Responsive Learning Web App - sales.wilsonlearning.lv
Recently I was contacted by a long-term customer (Wilson Learning Baltics) with a request to build a responsive web learning application for their business needs. This was quite an easy task for me, in fact I have been built a similar web app for this customer some time ago already. I was provided with an example site on global learning portal, see it here CSP Mobile APP and asked to localize this app into Latvian. In fact all the localization task was already done and I was provided with one large .docx and .pdf file (.pdf just a mirror version) with all texts translated, so it was my turn to build this app from scratch and add content on it.In short this web app teaches 4 very…
Hotel Dzintars Review in Jūrmala, Latvia
Dzintars hotel is located in Latvian beach resort city Jūrmala - very close to the nations capital city Riga (some 30 minutes drive).
The reason I chose this hotel is plain simple - my brother works as a concierge here (family ties) and this hotel is among cheapest available in Jūrmala (and by saying cheapest I mean - it's a value deal)
I first visited Dzintars hotel back in 2014 or 2015 and since then have stayed here several more times.
Hotel Dzintars in Jūrmala
Guest can enjoy a free parking on site
Meal at Hotel Dzintars restaurant
A really tasty and affordable meal here
Bike rental at hotel Dzintars
I don't know about rental prices, we got a free ride (thanks to my…
St. John's Church in Saldus
Some time ago I visited a lovely town Saldus (located some 100km from capital Riga), one of the main sights here is a church - St. John's Church of Saldus. As usual I took my camera and made a few shots here.
The altarpiece at Saldus St. John's church
Author of this altar painting is made by J. Dering (19th century). Read more: Churches in Saldus
Saldus St. John church
This church building is the oldest building of the town and the first stone made church in Saldus built in 1615, but re-designed by Wilhelm Neumann and rebuilt at the end of 19th century.
Marketplace near church
During my short visit here - Saldus city festival were held
About Saldus St. John's…
How to Specify a Vary: Accept-Encoding header Nginx
The other day I visited tools.pingdom.com to test performance for my blog (the one you are currently reading) and I did fine I have a two bottlenecks:
Remove query strings from static resources
Specify a Vary: Accept-Encoding header
I managed to handle query string issue for static resources and then I headed to find a solution for the Specify a Vary thing. Since it's not a Drupal related issue I did some search regarding Nginx and I soon found excellent solution on stackoverflow.com
How to Specify a Vary: Accept-Encoding header Nginx
Inside the server { of the domain/subdomain that you want to set it, add
sudo nano /path/to/domain/sites-available/yourdomain.com…
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Skrunda
History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Skrunda dates back to 1668 as stated on official Skrunda municipality website. I took my camera and went to memorize this place.
Skrunda church
Bell tower of Skrunda Church
Back view of Skrunda Church
Burial near Skrunda church
According to the inscription on the cross - pastor Johann Daniel Goldmann is buried here
Skrunda church
I hadn't a chance to enter this church (ups, doors were closed) but according to Skrunda municipality the pulpit and the altarpiece of Skrunda church were installed at the end of the 18th century, but the organ of the church was set up in the 19 th century. During the First World War,…
Skrunda Cultural Center
Right, I just made this name - Skrunda Cultural Center what is a direct translation from Latvian Skrundas Kultūras Centrs.
I wouldn't probably mention this place on my blog, but since lately I have been travelling around Skrunda a lot, I decided why not?! Another reason I'm listing this place here - you can get a free high-speed Wi-Fi internet here (at least I managed to get some).
Seriously speaking - Skrunda Cultural Center is a great place where locals gather to participate in different hobby groups, like singing, dancing, theater play (you name it) - and probably some major events are held here as well.
Right, show me the pictures buddy:
Conference hall at Skrunda Cultural center…
The Stender’s Bar&Club in Kuldīga
I believe soon I will have a complete list of Kuldīga restaurants, but prior that I would like to introduce you another interesting place in this charming Curonian city, meet The Stender's Bar & Club. Stender's Bar&Club is located on charming street in KuldīgaIts address is Liepājas street 3Menu desk at Stender'sMenu at Stender's BarInterior at Stender'sDaily dose of CokeServed with icePoster at Stender's RestroomYes, I even take my camera to restroomsOutdoor patio at Stender's placeOutdoor patio at Stender's placeOr me learning my cameraMeal at Stender'sMeal at Stender'sI must admit in photos this meal looks much better as it tastes. Well it tastes pretty good - but instead of…
Home Remodelling - How It All Starts
Recently my better part and I became a lucky home-owners, we went through a long and bureaucratic procedure to inherit a house in scenic place in a very remote country. The house is in a very bad condition and asks for a lot of investments - one of the primary things we are looking to do next - is to change a roof (it is leaky), to dig the well, draw in water and to connect to the electricity. Since it requires a lot of money and a lot of time I decided to start a new blog post series - Home Remodelling - to document progress.Update: After a few years and a couple of thousand investment we lost ownership of this property and all the renovation works have stopped, instead we have a few other…
Širhans - Azerbaijani cuisine in Riga, Latvia
Širhans (Shirhan) is a lovely restaurant serving Azerbaijani cuisine located in the suburbs of Sarkandaugava in Riga, Latvia (Meža Prospekts 90).I visited this place just shortly after a visit to Riga Zoo.If you just like me enjoy Caucasian style cuisine you will enjoy this place. Although I must admit I'm very found of Georgian cuisine (Read my Tbilisi restaurant reviews) - this time I was pleased with Azerbaijani cuisine also. Thus take into consideration - to enjoy a real Azeri cuisine - you must visit land of fire. The local versions are usually adopted to local customer tastes. Restaurant Shirhan in RigaJust take a look at this lovely tiger - as seen in the…
Riga Zoo
Riga Zoo is a city-owned zoo in Riga, Latvia. It is located in Mežaparks neighbourhood next to the Mežaparks park, on the western bank of Ķīšezers lake. Riga Zoo houses around 4000 animals of nearly 500 species and is visited by 250-300,000 visitors annually.
Ocassionaly I love visitin Riga zoo, in this article some of my pictures and data when I visited Riga Zoo together with my mom at the start of May 2016
I took my DSLR camera with myself and captured more than 600 images here, just 17 survived to you my dear reader.
Entrance gates at Riga zoo
Riga Zoo is located in a lovely neighbourhood of Mežaparks.
Flamingos at Riga Zoo
A camel at Riga zoo
A peacock at Riga…
Dobele Castle Ruins
Right, lets speak about a topic I like a very much - Castle ruins. Recently I visited Dobele Castle Ruins (Republic of Latvia) and spent here some 30 minutes trying to make some decent photos of this place. History of this castle dates back to the 1335 AD. But prior to that there was another castle (Read more at the end of this post)Fortification walls of Dobele CastleFortification walls of Dobele CastleDobele castle ruinsDobele castle ruinsHere I laid down in the grass and experimented with a photography. Personally I have found this technique gives me best photos in case I'm not using a tripod. Actualy I did use here a small gorilla pad tripod. In a result I got a pretty interesting…
Dobele Evangelical Lutheran Church
I was surprised to learn that this church is more than 500 years old. Prior I learnt that I was even more surprised to learn that Dobele town has a lovely historical centre. This church is located just next to this historical centre.
I took my camera and tried to make some great pictures here.
Dobele Evangelical Lutheran Church
I believe all is said with just this one photo. Just marvellous.
Entrance at this church
Info table
This church is now already 520 years old
Back view
As usual in Latvian churches, the doors were closed (some construction works were held inside) and I hadn't any chance to photograph inside interior.
About Dobele Evangelical Lutheran Church
The…
The Historical Centre of Dobele - Marketplace Square
Dobele is a small town located in historical region of Zemgale in Latvia some 60 km South West from nations capital city Riga. One thing a tourist should visit while in Dobele definitely is it's historical centre - marketplace square. In recent years this place has gone through some renovation and last time I visited it - it looked just amazing.Well if you are hoping to see both old and new architecture, like it's for example in German city Bonn's marketplace, then no - you wont find here any skyscrapers. For some reason I got this feeling that time at this place has stood still from some 19th century.Historical centre of DobeleA tourist info board explaining history of this placeA fountain…
Cafe 'Dzirnaviņas' in Biksti
Cafe Dzirnaviņas is located on the roadside of Riga - Liepaja highway in a small county of Biksti. This place serves a traditional Latvian cuisine for a very affordable prices.Cafe DzirnavinasMenu at Cafe DzirnavinasAs usual it might happen in local Latvian restaurants - a pork chop is a most popular meal. Prices indicated here are in EUR. Portions? Enormous!A daily dose of Coca-ColaThey serves Coke with ice here (on request)Bread kvassAnother traditional element from Latvian cuisine - a bread kvassPork chopBoiled vegetablesThe Bottom LineCafe Dzirnaviņas seems is a very popular place among locals and foreigners I met here a few foreigners as well - Russians, Belarussians and even a…
Skrunda Bus Station
Skrunda bus station is a regional bus station serving local Latvian cities and town. It mainly serves Riga and Liepaja route, but you can get from here to Kuldīga, Kazdanga and other local routes. If you are heading to Skrunda by bus you can either hire some local taxi here or walk to the closely located Skrunda abandoned military town (Distance ~ 6km).
Speaking of this station building - for me it looks like a pretty standard Soviet time architecture built from a concrete.
Skrunda bus station
Platform at Skrunda bus station
Buses from Platform NR1 goes to Riga
Waiting room at Skrunda Bus Station
Bus schedule
Skrunda Bus Station
Rudzisu Stone
We discovered Rudzisu Stone (Rudzīšu akmens) by accident driving some remote roads in Latvian countryside. What at start seemed an easy task turned to be a mini hiking tour. Although there is a tourist sign right next to the road some (perhaps you) will need walk to this stone some 500 meters (at least) from that road. You will have a chance to meet some snails, cross two wooden bridges, dive into a spooky forest in case you are up to for this mini hiking tour.Here are approximate coordinates for this stone: Latvia, Kuldiga district, Laidi municipality, 300 m E from Snepele - Kazdanga road, in small gully 140 m N from Rudzisi.Snails near Rudzisi stoneWe met a lot of these small…
Berghof Restaurant Review in Dairy Manor, Sieksāte, Latvia
This restaurant is located inside the Dairy Manor Berghof complex. During my visit at this complex I had a chance to try a local delicacy like salmon tartar at this restaurant. I learned there exists a gadget called a tea timer while I enjoyed my meal here. Dairy Manor (Piena Muiža in Latvian) Berghof is located in the remote Latvian village of Sieksāte some 160 km from capital Riga. This manor complex serves a hotel, restaurant, museum and a lovely park. Outdoor Patio at this RestaurantI believe some (perhaps you) will enjoy this patio in mild summer evenings. Indoor interiorIndoor interiorIndoor interiorEmbroidered blanketSaying Enjoy your meal!Tea timerSome…
Dairy Manor Berghof
Dairy Manor (Piena Muiža in Latvian) Berghof is located in the remote Latvian village of Sieksāte some 160 km from capital Riga. This manor complex serves a hotel, retaurant, museum and a lovely park. Bicycle parking at BerghofSome (perhaps you) can rent a bicycle here and enjoy a lovely ride around this manor complexCamper parking at BerghofDairy Manor Offers 17 well-equipped campers and daravan pitches and facility house, thus enabling travellers to spend holidays as close as possible to nature, at the same time having all comfort options of the Manor. Picturesque landscapes and pastures, centennial alley planted in the time of Baron, murmur of the leaves in the autumn inspire you to…
The Northern Forts of Liepaja
If you just like me are into fortification systems you will definitely enjoy The Northern Forts of Liepaja.
Built by Imperial Russia at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of 20th century to provide the protection of Liepāja’s naval base in case of enemy attack. According to history - In November of 1908, Tsar Nicholas II approved a decision to shut down the sea fortress in Liepāja. It has been now over 100 years since these fortification walls don't function anymore and just recently they have been placed on tourist maps.
The Northern Forts of Liepāja
Over a century old but still in a pretty good shape
Wind Generator near Liepāja
Located just next to the old…
Caffe 'Lielā Pietura' Review in Grobiņa, Latvia
Caffe 'Lielā Pietura' literally translates as 'The Great Stop' and there is no surprise of this name, this cafeteria is actually located close to the ... a bus stop in Grobiņa, connecting capital city Rīga with Liepāja. This cafeteria serves traditional Latvian cuisine for a very reasonable price.Bus stop 'Grobiņa'Rīga - Liepāja interstate buses takes a stop hereCake 'Old Riga'Traditional Latvian cake named after a lovely Old Riga,filled with cottage cheese in sugar... or somethingRaspberry creamReally delicious deserts here at Lielā PieturaSolyanka soupInterior at Lielā PieturaChop dressed with cheese and tomatoes and served with potatoesThe Bottom LineCaffe 'Lielā Pietura' indeed is a…