How To Make Nadugi - Traditional Georgian Snack (Fresh Cheese With Mint)
When I first arrived to Georgia back in 2011, I was immediately taken to one of the lovely Tbilisi restaurants. Since I had no clue what so ever special of Georgian Cuisine I asked my friend could he suggest me some common and typical Georgian food? We ordered Ojakhuri and Nadugi.
When I first seen Nadugi I thought its form looks like cone of ice cream, and then my associative thinking turned on and I thought - strange they eat potatoes / meat stew together with ice cream? Then I tried that little snack and in next second I just felt in love with that small Georgian snack Nadugi.
Now I know - Nadugi is nothing related to ice cream - it's actually some…
Deer Park "Rudiņi" in Latvia
Lovely things happened on June's late evening, we most probably traveled back from Riga to our wolf's lair and noticed a strange construction - The Bridge to nowhere, after I took few photos back there, we continued our drive and suddenly second surprise - deers, a lot of deers.
Now being back to Tbilisi I feel a bit awkward for two reasons - first I'm not 100% that this place actually is called Rudiņi deer park (In Latvian - Rudiņu briežu parks), second - I didn't had that telephoto lens I do have now.
Deer park in Latvia
A runaway deer
Now - a telephoto zoom would probably done amazing close shots of wildlife in this situation, but unfortunately i didn't have such…
Bridge To Nowhere (Latvia)
It was a late June evening and we most probably returned from Riga to our wolf's lair when suddenly we noticed very interesting object - The Bridge To Nowhere.
The bridge reminds of the intended construction of Tukums-Kuldīga railroad, which was started already during the first independence of the Republic of Latvia in 1930-ties. However, in the minds of the people, it is instilled as a German wartime commemorative site, because the German rule during the 1940-ties tried to continue and complete it, but they did not succeed. The bridge has remained intact in the middle of a meadow up until the modern day. Read more: Bridge to Nowhere
Bridge to nowhere
P 121 asphalt road…
Open Air Sulphur Water Swimming Pools in Borjomi
Georgia will never end surprise you (at least me), so did happened during our recent hiking/trekking tour in lovely parts of Borjomi - Kharaguli National park. After a visit of Saint George Church in Daba we headed back to Borjomi Mineral Water park (You can find a Borjomi Cable car here) and we decided to take some shortcut. Huge was my surprise when I noticed following scenery:Open air swimming pools in BorjomiI couldn't believe what I was seeing, it looked like some oasis in the middle of dessert - completely new (Ok, as I learnt latter it's actually renovated old) clean and super exciting place located just on Borjomi hiking trails.Borjomula riverIt's just amazing what a…
Skrunda Open-Air Stage and Park
I just love Skrunda, like I have dedicated a lot of posts to this lovely small Latvian town in Western Latvia. So today is no exception - meet another tourist attraction in this marvelous town - Open air stage and park. You will just love this place.
Skrunda park with an open-air stage and the viewing platform. The park is developed on top of the Skrunda castle mound and features four public art objects made by wood carver Ģirts Burvis – seats of the first Couronian kings Ērmanis Pilāts, Jākobs Sigitars, Veisens and Santiķis. The sculptures were dedicated to the 750th anniversary of Skrunda being mentioned in historical sources. A scenic view over the River Venta opens from the viewing…
Saint George Church and Monastery (Borjomi/Georgia)
I was not familiar with the name of this place, until during a recent hiking trip in Georgia and latter at home using Google Maps I learned this place is known as Saint George Church.
The name I used to knew it - was something like this - there is that lovely women monastery up there in Borjomi. And I'm still preferring this name of describing this place instead of Saint George Church.
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.
Tourist sign indication direction to this monastery complex
I still haven't…
One Day Trip To Armenia (Lori Province)
Just shortly after our return to Georgia, in the first weekend we just couldn't sit back home and do nothing, we were eager for some travels. So we found this lovely offer on Facebook - short one day trip to Armenia for 40 GEL (it's about $17.00) and here we were heading to Armenia. Since this was not our first trip to neighboring republic we already felt pretty confident about all the border crossings, money exchanges e.t.c.
I must admit I had no clue where we are actually heading to, and that's actually the way I prefer to travel, not much planning, just basic information. I call it a true travel spirit. As it later turned out our tour guide was prepared better, and we…
Skrunda Manor and Hotel
Skrunda Manor is an attractive final destination in the culturally historical region of Kurzeme (Courland) in Latvia. What's use to been a manor house now is turned into a boutique hotel in Western Latvia. I know for sure they have restaurant on site and after midnight you can get a take away coffee at reception (well, don't forget about tips to the receptionist).
I visited this place at the start of June 2015, since I was a little bit in rush, I didn't photographed lovely interior they have on site, and I feel some regrets about it now.
Playground at Skrunda manor
Skrunda manor
Skrunda Manor built in classicism style with design similarities with Mežotne Palace was reconstructed in…
Brethren Cemetery ensemble in Nīkrāce (Latvia)
It was hard for me to decide should I put this place as a tourist attraction or as a military heritage, I opted for the second one. You see, things related to WW2, especially like Brethren Cemeteries is hard to call tourist attractions, right?
So, here is another one interesting place in Latvia, region of Courland you should visit some day - a memorial dedicated to fatalities of WW2. Some locals call this place just as a Mother (Latvian: Māmuļa) because of the sculpture in the middle of this ensemble.
Brethren Cemetery ensemble in Nikrace
Author of this sculpture: Līvija Rezevska
Brethren Cemetery ensemble in Nikrace
According to sources, around 3000 war fatalities…
Simple Homemade Hamburger Recipe With Photos
What happens when bloggers, who are trying out some new photo equipment and who loves to cook comes together? Right, they do a food blog. This time blogger here is just one (I do have a lovely assistant) and strong jury although.
So, lets make a really simple hamburger today.
For ingredients you will need to have those lovely buns (you can try to buy them at your local shop), for patties I'm going to use ground meat (minced meat) out of pork, but you could use beef, as I believe a real hamburger is made out of beef.. wait, what am I talking right now? Pork is just fine.
1 egg, 2 onions, and your favorite seasoning for patties.
For toppings you can use, tomatoes, pickles,…
Lēnas Holy Trinity Roman Catholic church (Latvia)
Lēnu church (Latvian: Lēnu baznīca) is located in Latvia, historical region of Courland in Skrunda municipality. I first discovered this place either in 2013, or 2014, and in fact I was surprised to learn than in Western Latvia (Courland) there are actually Catholic churches (turns out - there are, and a lot)
Lenu church
At time (On June 6, 2015) I visited this church a festival called Night of Churches happened, which basically means that this festival promotes awareness of Latvian churches.
Lēnu Catholic church
The statue of the Holy Virgin Mary at Lēnu church garden
At Lēnu church
About Lēnas Holy Trinity Roman Catholic church
The church with two…
Temple of Saint Seraphim of Sarov (Borjomi/Georgia)
Temple of Saint Seraphim of Sarov is located close to Borjomi (some 1.5km) in Georgia. You can get here either by car or as I prefer - by foot using Borjomi - Baghi - Tba - Tsemi road. That's actually exactly we did at the end of September during our hiking tour in Borjomi. I must admit this was not the first time for me at this place, but prior to that I didn't know the name and meaning of this place. Now I know, so the place is actually called the Temple on Saint Seraphim of Sarov and is related to Russian Orthodox church.
Tourist sign indicating direction to the temple
It's written in Georgian, unfortunately I'm not familiar with Georgian script (but hey there is Georgian…
Actual Price Index in Tbilisi Market (Georgia) - At Start of October 2015
Right, this might probably sound as yet another hipster style article and probably you are right. The thing is - during month of October I have decided to write down my everyday expenses and in the next month I will provide article on Cost of Living in Tbilisi (Georgia). Since it was start of October, I headed to Google Play store to download first expense tracking app and started to write down my expenses.
I had to visit Tbilisi Dezerteer bazaar just to buy some groceries, and I decided hey it actually would be neat if I would write down actual prices for vegetables and fruits there. So I did. I must admit it was fun and entertaining to enter that app after each purchase I made…
Barbecue Festival in Akhtala (Armenia)
At the start of September 2015, we booked a one day tour to Armenia. This trip took us to Lori province in Armenia, which actually is pretty close to Georgian border. During this trip we had a stops at Haghpat monastery, Sanahin monastery and Akhtala monastey.
It turned out that at our final destination place - the Akhtala monastery, a barbecue festival was held. At start I did find it a bit strange - a barbeque and a monastery? Well... why not?
Akhtala monastery in Armenia
If you will look closely into above picture you will notice the smokes, that's because of barbeque is being prepared
Road to Akhtala Monastery
There were a lot of tourists both local and foreign that day…
Borjomi Cable Car (Aerial Tram)
One of the most interesting attractions in Georgian resort town of Borjomi is a cable car leaving from Mineral Water Park and heading uphill offering lovely and scenery views of Mineral Water park. Sometimes it's just enough to take that ride here to enjoy those scenery and beautiful views of Borjomi.
Cable car station in Borjomi
There is actually just one cable car available at this station. Price for a ride per person 3 GEL (as on September 2015)
Cable car interior
For me it looks this cable car stays here back from Soviet era days, but it has been at least once totally renovated back in 2005.
Glass dome house in Borjomi Mineral water park
Actually, that's…
First Georgia Expat Photographer Club Meeting
On September 19th, 2015 First meeting of Georgia Expat Photographers Club happened. As some of you already know - in the middle of this Summer Johann approached me with his idea to create a photo/travel club, and back then we established a community on Facebook. Read more on that here: Georgia Expat Photography Club
Since our community was established on Facebook (if you are up to for something in Georgia, then Facebook is your best friend) we quickly gathered critical mass of fellow expats and photographers and just logical that our next step was to plan some meeting to discuss further things and plans.
Georgia Expat Photography Club members
At the start of…
Super moon Total Lunar Eclipse 2015: Tbilisi, Georgia
Total lunar eclipse was fully visible in Tbilisi, Georgia on September 28, 2015 between 05:07 and 06:55 (Tbilisi time). I must admit that I really enjoy photography, but I had never ever done anything like this (photographing lunar eclipse) before. This night was one of the strangest and mysterious nights I have experienced this year (at least) - what was meant to be just a photography turned ou to be a man's rescue from cold waters of Mtkvari river. (Spoiler: This story has happy endings).
Here is the story:
At first I was totally not into this thing - I slept well, and then without reason we woke up at around 4:00 AM. Hmm, OK, that sometimes happens... Then we…
Understanding focal length: Testing 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses
Welcome to the another digital photography school tutorial on understanding focal length.It's not so long away when I entered magical world of Digital SLR photography, until then I was using simple compact sized cameras and did with them a simple thing - photographed things.Well, things changed when I bought Canon EOS 1200D camera (Read: First Impressions Of Canon EOS 1200D Camera With 18-55mm Lens), then I started to improve my photography skills. Since the camera I bought came with a kit lenses (18mm-55mm) I was left with what I got. Those lenses are perfect, don't get me wrong, but I started to look for ways how to get a closer shots. I have heard other photographers…
Rhododendron Garden in Cirava (Latvia)
If you are heading to a remote Latvian village Cirava, you have few options to make your visit pleasant here, like there are very interesting but abandoned manor complex and a lovely church.However, local residents at Cirava has something else to offer for both local and foreign travelers - a rhododendron garden located in territory of cemetery.
Well, if you are hoping to see here something like Keukenhofs tulip gardens, then .. then go to the Netherlands, here in Cirava you will find a small (selected) selection of rhododendrons, it's about 150 plants here. Opened just back in 2010 this garden park has some bright future prospects of attracting travelers from neighboring…
365 Day Photo Challenge Project
In this post you will learn why I decided to take a personal 365 days photo project challenge and how I'm planing to complete it.
What is a 365 Project?
There are many different 365 projects, but they all share one goal in common: taking at least one photograph every single day, for a full year. Many photographers take that idea one step further to including taking, and posting, at least one photograph a day for an entire year. Some people start 365 projects on January 1st, but you can begin one at any time. Read more: Jumpstart Your Photography – Start a 365 Project
I like challenges and I really like to challenge myself. It was not so long ago, when at the start of October 2013, I…