About Organic Food in Tbilisi and Georgia

26 July, 2017 | Living in Georgia | 62 seen

Caucasian region is the motherland of various dishes that include meat. Georgians even say that real men must eat meat at least once a day as if only meat nourishes body with all the needed vitamins and organic elements. It may be just a gossip but you can find it yourself by just looking through the menus of most Georgian restaurants.

Despite being deep meat lovers Georgians cook an abundance of different vegetable dishes, make so called ‘kompot’ (stewed fruit drink), cook special sauces and astonish travelers with always full of fresh products baskets in the shops and markets.

Lots of tourists do not trust the place known as ‘bazaar’ situated near Station Square Metro because it looks differently from clean and cozy markets in their motherland.

Tbilisi Dezerteer bazaar

Bazaar is the largest place where merchants sell different kinds of fruit and vegetables, fragrant greens, savory spices, Georgian cheese, meet in all its possible variations, and sometimes even livestock. When you enter the open space you can see people selling products in any kind of weather. Any people say that this place is a real disgrace as it looks unsightly and untidy.

Despite lots of criticism there are some ‘buts’ in connection to this place. First of all, this place sells products for a lower prices compared to chains of big supermarkets. Another advantage of bazaar is that all products are Georgian that do not contain pesticides and are non-GMO. You may be perplexed at some point when you see the products but the main rule to remember is that if food looks extremely pretty, as if it was painted – it is non-organic. Organic food in Georgia may look not in the way we are used to see it, but the taste and its favor are really great.

Another rule to remember when buying food either in bazaar or in the streets – bring your own scales. Merchants might play tricks on you with their broken scales that give wrong information.

Actually, Georgian government is struggling against street trading but still you can find many people standing (even in main streets) with their baskets and sacks of fruit and vegetables under the open sky.

Products are even cheaper in smaller cities like Borjomi, Telavi, Akhaltsikhe and others.

Georgian traditional spices at Telavi market

People organize Bazaars in special places and all of the products are easily approachable so that’s why the prices are a little bit lower there. The guarantee that food is organic and fresh is close to 100% mark. Those who prefer eating out and cannot bear the thought of fast food and greasy dishes can find lots of different cafes and restaurants that serve organic and fresh courses.

Vegetarian cafes have become popular in the more recent past where you can taste dishes cooked with non-gluten and eco products.

One of the most densely-attended places is family café ‘Barbarestan’ that serves exclusively organic food.

Wine bar at Barebarestan

Lots of people fall in love with this place from the first bite and highlight politeness of the waiters. You can be taken on a tour to wine cellars where you can hear a wonderful story of the eco establishment. The menu served at the café includes mostly traditional Georgian dishes but in a new unprecedented format that astonishes the locals themselves. You can even taste a secret-receipt ice-cream which has been concealing its ingredients for 104 years. The place is situated in 132, Aghmashenebeli Avenue and also holds live music concerts every weekend.

Another place to visit is g.Vino though be prepared to spend a little bit more here. The place is mostly visited for organic wine and not only. If you once try wine at g.Vino you will start looking for the same flavor in your country – the staff as if knows what to suggest and how to satisfy your tastes. It is really difficult to find an empty table but you will be surprised to see people waiting for others to finish their courses. The address of the place is 6, Erekle II Street.

Kiwi Café is famous for its sensationalism as all liberals gather at this place. You can feel the vibes of pathos there as the founders of the place tried to make the café 100% vegetarian and are absolutely proud of their preferences. The place serves the best falafel in Tbilisi and offers various kinds of organic food including tofu, vegetable stews, mushrooms, fresh fruit smoothies and many-many other dishes. It is situated close to Liberty Square, 6, Machabeli Street.

Kiwi vegan cafe in Tbilisi

Orangery Restaurant is among the top-organic places that serves both Georgian and European cuisines. The ambiance is extremely pleasant as you are surrounded by the green trees, as if the place itself is ‘organic’ and you are far away from the city. Orangery is the place where taste competes with the service and beauty of the table setting. This place is popular with families who have small children as there is a play room designed for children. You can relax at the restaurant and try eco-clean food. You can find this place in 13, Mosashvili Street.

The place where the name speaks for itself is Organique Josper Bar in 4, Shardeni Street. The courses vary from non-gluten dishes to salads and from stakes to chopped cutlets. This is one of the rare places where fresh fish is cooked with a refined taste. You need just one glance to fall in love with the shapes and varieties of courses that are indeed anesthetically pleasing, but when you have just a bite you understand that this is the place you’ve been searching for in Tbilisi. Also don’t forget to taste waffles! They are baked right there and leave a nostalgic aftertaste of the place.

Those who like to raise vegetables and fruit themselves can try online sources like Bio Organic Georgia LTD where one can purchase fertilizers produced of vegetable wastes. You can apply it to the damaged parts of the roots or just improve soil properties.

When coming to Georgia you will find yourself on an unexpected gastronomy tour that helps you to forget about the junk food and mere burgers, no matter how tasty they may be. Food and products sold in Georgia are mostly organic but still one has to see into the interior kitchen of purchase and sale. Still, it is difficult to be disappointed in the food that you try in Georgia and that’s why help yourselves in this beautiful and unique country!

Why I Rushed to Buy Ripple (XRP) Cryptocurrency at $0.19

24 July, 2017 | Crypto | 22 seen

I've been a lot into crypto currencies lately, in fact it's not even a full month passed since I've started my investment adventures into crypto currencies.

For crypto investments I've a verified coinbase.com account and right now coinbase offers to buy just following three crypto currencies by VISA card - bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin, unfortunately there is no support yet for ripple. To buy XRP at coinbase you will need at first buy BTC, then exchange it on Poloniex.com or some other exchange. Although seems there are some exchanges that offer to buy XRP directly, as I haven't tested them out, I cannot say for sure.

​Remember your capital is at risk, never invest capital you cannot afford to loose!

I've bought all three currencies available now on coinbase this month, and frankly speaking I've a little clue what's behind scenes, I'm just into the rush for the next big thing, though at one time from my short crypto investor carrier I've lost more than 50% in total value. That should be a bold warning for you - crypto currencies are volatile. So don't take further written as advice or something, as I'm already losing money in crypto investments. I keep investing because of one reason - I believe there is a future for crypto currencies and their value will appreciate. 

Answering on question why I rushed to buy Ripple (XRP) crypto currency - FOMO - fears of missing out and Diversification.

Let me explain, buying bitcoin at $2,706, ethereum at $222.48 or litecoin at $43.39 (exchange rates as of writing this article) is expensive. Sure, bitcoin could surge to $10,000 in a few years (there are tons of positive forecasts for crypto currencies, just check them out on reddit) and you could double, tipple or even quadruple your investment. But if you are limited with funds to allocate for crypto currencies, the best bet would be probably to use dollar-cost averaging approach and by little amount of coins each month.

$0.19 for XRP, seems a reasonable price to enter and acquire a lot of coins with little investment. If XRP price will skyrocket, so do will your investment. 

I bought 282 XRP coins for about EUR 50 (I had to buy bitcoins at start, then exchange BTC to XRP). My plan is to buy and hold for a long term (at least until the end of 2020), I cannot predict price for ripple, bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin or any other crypto currency, I see there are two scenarios, either they will go to the moon or thew will doom.

With a small investment at EUR 50 I don't feel concerned about negative outcome, I will loose just EUR 50 or more if I wil acquire more coins in coming months, if XRP will appreciate I see there high returns. Simple.

About Ripple

Ripple is a venture-backed startup that provides global financial settlement solutions that reduce the total cost of settlement by enabling banks to transact directly and instantly, while ensuring certainty. It aims to "enable the world to exchange value like it already exchanges information – giving rise to an Internet of Value (IoV).” Read more: Ripple Is Up 3800%: Should You Be Buying?

XRP is currently the third largest cryptocurrency​ in terms of market capitalization; with almost $10 billion in market capitalization, it accounts for roughly around 9% of the cryptocurrency market. Its price has gone up from $0.006684 in the beginning of 2017 to $0.258368, an increase of over 38x.

Lithinon Studio Apartment in Chania Review

23 July, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 15 seen

Situated 100 m from Chania Old Venetian Harbour in Chania Town, this air-conditioned apartment features a terrace. The apartment is 100 m from Mosque of Kioutsouk Hassan. Free WiFi is provided .

We booked this apartment in Chania for a one night stay at the start of June 2017. 

As we hadn't yet booked a rental car in Crete, we took a public bus from Chania airport to get to the city center and then using Google Maps navigation went some 10minutes from Chania coach station to find this place. Located on pretty silent Lithinon street, this place still is just a block away from lively Chania harbor, see: Postcards from Chania

Lithinon street in Chania

​There is a dining area and a kitchen equipped with dishwasher. A flat-screen TV is offered. Free private parking is also available at this apartment.

Lithinon Studio apartment in Chania

For dinner we went our tonight and spent lovely time at Taverna En Plo in Chania

​

Outdoor yard at Lithinon studios

Archaeological Museum of Chania is 200 m from Lithinon Studio With Yard, while Municipal Art Gallery of Chania is 200 m away. The nearest airport is Chania International Airport, 11 km from the property. 

Taverna En Plo in Chania

22 July, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 59 seen

This was a very long and tiring day, in the morning we left Tbilisi to travel to Athens, spent whole day there, and in the evening fled to Chania, Crete, after we checked in at out apartment in Chania, I took a tripod and we made a lovely evening photo walk.

Our evening ended at this nice Greek tavern - En Plo on Portou street 20. 

En Plo seems is a quite popular tourist place, we hardly managed to get a free table here once we get one we spent a good time of waiting our order to be taken.

En Plo tavern in Chania, Crete

This place offers a kind of typical Greek menu (Cretan) - wide variety of grilled meats and so on. We decided to stick with a platter for two for about EUR 35.

Because of a lot of people tonight, we had to wait about an hour for our meal to be served, though cokes and other drinks were served almost instantly. 

Grilled meat plate at En Plo

A oot of variety of meet under potatoes there, grilled sausages, steaks and so on. Tasty. Probably served in a touristic way, but still tasty and affordable. 

After our meal we were offered free ouzo drinks, we kindly rejected by promising to return for some ouzu next time :)

CoinLend.org Review - Automating Cryptocurrency Lending Free Bot Investor

21 July, 2017 | Crypto | 26 seen

A couple of weeks ago I purchased first crypto coins at coinbase.com, about a week ago I decided to invest them on Poloniex.com, today I decided to use bot-investor to manage my crypto investments, I choose CoinLend.org

The service seems is quite new and is built by German enthusiasts / crypto investors, a pretty good introduction post about this service is provided here: Coinlend.org - The Lending-Bot for Poloniex & Bitfinex

​Remember your capital is at risk, never invest capital you cannot afford to loose!

About CoinLend.org

​We are currently a small team of cryptocurrency investors and we are lending out our coins for years now. Initially we started lending manually on the exchanges, but soon noticed how cumbersome it is to monitor and renew your loans all the time. That's why we created Coinlend.org. At first only for ourselves, but as we noticed that the fully automated lending is much more profitable than the manual lending, we now made it publicly available for free, so everyone can benefit from it.

Opening account at CoinLend.org took me less than a minute, setting up the robot took another minute. As I currently have investments just with Poloniex.com, I configured bot to work with it only:

Configuring CoinLend.org bot

From my Poloniex.com account I had to enable API access, and there I got both my API Key and API Secret to enter in Coinlend.org. Simple and straightforward. Now speaking about security, here is what is told by CoinLend.org:

IMPORTANT: There is no risk in providing your API-Key to Coinlend. There is no trading or withdrawal of funds possible with the key. So to use our service, you don't need have to trust us.
As soon as the credentials are stored, the bot will start it's work and lend all funds available in your lending wallets. All other cryptocurrencies which are supported by the exchanges can be lent via the bot as well.

For the sake of a good sleep I double checked settings from Poloniex.com and made sure withdrawals with API access are not enabled

API settings for Poloniex.com

Robo investing with CoinLend.org

Now, as I had already some loans invested manually on Poloniex.com , I went to the lending page and turned off auto-renew for all loans. From now on - CoinLend bot should do the job!

Turning auto-renew off

From CoinLend settings page for Poloniex I left everything intact, but you have some options to play with there:

Setting for CoinLend robo invest

It's nice that developers have enabled Reserved amount option - although there is one thing I'm missing - maximum investment in one loan.

Almost instantly CoinLend account was synced with Poloniex and from My loans tab I could see all of my investments, as I had some bitcoin already lent manually, robo investor took non invested litecoins and automatically lent them out.

CoinLend My Loans page

For the best possible revenue, it is needed to login at regular interval to manage and renew the loans. On the platforms there is an auto-renew functionality, which renews loans automatically, if they are paid back. The renewed loans are created with the same interest rate as the previous one. That's why they are now probably above or below the current optimal interest rate. Therefore, the loans are priced to cheap and potential interest is thrown away - or the loans are price to expensive and will not be taken by borrowers. During the time, the loan is not taken, you are missing out on interest as well. Here comes to Coinlend bot into play: The bot lends out all your funds for the best possible rates and this fully automated and 24 hours around the clock.

I like that there are My interest tab showing total interest earned, as in case with Poloniex it's pretty complicated to get out actual return rate and it involves a lot of excel stuff.

CoinLend will do it automatically. Sure, if you keep your excel sheets, you will need to take raw data still from Poloniex at the end of month and make your accurate calculations, as of right now, CoinLend shows interest for 30 day cycle. Good and informative. For better reporting I would love to see more in deep analytics but still, this is great as it is.

CoinLend My interest tab

CoinLend is completely free to use, API service connecting it to other exchanges (Poloniex and Bitfinex) makes your coins kind of save, even if CoinLend.org gets hacked. Attackers cannot withdraw money using CoinLend APi access. At least I hope so!

As service is free of charge, it's funded by donations, in case you like service, consider donating a small coin, see: Donations.

Launching Simple AMP Version for Drupal Website

20 July, 2017 | Drupal Development | 6 seen

I might be late to the party of implementing AMP for my Drupal powered website, as AMP have been around for a while already, it was just tonight I finally managed to implement and validate AMP for this blog.

In this article I'll share some of my notes on how to implement AMP for Drupal, compare load times before and after and of course will touch a topic of about possible SEO gains (though, seems that AMP is not a ranking factor yet)

Here is the short version about what's AMP:

The AMP Project is an open-source initiative aiming to make the web better for all. The project enables the creation of websites and ads that are consistently fast, beautiful and high-performing across devices and distribution platforms. Learn more: https://www.ampproject.org/

I should admit, that implementing AMP for Drupal was kind of challenging and in total took me more than8 months to get first validated results. I started working on Drupal AMP version at the end of 2016, spent some good time learning how to use composer and even started using Drush. 

There is a great module for Drupal - Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), if you are looking to build AMP for Drupal, that's the module you are looking for and start with.

Unfortunately I faced a lot of errors at start and was not able to validate my site, as AMP valid, for a pretty long time. I faced issues with making to work AMP and CDN modules together. Google Webmasters central screamed I've just way of too much errors. And I abandoned my efforts building an AMP friendly Drupal website.

Google Webmasters reporting AMP Errors

It was until yesterday's night, when I decided I should get AMP up and running. And I succeeded. 

I won't go much in technical details on how to setup AMP for Drupal (if you need any help with that, contact me or drop a comment bellow), but here are two major obstacles I wasn't able to validate AMP:

Issue with AMP and CDN module  - from AMP configuration page (admin/config/content/amp) tick box next to Power User: Run the whole HTML page through the AMP library. This simple checkbox saved me a lot of time and solved most of the problems.

<amp-ad> - I faced another problem when tried to enable AdSense for AMP, turned out I had to update lullabot/amp library to the latest, for that I spent a good time of configuring composer, if you have composer installed and you are looking to update dependencies (lullabot/amp) to the latest run:

from folder composer PATH_TO_YOUR_PUBLIC_HTML/sites/default/files/composer

Now, huge was my joy after seeing my blog AMP friendly. Of course I spent some time on building custom blocks and views for AMP theme, but in short yes - it's simple AMP version - bare minimum:

Drupal AMP enabled

Now I should mention, for AMP validating and testing I'm using Google Chrome extension AMP Validator

​If comparing page speed for non-AMP and AMP page, results are really nice:

Page load time and performance without AMP

I cannot complain much about load times and page size here (well there are still room to grow), but now let's see what are results for AMP enabled for the same webpage:

Page load time and performance with AMP

Truly amazing - load time is 2.5 times faster, page size compression by 4.39 times. Awesome. 

As stated in the intro of this article - possible SEO boost from Google. Right now there is not yet decent amount of data to report, but I hope to come out with an article after 30 days. Right now this blog gets about 80,000 users monthly, less than 50% comes from mobile devices. Now, let' s see how many of them will land at ?amp version.

About Night Life in Tbilisi

19 July, 2017 | Travel guides | 7 seen

Any city looks different when the night falls and the muffled lights are sparkling in the yellow rays of lampions. Level of intimacy is at its highest and you just have to dissolve into the dark.

Tbilisi is extremely beautiful at night as all its main attractions’ virtues are highlighted by the strong bright projectors. It really looks like a phantom city with its old castles and ancient churches. Of course I am talking about the city-center and not its outskirts or uptown as the main beauty is concentrated in the heart of the city that embraces Liberty Square, Rustaveli and Marjanishvili Avenues.

When coming to Tbilisi the first rule you should remember is that the gurgling night-life with lots of people in the streets is not a part of Georgian reality as all the locals prefer to stay at home or in the yards and play backgammon and drink beer while talking about football. Night can radically change one’s opinions and desires. Something miraculous happens out there in Tbilisi – suddenly you feel free from the system and as if the second wind opens - you want to live, learn, and even create.

It was mentioned many times by the tourists that Tbilisi holds absolutely different and unprecedented atmosphere which changes your attitude, especially at night. Many people will say that there is no night life in Georgia, and, the truth is that they are partially right, because you yourself create your night party. Georgia loves hosting guests and the thickest partying and entertainment clusters go to individual families or groups of friends.

Previously Tbilisi used to hold an ‘Encounter’ night-game where you were brought to some deserted place and had to fulfill missions, like, taking your rival a hostage and trying to find the so called treasure chest first, though nowadays this enterprise is not popular anymore due to low demand from the citizens. Also Tbilisi arranges ‘Night at the Museum’ event but you have to be lucky to attend it as this occasion is held once a year, in the end of May. Cable-car closes at 10. No transportation is available after 12 except taxis. What can you do in Tbilisi at night, huh?

There is no reason to be upset as long as there are many places to go yet. For example, gamblers and risk-takers should definitely try one of the casinos. Adjara-Bet is situated in Saburtalo near Holiday Inn Hotel. The gaming area is vast with an abundance of slot machines. You can relax at the Prive Club situated at the casino’s territory. It offers two gamin rooms as well. At 7 p.m. Casino Adjara holds daily tournaments and you can participate without registration. There is a lot of positive feedback from many travelers concerning this place but still many people advise to stay vigilant especially if you play alone against purely Georgian players.

Another casino is Iveria attached to the Radisson BLU Iveria Hotel in Rustaveli Avenue. You can find tables for Black Jack, Poker, slot machines and roulette tables. This place is loved by lots of players as it offers both Georgian and European cuisine. Lots of travelers notice that this place is mostly attended by foreigners and Russian is one of the most popular languages spoken there.

The third casino worth visiting is Shangri La near the peace bridge but you cannot proceed to the game room without registration - do not forget to take your passport. The view over the river from the second floor is truly picturesque at any time of the day but at night it is breathe-taking. Unlike other casinos, in Shangri La there is an XO Room for special guests. This place has the best reviews and they say it is impossible to leave the casino dissatisfied.

Near the casino you can find lots of hookah bars that are open throughout the night. If you are lost in choice and have no idea where to go, do not worry. The bar will find you by itself as very polite clickers stand right at the entrance of each café.

Those who are not very much into gambling have a chance to take a walking tour in the calm and quiet streets of Tbilisi without any fear of being robbed. Tbilisi is one of the safest cities on the territory of Europe and you never have that uneasy feeling that someone is following you or wants to do any harm. As you walk through the main streets you can see many markets working 24/7, like Smart, Ioli, and Nikora. You can find a big diversity of products in those markets starting from bread and finishing with alcoholic beverages. Though, it is not a good idea to drink alcohol in the street. Officially it is prohibited to drink even beer outside but it is fine to sip it in your yard.

If you get tired of your walk you can also visit bars and clubs. Among the most popular ones is Magti Club. It is open at night on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The prices are quite reasonable and the menu is really diverse. The main advantage of this club is that you can listen to fine live music and dance all night long.

Dive Bar and Canudos Ethnic Bar are more underground places where you can find new acquaintances and sit right at the door of the bars and talk to random strangers who will gladly start conversation with you. Canudos is extremely popular in summer as you can sit outside at an open place. Dive Bar is also popular for Beer Pong which you can also play with people you have met for the first time in your life.

If you want to contemplate the beauty of the city from above and have no interest in the night-life but still cannot sleep you had better go to Mtatsminda Park by funicular. The place is especially peaceful and calm at night but remember that the station closes at 4 a.m.

Some might say that Tbilisi is not the place where you can have fun at night but better not to listen to others and try to find out it yourself and make adequate decisions. It all depends on your mood set and desire to explore something new all by yourself.

Postcards from Chania

18 July, 2017 | | 9 seen

At the start of June, 2017 we traveled for a 3 week leisure trip to the island of Crete, Greece, and our first stop was lovely coastal town Chania. We spent a lovely night discovering local Cretan cuisine and I photographed a lot nightly scene, equipped with a tripod and long exposures, lovely.

That said - postcards from Chania!

Chania lighthouse

Lively Chania promenade with lots of cafeterias

About 18 months ago we visited the so called Italian Riviera - Portofino, see: Portofino - picturesque harbor village in Italian Riviera, now we can draw parallels with both coastal town - truly amazing for romantic escape. 

Street vendors in Chania

Ah, those lovely ghost long exposures.

A bench

Just love this long exposure.

the girl and the lighthouse

Amazing, beautiful and truly inspiring. Chania we love you!

Invest in Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum and other) Peer to Peer Lending - Poloniex.com

17 July, 2017 | Crypto | 20 seen

Seems that crypto currencies are a hot thing on this blog during this Summer, though it was just recent, not even a month ago, when I decided to diversify my investment portfolio and allocate up to 5% space in it for crypto currency investments (buy and hold here).

From my initial investments in crypto at the start of July (see: First Investment In Crypto Currencies - Bought 0.2 ETH for EUR 50) I've lost in value more than -50% in just 2 weeks, see: Crypto currency volatility, lost -54.42% in just two weeks

Now, despite the pretty serious loses here, I still feel pretty optimistic about crypto currency future, and plan to invest there once in a month using dollar average cost approach by the end of 2020. 

For about last 6 month I've been investing in a more casual form of peer to peer lending - mintos.com, focusing my investments in Georgian loans. See: Invest in Georgia - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending - Mintos.com 

As I'm already familiar with peer to peer lending concept, and currently in the exploration phase for crypto currency investments, I thought it would be cool - if I could lend out some or all of my coins and earn some income on that. The solution was just around a corner (Google search) - I did find a few bitcoin lending sites, but chose to stick with one at the start, meet Poloniex.com an US-based digital asset exchange offering maximum security and advanced trading features. 

Poloniex.com website

The sign up process is simple and pretty straightforward, in couple of minutes my account was ready and setup. Now Poloniex.com doesn't offer direct fiat deposits, you will need to have some coins already purchased in other service, which you can then transfer to your poloniex.com address.

I've a coinbase.com account, where I'm purchasing coins (see: How & Why To Buy Crypto Currencies (bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin) Online - Coinbase ) and I just transferred my coins from coinbase to poloniex.com. Actually this was first time I transferred crypto currencies from one address to another. It was fun.

Depositing bitcoin to poloniex.com

I just copy/paste my deposit address and transferred coins from coinbase.com to poloniex.com

Sending bitcoins from coinbase.com

Coinbase took a small network fee for this transfer and after about 5 minutes my coins were deposited on poloniex.com. That's damn fast, how blockchain technology actually works. 

My balances on poloniex.com

Now I was ready to start lending bitcoins for a margin traders, but before that I had to transfer my funds one more time inside the poloniex.com from exchange account to lending account:

Quick Transfer

I decided to split my initial investment into two loans and experiment with two different rates, first rate I set about the same as most of the other lenders offered at - 0.0473% while for other loan I set it a little bit higher yield at 0.0485%. For my surprise both loans were taken instantly and I started to watch fees rolling in:

Active loans

For the record:

• 0.0473% daily rate would be 17.26% annually
• 0.0485% daily rate would be 17.70% annually

Those are awesome rates. On the other hand it seems that daily rates can fluctuate a lot, as they are driven by demand and changes quickly. 

I deposited and lent additional litecoin coins, unfortunately I was not able to lend ethereum at this time, as minimum amount for deposit in ETH required is 0.5. As of writing this I've just 0.2. Most probably I will add ETH next month here, after will purchase more coins. 

For litecoin I lent at 0.040% making annually - 14.6%

Crypto currency volatility, lost -54.42% in just two weeks

16 July, 2017 | Crypto | 16 seen

In the past two weeks, my investments in crypto currencies have lost it's value by -54.42%, that's insane, but here is the thing - I don't care much, as I believe in the long term run they should raise, break even and even grow in value.

My story with crypto currency investment started just about two weeks ago, during a leisure trip to Crete, Greece I decided to allocate a small piece (up to 5%) from my investment portfolio in crypto currencies. Also I decided to use dollar cost averaging approach and constantly buy more coins each month. 

After seeing a drop by more than 50% in just two weeks I've started to think to limit crypto currency part in my portfolio to some 2-3% instead of 5%, as such huge volatility actually impacts my overall portfolio performance.

Cryptocurrency volatility 

How To Track Your CryptoCurrencies Portfolio Automatically Using Google Spreadsheets

From three crypto coins in my wallet, ether has lost the most, -101,18%, bitcoin - 41.16% and litecoin -35.64%, and that all have happened in just two weeks. Insane!

On the other hand I feel sorry I don't have more funds available this month to buy more coins, and in fact I wouldn't mind seeing price drop to -80% till the end of month and buy more coins for less money in August.

The bigger picture from my investments in crypto currencies is to buy more coins every month until the end of 2020. 

Right now it seems if there is a failing price for one coin, the others will fall as well, and vice verse, if price is raising for one currency it will raise for all. Again, that's pretty insane, as using a well diversified stock portfolio at the end your stock portfolio shouldn't been so volatile as it is with crypto currencies.

It will be interesting to see, will ether or some other currency bypass bitcoin it total market cap and hopefully change the way how crypto market acts as of today. 

Athens International Airport

14 July, 2017 | Airports | 22 seen

Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos", commonly initialized as "AIA", began operation on 28 March 2001 and is the primary international airport that serves the city of Athens and the region of Attica.

It is Greece's busiest airport and it serves as the hub and main base of Aegean Airlines as well as other Greek airlines. Athens International is the 28th busiest airport in Europe.

I had a chance to visit Athens airport, during a short connecting flight by Aegean Airlines from Tbilisi to Chania (see: About Tbilisi - Athens - Chania (Greece) flight by Aegean Airlines ) at the start of June 2017.

Athens International Airport

AIA is located between the towns of Markopoulo, Koropi, Spata and Loutsa, about 20 km (12 mi) to the east of central Athens (30 km (19 mi) by road, due to intervening hills). The airport is named after Elefthérios Venizélos, the prominent Cretan political figure and Prime Minister of Greece, who made a significant contribution to the development of Greek aviation and the Hellenic Air Force in the 1930s.

 As to-date, ownership is divided between the Hellenic Republic (Greek State) and Private Sector in a 55%-45% stake following a PPP scheme for the airport company. Currently, private investors include the Copelouzos Group (5%) and PSP Investments of Canada (40%), following purchase of Hochtief's shares.

The city center is reachable by metro paying a special 10 EUR one way price. Airport also features a locker room to store you baggage, as we actually did, while decided to spend a few hours in city, before returning to airport for our next flight to Chania, Crete. Price for locker room EUR 9 in total.

The airport currently has two terminals, the main terminal and the satellite terminal accessible by an underground link from the main terminal. It is designed to be extended in a modular approach over the ensuing years in order to accommodate increases in air travel. These extensions are planned in a six-phase framework. The first (and current) phase allowed the airport to accommodate 26 million passengers per year. When the airport originally opened, the current phase called for a capacity of only 16 million passengers per year; however, the capacity was able to increase without progressing to the next phase thanks to advanced IT logistics. The sixth and final expansion phase will allow the airport to accommodate an annual traffic of 50 million passengers, with the current layout leaving enough space for five more terminals to be added. As such, the parallel runway system currently in place has been designed to accommodate flight traffic with this high equivalent annual passenger load upon completion of the final expansion phase.

Chania International Airport (Greece)

13 July, 2017 | Airports | 17 seen

Chania International Airport, "Daskalogiannis"  is an international airport located near Souda Bay on the Akrotiri Peninsula of the Greek island of Crete, serving the city of Chania, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) away.

Moreover, it is a gateway to western Crete for an increasing amount of tourists. The airport is named after Daskalogiannis, a Cretan rebel against Ottoman rule in the 18th century and is a joint civil–military airport. It is the fifth busiest airport in Greece and 8th in Balkan peninsula in terms of passengers. From 2010 to 2016 has a great increase about 100% in passengers arrivals. The airport is connected with many countries (about 30) from Europe and Asia especially in summer season and with flights connections in Greece and Cyprus whole year. 

I traveled to Chania with connecting flight through Athens from Tbilisi and back with another connecting flight to Riga via Copenhagen in June 2017. We headed to Crete for about 3 week vacation. 

Chania International Airport

The focus on civil aviation for the west of Crete has not always been on the current location. It was the airport of Maleme that served civil flights up to 1959, and dating back to the end of Second World War.

Maleme (Military) Airport was constructed by the British Military, shortly before the Second World War. When the war was over, the facility was used as the main public airport of Chania.

In 1959, this activity was transferred to the military airport of Souda. 1967 saw the construction of the first passenger terminal and parking space for two aircraft. In 1974, the airport also began to serve international flights. Because of insufficient capacity, there was the need for a new terminal building. Eventually, in 1996, the new terminal was ready, measuring a surface area of 14,650 square metres (157,700 sq ft), with 6 aircraft stands in front. It has a design capacity of 1.35 million passengers per year. In 2000, it was officially named Ioannis Daskalogiannis.

The airport can be easily reached by car via the main road network. The city of Chania is about 20 minutes drive away. Other than by car, the facility is linked by airport buses to the city of Chania, from where transfer to other buses is possible. The airport buses depart 7 times daily. Journey time is about half an hour. Passengers can also take a taxi to any destination across the island. The taxi stand is located just outside the terminal. Taxis operate as long as flights depart and arrive at the airport.

Postcards from Athens

12 July, 2017 | | 10 seen

Just like in the case of postcards from Istanbul, we had just a few hours to spend in Athens, Greece, between layover flight to Chania (Crete). 

Equipped with camera and adventurous spirit we dive in the narrow streets of Athens to discover it's beauty and visit some ancient sites.

Square in Athens

One of our first stops in the city center arriving from Athens airport. 

Graffiti in Athens

View towards Athens

From distance Athens seems very similar to Tbilisi, the place from above picture reminded me some scenes from our hiking trips in Tbilisi near Turtle lake. See: Hiking in Tbilisi - Turtle lake (Kus Tba) - Vake Park

Archeological excavations in Athens

Streets of Athens

There is a metro station somewhere around, here I bought a sim card from Vodafone, see Planing a trip to Greece: How to get a Prepaid SIM Card with Internet

Ancient site of Agora

Read more here: Ancient Agora of Athens

Modern architecture in Athens

That said - another city, another postcards from! 

Ancient Agora of Athens

11 July, 2017 | Tourism objects | 18 seen

The Ancient Agora of Classical Athens is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill known as the Agoraios Kolonos, also called Market Hill.

It was at the start of June, when I first visited Athens, Greece during a brief layover flight to the island of Crete, see About Tbilisi - Athens - Chania (Greece) flight by Aegean Airlines. We had about 10 hours between our connecting flight, once we left Athens airport we took the metro to the city center and just explored, without any particular goal or something. 

We found ourselves visiting Ancient Agora of Athens site, pretty cool right?

View towards Ancient Agora of Athens

After an hour of wanderings around narrow streets of Athens, we finally noticed this place.

Excavations at Athenian Agora

The ancient Athenian agora has been excavated by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens since 1931 under the direction of T. Leslie Shear, Sr. They continue to the present day, now under the direction of John McK Camp.

Territory plan at Ancient Agora

After the initial phase of excavation, in the 1950s the Hellenistic Stoa of Attalos was reconstructed on the east side of the agora, and today it serves as a museum and as storage and office space for the excavation team.

A virtual reconstruction of the Ancient Agora of Athens has been produced through a collaboration of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Foundation of the Hellenic World, which had various output (3d video, VR real-time dom performance, Google Earth 3d models).

Railroad near Ancient Agora in Athens

Pretty cool combinations - where Ancient world meets modern.

View towards temple

Panoramic photography

Made a quick hand held panoramic photography.

The museum is housed in the Stoa of Attalos, and its exhibits are connected with the Athenian democracy. The collection of the museum includes clay, bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to the 5th century BC, as well as pottery of the Byzantine period and the Turkish occupation.

Q2 2017 Online Income Report - $6,116.98

10 July, 2017 | Blogging | 8 seen

Wow - that was fast, another quarter of year just passed and we are already in the middle of year. Last three months have disappeared as another flicker. Time flies. 

Now let' s see how did it go for my online ventures in Q2 2017 (April, May and June).

During past three months I've traveled a lot - in mid May we went for a short trip to Germany (Dortmund area), then after about a week returned to Georgia for a week via Istanbul, Turkey. And in the start of June we fled to Crete, Greece and spent amazing 3 weeks there. That's a lot of countries in just 3 months. 

Despite my concerns after Amazon Associates reduced commission fees for select product categories (starting March), last quarter managed to beat first quarter of the year by $154.  And here is why - diversification of online income streams. Since the start of 2017 I've launched tour booking platform in Georgia - tourgeorgia.eu and I'm starting to make first earnings from dividend paying stocks and peer to peer lending. 

I cover separate series on dividends and peer to peer lending, make sure to check them out also: Dividend income

In short second quarter of 2017 (April, May and June) earned $6,490.16 what is an awesome more than double growth if compared to the second quarter of year before (see: Q2 2016 Blog Traffic & Online Income - 133,939 Users / $3,034.76), and as already stated even a slight increase if compared to previous quarter (see: Q1 2017 Online Income Report - $5,886.46) 

About Website traffic in Q2 2017

Currently there are two websites  - the blog you are currently reading and tourgeorgia.eu. 

ReinisFischer.com

Another record breaking quarter if compared by visitors, more than 236,000 users in just three months, that's average of about 78,000 users monthly. 

Website traffic Q2 2017. Data source: Google Analytics

Pretty impressive numbers here, IMHO. If compared to the second quarter a year before, my personal blog in second quarter of 2017 have experienced more than 78% growth. If I would manage such high growth rate in second quarter of 2018, that would mean more than 420,000 users in three months after a year. That's well above my current target  - 100K users monthly. Great. Blogging have turned out to be one of the most successful online things I've done so far.

Q2 2017 vs Q2 2016 website traffic. Data source: Google Analytics

Tourgeorgia.EU

Originally first launched in 2011, this website made a re-launch from scratch at the last days of March 2017. This is first full reporting quarter for tourgeorgia.eu. I keep separate monthly income reports there as well

tourgeorgia.eu website traffic Q2 2017

3,295 users, though humble but IMHO a decent number for about a 3 month old website. You can see from the graph above there are some traffic spikes a start of the each month. For the past three month  spent some dollars on Facebook to drive traffic there at start of the each month. It worked good for traffic driving, but didn't converted well in actual bookings. As by now most of the bookings happened on tourgeorgia.eu have come from referrals links from my blog and Google Search Landing pages.

We got 26 bookings in the past three months, which is a nice, but a little bellow my expectations having at least 10 bookings per month. The future, though, seems nice and right now I feel I could report double that numbers after a year.

About Income in Q2 2017

There are some cool additions to my online income - in the past quarter I've added a new income source - dividend paying stocks, which I hope will grow in future.

• ReinisFischer.com - $5,890.85
• Tourgeorgia.EU - $452.53
• Mintos.com peer to peer lending - $91.41
• Dividend paying stocks - $57.38

Total: $6,492.17

Expenses:

• Facebook Ads: $78.18
• Linode: $135
• Virtual Assistants: $160

Total: $373.18

Goals for Q3 2017

As usual, goals are my favorite part of these reports - I'm looking to have about 250,000 users for my personal blog and about $5,000 income total. Let's see how dividend paying stocks and peer to peer lending will help to achieve this goal.