Dollar-Cost Averaging as part of Cryptocurrency Portfolio

9 July, 2017 | Crypto | 55 seen

Those of you following my blog in the recent weeks (months) probably have already noticed, since the start of the 2017 I've been building my retirement portfolio from scratch. It has been already more than 6 months since the start of this journey and the great news are following, I'm at 80.27% from this years goal to invest $8,561. (That's roughly about 31% from my annual earnings).

If at the start of year I thought that I will invest in mutual funds, stocks and peer to peer lending, and also I thought that to save $8,561 will be really tough (hard but doable), then now 6 month later I have found that it is quite possible to put some chunk of money from earnings month to month in savings and I'm more than sure that I will save more than $8,561 this year (I'm looking right now to save in total for 2017 $10,000).

Also for my investments I've extended portfolio to cash and crypto currencies.

As I like to think - it's all about finance discipline and smart decisions.

Now, when speaking about smart decisions and investments in crypto currencies, this is the part where I'm very uncertain - right now I'm not seeing investments in crypto currencies not at all as smart decisions, as they might be ponzi schemes or something. Here is the thing - I'm not using bitcoins to order pizza or buy electronics, I'm not using crypto currency by myself and I still don't see there a lot of use from it. I kind of understand crypto concept, but as I see it right now, while it wont go mainstream - there are a lot of unknown still.

On the other hand - I see a lot of opportunities here, and that's the reason I decided to allocate small space in my portfolio for investments in crypto currencies - right now I decided to allocate up to 5% from total investments in crypto currencies.

Portfolio with Crypto currency included, July 2017

By July 2017, crypto currencies takes 2.3% from my total net portfolio. Still a plenty of room to grow to 5%

It was at the end of June 2017, when after a small talk with a fellow affiliate guy about crypto currencies I thought I should start investing using dollar cost averaging, each month constantly buying some coins. I opened an account at coinbase. See: How & Why To Buy Crypto Currencies (bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin) Online - Coinbase

​Once I was able to verify my ID on coinbase I bought first crypto currency - ethereum, see: First Investment In Crypto Currencies - Bought 0.2 ETH for EUR 50

To track my progress with crypto currencies I built a simple but powerful Google Spreadsheet, see: How To Track Your CryptoCurrencies Portfolio Automatically Using Google Spreadsheets

Tracking crypto currency portfolio

About 2 weeks later from my initial plan of acquiring digital coins - I can proudly report that I've bought not only ETH, but also bitcoin and litecon, by spending EUR 50 for each of the currencies. And I'm planing to spend about the same amount of money each month until the end of 2020. That's about 3,5 years or about EUR 6300 to be invested in crypto currencies by the end of 2020. 

In the past two weeks value for my investments in three popular crypto currencies (Ethereum, Bitcoin and Litecoin) have lost value for -6.51% (and not counting in commission fees paid on Coinbase - total 6 EUR

I'm planing to purchase more coins after a month, and then again after a month and so on - dollar cost averaging:

Dollar cost averaging (DCA) is an investment strategy with the goal of reducing the impact of volatility on large purchases of financial assets such as equities. Dollar cost averaging is also called the constant dollar plan (in the US), pound-cost averaging (in the UK), and, irrespective of currency, as unit cost averaging or the cost average effect.

By dividing the total sum to be invested in the market (e.g. $100,000) into equal amounts put into the market at regular intervals (e.g. $1000 over 100 weeks), DCA hopes to reduce the risk of incurring a substantial loss resulting from investing the entire "lump sum" just before a fall in the market. Dollar cost averaging is not always the most profitable way to invest a large sum, but it is alleged to minimize downside risk. The technique is said to work in markets undergoing temporary declines because it exposes only part of the total sum to the decline. The technique is so-called because of its potential for reducing the average cost of shares bought. As the amount of shares that can be bought for a fixed amount of money varies inversely with their price, DCA effectively leads to more shares being purchased when their price is low and fewer when they are expensive. As a result, DCA possibly can lower the total average cost per share of the investment, giving the investor a lower overall cost for the shares purchased over time.

Now, if would stick with my 5% goal in portfolio for crypto currencies for next 3 and a half years, that would mean my portfolios total net worth would be at around EUR 120,000. Yes, sounds unreal, as of today, by writing these lines it stands just at ~ EUR 6,200 but time, discipline and decisions will show. 

If you want learn more, make sure to subscribe to the investment e-mail newsletter bellow or read dividend income reports.

Phidias Lounge Bar in Athens

9 July, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 13 seen

Phidias lounge bar in Athens was mine second cafe / restaurant in Greece, as just early in the morning we arrived from Tbilisi to Athens and had a few hours before our connecting flight to Chania, Creete.

We used spare hours and from Athens airport went directly to the city center by metro. 

Phidias lounge bar in Athens

Since we hadn't been to Athens before and were kind of limited in time, we decided to visit only things that will be close to our route, that's how we turned out near to the Ancient Agora of Athens site, after wondering around (and not inside) for about 2 hours first cafeteria that crossed our route was Phidias lounge bar. 

Just now, when writing these lines and using Google maps to locate this place, I learned that there is actually a hotel Phidias, and lounge bar is just an extension. Maybe next time when going to Athens, it' s good idea to book hotel Phidias, price seems fair - about EUR 90 per night. And a lovely sight towards Ancient Agora of Athens site.

While I was bussy ordering cold frappe, my seat was already taken:

Greek cat

What a lovely mate to enjoy coffee with. Meow!

How To Track Your CryptoCurrencies Portfolio Automatically Using Google Spreadsheets

7 July, 2017 | Macroeconomics | 199 seen

It was just recently I made my first investment in cryptocurrencies, I spent EUR 50 to acquire about 0.2 Ethereum. As I bought them for a long term (buy and hold) and actually I'm planning to acquire more coins every month using dollar cost averaging and decided to build a separate Google Spreadsheet to track value changes, gains, or losses.

For support please visit the Terramatris website: Custom Google Spreadsheet Development for Crypto Currency Portfolio Tracking

I see investments in crypto currencies as a great alternative to diversify my portfolio. Right now crypto currencies stand at about 0.8% in my portfolio and I'm looking to increase it to about 5% by the end of 2017. 

Update: This article originally was written back in 2017, the formula(s) listed in this article have changed several times. If not working look into the comments section for any help

The idea of the following spreadsheet was inspired from a regular stock tracking sheet, see: Simple Google Spreadsheet to Track Stock Portfolio Changes Using GOOGLEFINANCE

Here is a catch, to get real-time updates in Google Spreadsheets you will have to use =IMPORTXML function to get real-time updates from some crypto currency exchange service. Luckily a Reddit user lawnchairwiz have provided us with solution, see: Easy Way to import ETH price into google sheets

For those that use Google Sheets to track their ETH transactions, here's a quick way to get the price from coinmarketcap.com:

Copy the URL http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/ into cell A1.
In cell B1, type in =IMPORTXML(A1,"//span[@class='text-large']")

You now have the ETH price in cell B1

I built a simple cryptocurrency Google Spreadsheet tracking real-time prices for bitcoin, ethereum and litcoin

​

Tracking cryptocurrency portfolio with Google Spreadsheets 

Let me explain a bit in details:

Column A - Currency - pretty self-explanatory

Column B - for each cryptocurrency entered in Column A add respective value from coinmarketcap.com

• Ethereum - http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/
• Bitcoin - http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/
• Litecoin - http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/litecoin/
• And so on

Column C - paste following:

you will get a real-time price in USD

Optional

I'm purchasing coins in EUR currency and I would love to see their value both in USD and EUR

Column D - paste following

=C3*GoogleFinance("CURRENCY:USDEUR")

Using GoogleFinance function you will get real-time USD EUR value

Column E (Coins) - enter how much coins you have

Column F - how much did you spend on them

and so on.

Here is a working Google Spreadsheet, File -> Make a copy 

For support please visit the Terramatris website: Custom Google Spreadsheet Development for Crypto Currency Portfolio Tracking

First Investment In Crypto Currencies - Bought 0.2 ETH for EUR 50

6 July, 2017 | Crypto | 37 seen

It was in the late evening of July 3d, 2017 when I finally successfully bought my first crypto currency - I paid EUR 50 and get for that - 0.2 ETH. ETH stands for ethereum. Wonder what the heck is that? Don't worry, me neither.

Or let' s say this way - I know there have been bitcoin around for about a decade or something, though I don't see any practical reason for using that, while real money is in power. Right? It was so until about two weeks ago, while sipping freshly squeezed orange juice in rental apartment in Crete, a fellow affiliate marketer contacted me and we started to speak about investments, stocks, peer to peer lending and ... crypto currencies. My buddy told me he is doing some kind of arbitrage day trading stuff with crypto currencies. 

As I'm quite opposite - buy and hold investor, and since the start fo 2017 I've been building my wealth portfolio from scratch by investing in stocks and peer to peer lending, idea of having long term investments sounded very appealing to me and I decided to allocate about 5% space in my portfolio for crypto currencies. 

Investment Portfolio July 2017

That small pink pie slice represents investments in crypto currencies, total 0.8%

I opened account at coinbase.com (See: How & Why To Buy Crypto Currencies (bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin) Online - Coinbase) and decided to invest EUR 300 in 3 different crypto currencies, like this:

• EUR 100  - bitcoin
• EUR 100 - ethereum
• EUR 100 - litcoin

those are three crypto currencies currently available on coinbase. As a long term minded investor I decided I should buy three instead of one, for a simple reason - diversification, if two goes down, then one might go up.

Unfortunately I cannot report smooth experience with coinbase, actually at one start I was ready to give up on my idea on investments in crypto currencies at all, as it was just too complicated, I spent about 2 days trying to verify my ID there, once I verified it, I spent another two days trying to verify my bank account without success, somehow I managed to verify my MasterCard and just out of luck I managed to spend EUR 50 + EUR 2 fee to purchase +0.19996802 ETH.

Buying crypto currencies on coinbase

Soon, if converted back to EUR, my precious 0.19996802 ETH lost some 60 cents in value.

My first impressions about coinbase.com are awful, pain in the ass, you name it. Buggy system, unknown errors - ahh...

Right, I'm not here to complain, but if you are reading this and considering to open your account at coinbase.com, think twice- read dozen of negative reviews about them before investing. After reading countless negative reviews about poor customer service, lost money and God knows what else evil stuff on coinbase - STILL the urge to acquire crypto currencies was so huge, I would say even greedy, I still kept with coinbase. As for some reason, I still believe coinbase is one of the most transparent and seems largest crypto currency platforms.  Now writing these lines I hope coinbase will improve their service and system in future.  

Instead of EUR 300 in three crypto currencies I've spent just EUR 50 in one, and that's my initial investment for a long term in ethereum. I still hope to spend at least EUR 50 on bitcoin and EUR 50 on litcoin this month, and in the future I'm planing to use average dollar cost investment by purchasing each month more for fixed, let' s say 50 EUR, price. 

Are you investing in crypto currencies? Could you leave some feedback? Positive or negative. Please comment below!

About Tbilisi - Athens - Chania (Greece) flight by Aegean Airlines

4 July, 2017 | Travel guides | 7 seen

There is a pretty convenient option when traveling from Tbilisi to the island of Crete (Greece), probably there are some direct charter flights, but at the start of June we opted for a connecting flight Tbilisi - Athens - Chania by Aegean airlines. Bought online tickets about a month prior, and in fact didn't paid too much (about 200 EUR for two persons)

This was the first time for me traveling to Greece, and I quite enjoyed option to spend few hours in Athens and visit some of the Ancient world sites. Really cool.

Now, that said - I've another airline company on my radar, when traveling to or from Georgia. Aegean is is the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carried, by number of destinations served and by fleet size. A Star Alliance member since June 2010, it operates scheduled and charter services from Athens and Thessaloniki to other major Greek destinations as well as to a number of European and Middle Eastern destinations. Its main hubs are Athens International Airport in Athens, Thessaloniki International Airport in Thessaloniki and Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus. It also uses other Greek airports as bases, some of which are seasonal. It has its head office in Kifisia, a suburb of Athens. Although the airline is the largest airline in Greece, it is not a flag carrier.

Inflight magazine at Aegean

Pretty comfortable Boeing, most probably, A320 , plane with enough legroom. During flight Tbilisi - Athens (which is about 2 hours), there were not much entertainment on board, just some free magazines and of course free lunch. On the other hand for a flight Athens - Chania (a few hours later) - there were onboard tablets and quite lovely selection of games, movies and documentaries (I remember I watched something about robots). I did find it actually quite strange that for a 50 minute flight Athens - Chania, there were more entertainment options than during Tbilisi  - Athens flight. But as the flight time is short, it' s perfectly fine with or without tablets, right?

Free lunch during Tbilisi - Athens flight

As this was my first time flying with Aegean airlines I feel pretty satisfied and as I really enjoyed Crete (we spent about 3 weeks there, more on that in upcoming posts) - I will DEFINITELY return to Crete and Greece, without doubts - with Aegean airlines. 

What about you? Have you flied Aegean? Drop a comment!

Simple Google Spreadsheet to Track Stock Portfolio Changes Using GOOGLEFINANCE

2 July, 2017 | Macroeconomics | 315 seen

There is a super simple and easy way to track your stock portfolio with real-time price, cost basis, market value, value gain, even individual stock weight in the portfolio, net yield on cost and current net yield from dividend payouts, and of course total gain values using Google Spreadsheets and GOOGLEFINANCE function.

For support with this Spreadsheet please visit the Terramatris website: Custom Google Spreadsheet Development for Crypto Currency Portfolio Tracking

Currently, I hold 9 stocks in the Baltic equity market (Nasdaq Baltics), I add about one or two new stocks each month, I started simple creating a really simple spreadsheet and manually entering stock data, I like to keep an eye on my stock portfolio few times during the week. For actual stock prices, I'm looking on Nasdaq Baltic's website. Though in my manual spreadsheet pretty much of the rest is automated, still entering the actual stock price is time-consuming and can result in an error. 

I decided to try GOOGLEFINANCE function and see if can Google fetch data for the Baltic market. It can. 

As an inspiration for this simple, yet handy spreadsheet I took the following template: Using Google Spreadsheets to Track Your Dividend Portfolio, and if you are up to a highly customized, multi-currency portfolio I suggest using that template instead of mine.

But if you are up for a really simple version, click here and get mine: Simple Stock Portfolio with Dividends by ReinisFischer.com

Simple Stock Portfolio with Dividends

Open and save as a copy this sheet and start entering your values. Here are a few hints:

• Ticker: enter your stock ticker here
• Shares: how many shares do you have
• Cost basis: enter a total value for each investment
• Under 2017 enter the total dividends you have received for each stock in 2017. In case you are reading this in 2018, 2019, or 2027 change 2017 to the current year.

Stock prices are received automatically each time opening spreadsheet:

Where B3 represents the ticker name from column B

For support with this Spreadsheet please visit the Terramatris website: Custom Google Spreadsheet Development for Crypto Currency Portfolio Tracking

June 2017 Dividend Income Report - $53.42

1 July, 2017 | Investments | 12 seen

Welcome to the second (#2) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend paying stocks and peer to peer lending in June 2017. 

I started my wealth building adventure (portfolio) in January 2017 with a simple goal to invest $8,561 this year in several batches. Now, six  months latter I'm publishing my second dividend income report. 

In this article you will learn both how much I've received in dividend income also I will publish my net worth, with few tables.

Make sure to check out first dividend income report: May 2017 Dividend Income Report - $65.45 and subscribe to the latest dividend income report updates at the end of this article

About Portfolio in June 2017

Most of my investments right now are concentrated in the Baltic states and Georgia. My portfolio consists of investments in Georgian Lari and EUR currencies. For the sake of this and all future articles I've converted all  final/total currencies to the US dollar, although currently there is no position in my portfolio with direct investments in US dollar. 

 At the end of June I've invested in total $5,645.27 what equals to 65.94% from my 2017 planned investments.  I've reached 0.57% from my ultimate one million dollar goal by the time I will turn 60 (in 2045)

Net worth June 2017

The total value of my portfolio was $5,709.95, making difference between invested and value: + $64.68. There is a slight decrease in value growth if compared to the previous month, when difference was at +$109.86

The growth, though slow and decreasing, have happened because of two reasons - stock prices have gone up and currency exchange rates (I have investment of about 4,500  in Georgian lari)

About Investments in June 2017

Last month I invested additional EUR 465 in Nasdaq Baltics stock market and GEL 700 in mintos.com peer to peer lending.

Investment portfolio June 2017

From money invested in Baltic equity market I bought following shares:

• Tallina Vesi (TAL: TVEAT) - 15 shares
• Ekspress Grupp (TAL: EEG1T) - 200 shares

I bought Tallina Vesi stocks because of two reasons, firstly I believe they are among one of the best dividend paying stocks in the Baltic market, see: Dividend Paying Stocks In Nasdaq Baltic Market By Yield, second they made a dividend payout in June. 

Ekspress Grupp promises a nice dividend yield in July. They owns some of the largest Baltic online news sites, as a publisher I understand online media probably is not the best investment opportunity with decreasing revenue from advertisement, but again as a publisher actually making income from digital properties I find this investment, let' s say nice addition to my portfolio.

Dividend Income June 2017

From equities bought in the past and from investments in peer to peer lending marketplace Mintos.com, I got following income:

• Nordecon - EUR 8.1 (dividend yield 3.21%)
• Tallina Vesi - EUR 7.29 (dividend yield 3.88%)
• Mintos.com - EUR 31.43

Total: EUR 46.82

Now, I've already expressed my ambivalent feelings regarding investments in peer to peer lending, especially in the Georgia and Baltics, as I find these markets pretty volatile, but for now mintos.com peer to peer lending works as a charm, I have more than half of my investments there in Georgian lari with 17% annul return rate. I really love the news that at the end of June a new loan originator from Georgia have joined mintos to offer business and agricultural loans on platform. See:Georgian Microfinance Organization BIG joins Mintos marketplace

Now, speaking about investment in Tallina Vesi and Nordecon, June saw some value decrease for both stocks, despite paid out dividend both stocks makes a negative return right now in my portfolio. I'm sure I will keep Tallina Vesi and buy more shares in the future, as they are an utility company, kind of Baltic Blue chip, then regarding nordecon I will keep an eye on it, and there is a great chance I will sell it in the future, as in truth I'm not vey well educated about their business model. One I know for sure, both stocks will stay in my portfolio until next year's dividend payout's. Though if there will happend a dividend cutoff - then nordecon is one to go. Let' s see how things will develop

Monthly income to the date

During past six months, dividend income from my portfolio have produced a whooping $146.61, or 2.597% year to date yield

Monthly income chart June 2017

As you can see from chart above, last June wasn't the best in terms of dividend income, May was. In general, my total investments are rather small not to say humble, and I find I will be rather boring dividend income reporter for next couple of years. What I can see now, it will be hard to push for new heights in coming months, although from what I can see now, next month should be the record breaker, and should earn more than $100/mo, which is actually one of my smaller goals, see: Investment Goal #1 - $100/mo from Dividend Payments. But speaking of other months - August, September - right now I don't see to earn more than $50 per month. Time will show of course, make sure to subscribe to updates below. 

Goals for June 2018 Dividend Income

As always, I would love to end my income report with some future goals/plans. In next June, I'm looking on dividend income at $150. For sure, that will ask to invest much more, one of the things I'm looking to do next year - to buy and hold US stocks, for that I'm looking to open a discount stock brokerage account and deposit at least $10,000. As you can see right now my total net worth is not even close to that, so yeah having a decent discount US stock broker will ask me to save at much higher rate,

What to do and see in Istanbul in less than 24 hours

30 June, 2017 | Travel guides | 7 seen

So you have just 24 hours for Istanbul? In this short indie travel guide, I will list places you could easily manage to visit and see in less than 24 hours. 

My story short - at the end of May we booked connecting flight from Riga to Tbilisi, via Istanbul, we had an option to have a shorter waiting time, but we decided to spend one night in Istanbul's Sultanahmet area, which offers great access to the most of the tourist sights in Istanbul.

If you are traveling from Istanbul Ataturk airport, there is a metro system connecting to the City Centre, though you will need to make a transit to the line leading to Kabatas. Once you are in Sultanahmet your discoveries can start. We had a lovely hotel Dosso Dossi located just a few hundred meters from the Blue Mosque and The Grand Bazaar. 

Although we missed more cool sites to visit this time, like Galata tower or buying mussels from local fisherman, in just 24 hours to sites like the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar are really cool to have on your to-do list.

Postcards from Istanbul

29 June, 2017 | | 3 seen

Istanbul has been on my travel radar since 2009, when I first visited it during a layover flight to Telaviv, Israel. Since then I've traveled countless times to and back from Istanbul. 

So did happened during our latest trip Riga - Istanbul - Tbilisi, we booked a lovely hotel Dosso Dossi in Sultanahmet district and spend one night in Istanbul, trying out local street food and visiting most iconic sites in Istanbul.

Street food in Istanbul

Filled potatoes. Yummy

Minarets of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul

Read more here: Sultan Ahmed Mosque

Blue Mosque

Istanbul Atatürk Airport

28 June, 2017 | Airports | 33 seen

Istanbul Atatürk Airport is the main international airport serving Istanbul, and the biggest airport in Turkey by total number of passengers, destinations served and aircraft movements. Opened in 1924 in Yeşilköy, on the European side of the city, it is located 24 km (15 mi) west of the city centre and serves as the main hub for Turkish Airlines.

The city's other, smaller, international airport is Sabiha Gökçen International Airport. As of 2017, 273 destinations are served from Istanbul-Atatürk, making it the airport with the second-most destinations worldwide after Frankfurt Airport.

I've visited Istanbul Ataturk airport several times, mostly for layover flights, with Tbilisi being the most conected flight.

Waiting area at Ataturk Istanbul airport

Istanbul Atatürk Airport features two main passenger terminals which are interconnected to each other:

Domestic Terminal is the older and smaller of the two terminals and exclusively handles domestic flights within Turkey. Until the opening of the International Terminal, it used to be the airport's international terminal. Domestic Terminal features its own check-in and airside facilities on the upper floor that lead to twelve departure gates (101-112) which are equipped with jet bridges.On the ground level there are five baggage reclaim belts as well as a curbside independent from the International Terminal.

The International Terminal was inaugurated in 2000 and is used for all international flights. It features a large main hall containing eight check-in isles and a wide range of airside facilities such as shops and restaurants. The departures area consists of 27 gates (201-226) which are all equipped with jetbridges as well as several bus-boarding stands. The arrivals floor below is equipped with 11 baggage reclaim belts. The International Terminal is able to handle widebody aircraft such as Turkish Airlines' Boeing 777-300ERs.

There is also an additional terminal for general aviation to the northwest of the main areas as well as a dedicated cargo terminal including sections for radioactive and refrigerated freight.

Dosso Dossi Istanbul Old City Hotel

27 June, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 14 seen

We booked this 4-star hotel in Sultanahmet district, Istanbul for a one night stay during a layover flight Riga - Istanbul - Tbilisi at the end of May 2017. 

We paid about EUR 50 for one night stay at this hotel

Located in Sultanahmet district, Dosso Dossi Hotels Old City is within a walking distance from historical sites such as Hagia Sophia Museum, Basilica Cistern and the Blue Mosque. Sultanahmet Tram Station is just a 4-minute walk from Dosso Dossi. The property offers facilities including a Turkish bath, a sauna, and a fitness centre. The rooms of the hotel are equipped with soundproofing. 24-hour front desk, concierge service and free WiFi is also available throughout.

Dosso Dossi hotels in Istanbul

Featuring a stylish décor, all rooms at Dosso Dossi Hotels Old City are equipped with air conditioning, an LCD TV with satellite channels, minibar, a safe box, electric kettle and a private bathroom with shower. Some rooms also have a desk, sofa and a coffee machine. All rooms are soundproofed.

Our room at Dosso Dossi hotel

Dosso Dossi Hotels Old City is a unique child-friendly city hotel. The hotel welcomes children with toys. Special kid's menus and buffet are also served. Daily milk, fruit yoghurt and fresh fruits are also provided for your children. A feeding chair, stroller, baby bathrobes, baby bathtub are also offered for your convenience. Special DVDs and TV channels are available for children as well.

Breakfast at Dosso Dossi Hotels

You can enjoy rich buffet breakfast in the mornings. Guests can try various Turkish dishes and vegetarian dishes in Tulip Restaurant or have refreshments and beverages at Iobby bar. The property also serves complimentary afternoon tea and night soup.

Guests can relax at the hotel's traditional Turkish bath, sauna and steam room after a busy day. A fully-equipped modern fitness centre is also available. Traditional and modern massage sessions are offered upon request.

The hotel is 4.3 km from Taksim Square and 46 km from Sabiha Gokcen Airport The nearest airport is Ataturk Airport, 20 km away. Airport shuttle can be arranged at a surcharge. 

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

26 June, 2017 | Shopping Venues | 14 seen

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.

 In 2014, it was listed No.1 among world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazar at Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world.

During my latest trip to Istanbul, which was actually a layover flight connecting to Tbilisi, I stayed for a one noght in Sultan Ahmet district and decided to photograph some cool sites in Istanbul, unfortunately during my trip to the Grand Bazaar in early morning hour it was still closed, so all I could get - just closed gates. On the other hand I've been to this market several times already, and trust me, if you haven't been here, it' s a must have while in Istanbul.

Rooftops of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

The Grand Bazaar is located inside the Walled city of Istanbul, in the district of Fatih and in the neighbourhood (mahalle) bearing the same name (Kapalıçarşı). It stretches roughly from west to east between the mosques of Beyazit and of Nuruosmaniye. The Bazaar can easily be reached from Sultanahmet and Sirkeci by trams (Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı stop).

Gates at Grand Bazaar

Today the Grand Bazaar is a thriving complex, employing 26,000 people visited by between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily, and one of the major landmarks of Istanbul. It must compete with modern shopping malls common in Istanbul, but its beauty and fascination represent a formidable advantage for it. The head of the Grand Bazaar Artisans Association claimed that the complex was in 2011 – the year of its 550th birthday – the most visited monument in the world.

 A restoration project starting in 2012 should renew its infrastructure, heating and lighting systems. Moreover, the hans inside the Market will be renovated and later additions will be demolished. This project should finally solve the big problems of the market: for example, in the whole Bazaar there is no proper toilet facility. Moreover, the lacks of controls in the past years allowed many dealers to remove columns and skive walls in their shops to gain space: This, together with the substitution of lead (stolen in the last years) with concrete on the market's roof, has created a great hazard when the earthquake expected in Istanbul in the next years will occur.

The Grand Bazaar is opened each day except Sundays and bank holidays from 9:00 until 19:00.

As stated above, we tried to visit it in an early morning hour, when it was still closed.

Nearby streets at Grand Bazaar Istanbul

The construction of the future Grand Bazaar's core started during the winter of 1455/56, shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and was part of a broader initiative to stimulate economic prosperity in Istanbul. Sultan Mehmet II had an edifice erected devoted to the trading of textiles. It was named Cevâhir Bedestan (‘Bedesten of Gems’) and was also known as Bezzâzistan-ı Cedîd (‘New Bedesten’) in Ottoman Turkish. The word bedesten is adapted from the Persian word bezestan, derived from bez ("cloth"), and means "bazaar of the cloth sellers" The building – named alternately in Turkish İç (‘Internal’), Atik (‘Ancient’), or Eski (‘Old’) Bedesten – lies on the slope of the third hill of Istanbul, between the ancient Fora of Constantine and of Theodosius. It was also near the first sultan's palace, the Old Palace (Eski Sarayi), which was also in construction in those same years, and not far from the Artopoleia (in Greek) (Άρτοπωλεία), the city's bakers' quarter in Byzantine times.

Sultan Ahmed Mosque

25 June, 2017 | Churches and Monasteries | 12 seen

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque  is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A popular tourist site, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque continues to function as a mosque today; men still kneel in prayer on the mosque's lush red carpet after the call to prayer.

The Blue Mosque, as it is popularly known, was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah and a hospice. Hand-painted blue tiles adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the mosque is bathed in blue as lights frame the mosque’s five main domes, six minarets and eight secondary domes. It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site.

I visited Sultan Ahmed Mosque at the end of May 2017, during a layover flight staying in Istanbul for one night, though I've visited Blue Mosque several times already in the past.

Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has five main domes, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. The design is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman mosque development. It incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour.

Sultan Ahmed Mosque

The Mosque complex is so huge that it doesn't fit's normally in a photo frame, I had to apply panoramic photography technique to make this above average picture.

The façade of the spacious forecourt was built in the same manner as the façade of the Süleymaniye Mosque, except for the addition of the turrets on the corner domes. The court is about as large as the mosque itself and is surrounded by a continuous vaulted arcade (revak). It has ablution facilities on both sides. The central hexagonal fountain is small relative to the courtyard. The monumental but narrow gateway to the courtyard stands out architecturally from the arcade. Its semi-dome has a fine stalactite structure, crowned by a small ribbed dome on a tall tholobate. Its historical elementary school (Sıbyan Mektebi) is used as "Mosque Information Center" which is adjacent to its outer wall on the side of Hagia Sophia. This is where they provide visitors with a free orientational presentation on the Blue Mosque and Islam in general.

A heavy iron chain hangs in the upper part of the court entrance on the western side. Only the sultan was allowed to enter the court of the mosque on horseback. The chain was put there, so that the sultan had to lower his head every single time he entered the court to avoid being hit. This was a symbolic gesture, to ensure the humility of the ruler in the face of the divine.

Summer Solstice 2017

24 June, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 5 seen

This is already fourth Summer Solstice featured on this blog. see how three years ago we made a barbeque on our Tbilisi's balcony and how we celebrated our first Summer Solstice in our newly inherited house two years ago. Also compare how did it go last year. This year we celebrated Summer Solstice already for the third time at our rural country house, see home remodeling. 

This year it was just us two and cats. Nothing fancy.

Improvised DJ Remote control and some snacks 

Fireplace

Golden hour sunrise during Summer Solstice 2017

Abava Rumba Waterfall

23 June, 2017 | Tourism objects | 14 seen

Abava Rumba is the second widest waterfall in Latvia (after Venta Rumba) ,up to 1 m high and 35 m wide.

I had a chance to visit it and spend some hour in lovely photography session at the end of May 2017, just after our Germany trip in the Mossel Valley. There is a camping area located just next to the rapid. 

Abava Rumba in Latvia

I find such places tranquil and quite inspiring for my photography. 

Hiking trek near Abava Rumba

As an active outdoors fan I could resist to go deep in the "jungle"

Camping area near Abava Rumba