successful online business venture!
In the past seven years blog has attracted more than 4.9 million users and generated more than 6.9 million page views.
Blog traffic October 2013 - October 2019 (Data source: Google Analytics)
Topics covered in the blog ranges from raw GDP data for different European countries, to detailed stock and options trading strategies. Also all of our travels have been covered (hotels and restaurants) in about 20 countries in the past 7 years
For the future, I can see that I will keep writing about my travels (in and out Georgia), investments (crypto, peer to peer lending and stocks), and some technical stuff, about Drupal website development, for example.
Reinis Fischer website frontage as of October 10, 2020
7 years in a blog writing…
Invest in The Small Dogs of The Dow with Covered Calls and Collect Dividend
| Options trading | 29 seen
The Small Dogs of the Dow, are the five lowest-priced Dogs of the Dow stocks. Currently (2020), these are the Small Dogs of The Dow stocks: DOW, PFE, WBA, CSCO and KO
In today's article, I will take a quick glimpse at a potential return from investing in these five stocks with options (covered calls) + collecting the dividend during the road.
Subscribe to the Covered Calls with Reinis Fischer newsletter
For this example, I'm going to virtually buy 100 shares at each company. All prices below listed as of October 8, 2020
Ticker
Price
Shares
value
Div
Yearly Dividend
Payout Ratio
Monthly Options
DOW
$48.30
100
$4,830.00
4.32%
$210.00
286%
$232.00
PFE
$36.47
100
$3,647.00
3.92%
$144.00
52.75%
$145.00
WBA
$36.49
100
$3,649.00
4.90%
$180.00
39.96%
$179.00
CSCO
$39.40
100
$3,940.00
3.73%
$144.00
46.86%
$135.00
KO
$49.56
100
$4,956.00
…
Ujarma Fortress from a drone flight
| | 11 seen
Ujarma Fortress is located some 45 km east from the nation's capital Tbilisi, in the Kakheti region.
We were off for a daytrip to Kakheti, and it was not planned to make a stop at Ujarma, but as I had a drone with myself I decided to take a better look on the fortress complex from above.
Here is what we got:
Ujarma fortress from a drone flight
The fortress consisted of two parts: the Upper Fortress (the Citadel) and the Lower City. A royal palace, consisting of a two-storey building, was located in the eastern part of the Citadel. The Upper Fortress was destroyed in the 10th century by the Arabian conqueror Abul Kassim but was restored in the 12th century by King George III who used it as a treasury.
Nearby road
According to Georgian chronicler Leonti Mroweli, the cornerstone of the Ujarma fortress was built by the Georgian-Iberian king Aspagur in the III-IV centuries. In the reign of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the fortress was extended and used as a residence.
Ujarma was conquered in 914 when the Arabs invaded the Caucasus mountains, formerly dominated by the Persians. The…
September 2020 Dividend Income Report - $117.04
| Investments | 14 seen
Welcome to the forty-first (#41) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks and peer to peer lending in September 2020.
Just like in the previous months, we spent the last September here in Georgia. We did a few road trips across the country.
Also, I managed to crash and lose my DJI Mavic mini drone and had to order a new one, which got delivered at the end of the month, so more cool drone videos can be done.
Sapara monastery in Georgia
I had a chance to visit this monastery at the end of September 2020 and capture really awesome drone photography / catching colors of the fall
The baby girl attends her pre-school, she is doing great - talking, singing, dancing Awesome. She started her singing and kickboxing training at the pre-school Quite fascinating what a two-year and 3 months old can do. Development is very rapid.
Last, but not least I won an online auction and bough a flat in rural Latvia: Today I bought my first flat on online auction site
From the perspective of dividend income - last September was pretty…
How To Withdraw PayPal to Bank Account in Georgia
| Living in Georgia | 52 seen
Withdrawing funds from PayPal to a local bank account is a popular question in many countries, including Georgia.
As recently I had to renew my VISA card here in Georgia (Bank of Georgia) I decided to test - can I actually withdraw funds from Paypal to a Bank account in Georgia?
If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia
Turns out I can. And it is done at blazing speeds. Funds were transferred in seconds, Awesome.
For the test purposes, I decided to transfer $40 from my PayPal balance to my Georgian bank account.
the transfer took about 3 seconds and cost $5.
Not sure will the speed be as fast for larger amounts, say $1,000 also not sure about commission for larger amounts, but hey it works.
Remember, you need a VISA card, not MASTERCARD. VISA card cost about GEL 150 for two years, see:
If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia
Rike Park Concert Hall - Music Theater and Exhibition
| Entertainment | 119 seen
As the name suggests, the Rike Park Concert Hall is located inside the territory of Rike Park, Tbilisi.
The other name Music Theatre and Exhibition hall
Rike park concert hall in Tbilisi
The project site is located inside the green area called Rike Park, in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The building consists of two different soft shaped elements that are connected as a unique body at the retaining wall. Every shape has its own function:
The north part of the building contains the Musical Theatre Hall (566 seats), the foyer and several facilities, together with technical spaces for theatre machinery and various storages. The Exhibition Hall opens its great entrance with a ramp that brings visitors from the street level. The Music Theatre Hall, on the contrary, soars from the ground and allows the users to stay in the foyer and in the cafeteria to have a view to the river and the skyline of the city. It is a periscope to the city and looks towards the river framing the historic core of the Old Tbilisi.
Source: Rhike Park / Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall
…Italy/Switzerland Travel Guide
| Travel guides | 3 seen
This is yet another roundup post listing places from our latest trip to Italy and Switzerland at the end of 2019.
Long story short - we travel to Italy's Bergamo by Ryanair from Tbilisi airport, took a rental car, and went to cool places both in Italy and Switzerland. To make it more fun we traveled together with our 16 months old toddler
Also, see my notes from the 2015/2016 travels - My Italy Travel Guide
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