Rose Garden 'Dailas Rozes' near Tukums in Latvia
| Farms | 13 seen
We received a special request, from a special person, to deliver park rose Rītausma, which could translate as Dawn in English.
Rītausma is a local, Latvia selected park rose breed. To get one (seedling price was about EUR 5), we had to cross half of the country, to find this special, precious rose at Dailas Rozes, located in Sēme parish, some 5km from Tukums.
After spending an hour at Dailas Rozes park, I felt impressed, made a few photos here and would highly recommend this place to all rose lovers.
Rozītes
Dailas Rozes is located in Rozītes, Sēme parish, Tukums district, Latvia. We did find problematic to find this place, but for that, I've added coordinates (at the end of this article)
Rose nursery
Pretty cool glass house construction, I would love to have such at our rural country house some day.
Landscape at Dailas Rozes
Excellent.
Autumn Harvest in The Garden
| | 5 seen
Back at our rural country house in Latvia, we have a pretty international garden, plants, and flowers from different countries across the world, so, for example, we have a tulip bulbs from the Netherlands, cabbage seeds from the United States of America, some lichens from Georgia, and of course traditional Latvian plants.
It was at the end of August 2017, we decided it's the right time to harvest the crop, we planted back in Spring.
In today's Piece of Lifes series - Autumn Harvest 2017
Garden
Today we will dig potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, and cut cabbages
See, how we made this garden a year ago using ground tiller: Ground Milling With A Tiller
Chrysanthemums
I'm bad at flowers, but these ones look the chrysanthemums to me
Harvest of potatoes and onions
I agree, not many potatoes for upcoming winter, but plenty of onions
Another flower
As said, I'mbad at recognizing them, but these cuties, we probably bought back in The Netherlands Keukenhoff garden. See: Keukenhof Tulip (Flower) Garden in…
How I Made $2,135.03 with Google AdSense in 8 years
| Blogging | 9 seen
Wow, it has been already 8 years, since I've been using Google AdSense to monetize online content. Amazing how fast time flies - It was at late night of September 4th, 2009, when I finally decided to give it a try for Google AdSense.
You know what's more amazing? Half of that amount I made in the last year alone. See: How I Made $1,000 with Google AdSense in 7 years
Back then, 8 years ago, I had a dozen of "web-projects", mostly powered by WordPress, I was exploring different niches and put a lot of time and energy in too many directions. I decided to try to monetize my efforts - and of course, I was thinking - I will make those million dollars overnight. I didn't. Actually, my most valuable asset back at those days generated me just about 6,000 monthly users (monthly, not daily). I made about four dollars in the first month, and maybe $10 four months later.
Soon I stopped my huge efforts on building the next big thing, and AdSense dollars stopped rolling in at all. From 2011 until the end of 2013 I was not using Google AdSense actively (from reports I can see, I have made a dollar, or two, maybe four dollars per…
Top 12 Luxury & Boutique Hotels in Chania Town
| Hotel reviews | 44 seen
For a luxury stay in Chania town, you will find plenty of 4-star and 5-star hotels. The best - luxury and boutique hotels are pretty affordable in Chania, you should be ready to pay about EUR 75 to EUR 260 per night.
From my personal experience, thus I've not stayed at any of listed below hotels, I've stayed just for one night at Lithinon Studio apartments, close to the harbor bay for about EUR 50, spending rest of my time at other boutique hotels on Island. See my complete Crete travel map.
That said - here is the list of TOP 12 luxury and boutique hotels in Chania, Crete, according to actual user reviews on Booking.com
Please note: hotels listed below may contain links to Booking.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a reservation on Booking.com site, I might earn an affiliate income, at no cost to you.
Domus Renier Boutique HotelOffering views of the old port and the lighthouse, Domus Renier is situated in Chania Town, in the heart of the old Venetian Harbour, 100 metres from Maritime Museum Of Chania.
Each room at…
One of The Best Traditional Cretan Restaurants - Gramvousa in Kaliviani
| Restaurant reviews | 85 seen
There is another clear winner in my top restaurant list - Gramvousa Restaurant in the small Cretan village Kaliviani. Discovered by the accident, during our travels in Crete at the start of June 2017.
We headed here after failed attempt to reach Balos beach in the nearby vicinity, see: Discoveries in Crete - Rough Road To Balos Beach
Right now it's hard to remember where did we actually headed, but we were driving through this small village, just later we learned the name of it - Kaliviani. As it was afternoon already, we just looked for some lovely roadside restaurants, and here it was - Gramvousa Traditional Cretan Restaurant.
Gramvousa Traditional Cretan Restaurant
As it was afternoon, we didn't find a problem to find a free table here, but I believe in the evenings it might be a problem. The kind waiter showed us a lovely, remote table and gave a free ouzo drink. As I was already offered free ouzo a couple of evenings before back in Chania, I finally get it - free ouzo for everyone. See: Taverna En Plo in Chania
Ouzo drink
As neither of us…
Discoveries in Crete - Rough Road To Balos Beach
| Tourism objects | 46 seen
Balos Beach & Lagoon have been listed as one of the TOP 10 Best Europe's Beaches in 2017 according to Trip Advisor. We didn't know that yet when planned our trip here with a rental car we took earlier this morning at Agia Marina beach.
This was indeed a beautiful trip, kind of reminded me the one we did about a year ago in Spain's region of Andalusia, see: In The Searches For El Torcal - Wilderness in SpainTorcal - Wilderness in Spain
Also, I should admit we didn't reach Balos beach after all, as the road to there was indeed rough, and once we were at the final parking space it turned out that we should walk for some 15-20 minutes more and there were zillions of tourists, idea didn't sound great, as there are plenty of more cool beaches in Crete and shortly before reaching destination, we turned our car back and returned back.
We started our drive to Balos beach from Mavros Molos Beach near Kissamos and navigated there by using Google Maps.
Entering Gramvousa - Balos Peninsula Protected area
Signboard saying:
Welcome to Gramvousa-Balos peninsula, natura …
August 2017 Dividend Income Report - $40.43
| Investments | 11 seen
Welcome to the fourth (#4) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and crypto currencies) in August 2017.
If you are new to these dividend income reports, where I'm sharing my progress towards financial freedom, here is a backstory in short - I started my wealth building adventure (portfolio) in January 2017 with a simple goal to invest $8,561 this year in several batches. First months of the year didn't generate me anything much, but starting May it has started slowly pick up.
Last August, I turned 32, we headed to Kiev, Ukraine to celebrate it for a couple of days. As I've reached the age of 32, it means I will put aside at least 32% of my yearly income, in fact, I have thought on this a lot and with the next year, I'm planning to adjust this ratio to years + 10. As I'm 32 now, it means for the next financial year (2018) I'm aiming to put aside 42% from my yearly income, as right now I believe in a more aggressive saving approach, if I want to get to the 1 million dollar milestone…
Mavros Molos Beach near Kissamos, Crete
| Tourism objects | 36 seen
Mavros Molos beach is a quiet and kind of remote, tourist unspoiled beach located near Kissamos, some 40km from Chania.
We made here a short stop during our Crete exploring trip back in June 2017
Mavros Molos Beach is the largest beach in Kissamos (Kastelli) itself, with fine sand and relatively shallow water.
Mavros Molos beach near Kissamos, Crete
Mavros Molos beach is at the west end of town, right in front of the restaurants and tavernas, and is fully organized with umbrellas and loungers. There are hotels and apartments for rent on the beach.
Mavros Molos beach near Kissamos, Crete
Indeed, during our short, I would say, a 5-minute stay at this beach, we didn't met any vacationers - here you go - a quiet, unspoiled beach in a short distance from Chania
Top 20 5-star hotels in Istanbul, Turkey
| Hotel reviews | 85 seen
For a luxury stay in Istanbul, you will find a wide selection of top World brand hotels, Sheraton, Hilton, Kempinski, Four Seasons, Hyatt you name it. a
From my personal experience, I've stayed at a dozen of Istanbul's boutique hotels in a price range USD 60-100, with Dosso Dossi Istanbul Old City Hotel located in Sultanahmet, being the latest. Make sure you check out article What to do and see in Istanbul in less than 24 hours if you are traveling to Istanbul for the first time. Also, I should add, back in 2013, when traveling from Houston to Riga, via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, and since time between connecting flight was more than 24 hours, we got a free night at Sheraton Grand Istanbul Atasehir, which was a nice stay, not centrally located, but still a great perk from Turkish Airlines, with a free shuttle service to the airport in the next morning.
5-star hotels in Istanbul will vary in price range starting USD 100, for lower end 5-star hotels and up to USD 550 for a real luxury stay. No matter which one you will chose you - knowing Turkish hospitality you will get what you paid for.
That said - here is the list …
Cafe Mixail Malandrakis in Kalydonia, Crete
| Restaurant reviews | 19 seen
Cafe Mixail Malandrakis is located in a small village of Kalydonia, Crete in distance some 25km from Chania town.
We discovered this place by accident, when, after checking out from a hotel room in Agia Marina (see: Vergina Beach Hotel Review, Agia Marina, Crete), took a rental car and decided to head in the direction towards Kissamos. it was still quite early, and we decided it would be a very good idea to have some morning coffee.
As usual, it happens with such lovely roadsides cafeterias, at least for me, it always involves a lot of research work after, to find coordinates, names e.t.c to put this place on my World travel map. This time it involved usage of Greek transliteration (http://gr.translit.cc/), of course, Google Translate, but what makes it special this time, I used a phone book (http://www.locatefamily.com/Street-Lists/Greece/KOLYMVARI-2.html) to find the location of this place and finally make sure, that it probably would be best named in English - Mikhail Malandrakis Bed & Breakfast. As it took some research to get what could possibly "To Mpenteni" (το μπεντεν) means, and just with help of…
Wandering In The Woods B&W Photography
| | 9 seen
For the second year in the row I agreed to go to the same forest and harvest mushrooms, instead of a catch of forest goodies, I spent a few days finding interesting, eye catching elements in the woods.
Don't get me wrong, I did find some forest mushrooms (eatable), but compared to previous year's experience this was nothing much. See the same forest a year ago: Deep in the Forest, also see: Forest Mushrooms - Penny Bun & Red-Capped Scaber Stalk
I did find it interesting, once in the woods, for reason or not I tend to photograph with wide open aperture, probably because of limited light, but usually, I prefer tack sharp over bokeh. Once our forest wanderings were over, when post processing in Adobe Lightroom, again, for reason or not - I did find it should be awesome to feature this story from the woods as a Black & White Photography.
Parking our Hoda CRV at Glade
By the way, we love gathering mushrooms and we are doing that even in Georgia, see: Harvesting Mushrooms in Georgia
Clean forest in Western Latvia
It was hard to spot any forest mushrooms here, but after…
How To Fix Mixed Content Errors From Disqus on HTTPS site
| Servers | 19 seen
Today I noticed that SSL connection on this blog had errors due to “mixed content”, meaning HTTPS site was loading additional content that was served over insecure HTTP. After a little bit of digging in the console, I discovered that the issue was due to our Disqus comment plugin loading over HTTP.
I felt surprised learning that Disqus is serving HTTP content, and quickly googled, are there other webmasters complaining about this, and I found a few articles. What felt even more surprising was that this problem has been around since the end of 2016. See: Mixed Content Errors from Disqus on HTTPS Site
It turns out, Disqus is serving anonymous cookie over HTTP to improve the personalized content and advertising in Disqus comment section. Now, while it can help to improve advertising and personalized content in Disqus comments section, it can also make a harm for your site because of mixed content.
Luckily, there is a quite easy workaround, which involves disabling this anonymous cookie serving:
Disqus advanced settings
How to fix mixed content errors from Disqus on your HTTPS site:
…Mild Summer Evenings at Agia Marina Beach in Crete
| | 16 seen
We traveled to Crete, at the start of June 2016, after capturing mesmerizing postcards from Chania, we continued our route to Agia Marina, where stayed for about 3 nights at Vergina Beach hotel
After, we continued our trip deeper in Island, and at the end of this trip returned to this area for another 5 days
In today's Piece of Love series, pictures from Agia Marina beach
Rock formations near Agia Marina beach in Crete
From what we have seen from our upcoming travels almost all across Crete, Agia Marina was one of the most tranquil places, slow, pretty quiet, despite a lot of Scandinavian folks resting here. Swimming in these beaches - a real joy.
Sunset at Agia Marina
I couldn't resist to take a tripod and make a lovely HDR.
As said, really cool, tranquil and I would even say pretty romantic place (beaches).
Red Dragon Restaurant Review in Platanias
| Restaurant reviews | 28 seen
Red Dragon is a Chinese restaurant in Platanias, Crete serving kind of combo tourist meals for IMHO bit high prices.
Anyhow, as we booked a hotel room in a nearby Agia Marina town (which seems is a hotel area), then most of the dinning options are located in nearby Platanias.
As previous evening we walked about 4 km to The Stones Restaurant, for this night we wanted something closer, Red Dragon was one of the first places we met in our route.
Red Dragon restaurant in Platanias
I don't remember correctly, but it offers like EUR 25 combo meal for two persons (and seems that most places in area focuses on this price level for combo meals), as we had an appetite, we went for some shredded beef and so on.
Corn soup
A typical entree at Chinese restaurants - a corn soup, this was actually really nice prepared, sweet with lot of more ingredients than just canned corn. Delicious.
Shredded beef with vegetables
Ahh, I can eat them like forever :)
Top 15 Kutaisi Hotels in Georgia
| Hotel reviews | 15 seen
Kutaisi lacks 5-star hotels, but there are plenty of 4-star and 3-star hotels, prices for hotels are quite cheap here ( if compared to Western Europe) and you could easy find a decent 4-star hotel with a budget of $50 or less per night.
From my personal experience, I have stayed a few times in middle budget class hotels in Kutaisi, and they have been decent. See: Hotel Edemi Review in Kutaisi, Georgia and Hotel Newport Kutaisi Review
In case you are on tight budget or just want to try out local hostels, see: 18 Kutaisi Hostels That Won't Break Your Travel Budget
For a luxury stay in Tbilisi, see: Top 10 Boutique / Luxury Hotels in Tbilisi (Georgia) and for Batumi, see here: 16 Best Batumi Beach / Seaside Hotels
Returning on my personal preferences for my next stay in Kutaisi, I would most probably choose between: Best Western Kutaisi or Aeetes Palace Hotel
That said - here is the list with TOP 15 Kutaisi hotels in Georgia, according to actual user reviews on Booking.com.
Hotel HarmonyFeaturing free WiFi and a terrace, Hotel…
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