Rose Cottage in Udler, Germany

16 June, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 8 seen

Featuring free WiFi and garden views, Rose Cottage is a holiday home, situated in Udler. It provides free private parking.

We booked this place on booking.com for a one night stay during our few day leisure trip in Germany, sadly there are few good words I can use to describe our stay here. As this place is one of the few that actually kind of ruined our holidays. Anyhow let's start with positive - the rental property is decent, a lot of plastic roses, but hey it's decent. I haven't been to the UK, but I got feeling that indoor style at house is something British. So far, so good.

About negative: First, rental owners (they seemed like a married couple to me) didn't see too happy seeing us arriving at 9PM - the owner even complained that it doesn't makes him happy, I kindly replied, hey guests uses booking.com just for one reason - to book and arrive anytime right?!

Next what followed was rather joke than reality, despite the price we paid (EUR 148) included cleaning fee already (about EUR 70), the landlord lady asked us to clean up after ourselves and sort our garbage…

Cochem Imperial castle

15 June, 2017 | Tourism objects | 20 seen

The contours of the neo-gothic building rise more than about 330 ft above the river Moselle on an outstanding hill. The silhouette of the towering hill seems to continue in the building which is topped by the slate roof of the massive keep. As for its structure, Cochem Castle belongs to the category of castles protected by height that had to be protected all around. Romanesque fragments found in the well indicate a reinforcement of the castle around 1056.

For the sake of this article, I must admit - I didn't visited castle itself, because I found more interesting to photograph such huge objects from distance. So did I do - photographed from different angles. 

Cochem Castle in Germany

Around this time or a bit earlier the core of the Romanesque square keep (17ft by 17ft) was built, its walls being up to 12ft thick. At the same time, the keep was also made higher. In the first half of the 14th century, archbishop Balduin of Trier connected the castle and the town by massive walls. Furthermore a chain was installed below the castle to form a removable toll barrier across the river.

Cochem Castle

t is generally…

Eltz Castle

14 June, 2017 | Tourism objects | 20 seen

Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle (Schloss Bürresheim), Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed.

I paid here a brief visit in May 2017, during a few day trip around Germany.

The castle is surrounded on three sides by the Elzbach River, a tributary on the north side of the Moselle. It is on a 70-metre (230 ft) rock spur, on an important Roman trade route between rich farmlands and their markets. The Eltz Forest has been declared a nature reserve by Flora-Fauna-Habitat and Natura 2000

Burg Eltz in Germany

The Rübenach and Rodendorf families' homes in the castle are open to the public, while the Kempenich branch of the family uses the other third of the castle. The public is admitted…

Monastery of Maria Engelport

13 June, 2017 | Churches and Monasteries | 39 seen

The monastery of Maria Engelport (Kloster Maria Engelport) is located on the edge of the Hunsrück in the Flaumbach Valley near Treis-Karden, Germany. 

We made here a briefly stop while traveling by car around these parts of Germany, it was overcast day, I was not in the mood for photography, just made some quick shots.

Kloster Maria Engelport

The following written is a rough translation from German using automatic Google translate:

The monastery was founded around 1220 by the knight Emelrich of Monreal and settled by Cistercians from the monastery Kumbd. Due to lack of economic support from the founding family, the monastery was soon abandoned. A second foundation was made in 1262 by Philipp von Wildenburg and his wife Irmgard von Braunshorn . The couple settled the new foundation with three of their daughters and other Dominicans from a Ardennes monastery. They changed to the Premonstratensian Order on August 28, 1272, and on October 2, 1275, were placed under the supervision of the abbot of Kloster Sayn . From…

Planing a trip to Greece: How to get a Prepaid SIM Card with Internet

12 June, 2017 | Travel guides | 21 seen

I traveled to Greece for about 2 weeks in June 2017, our final destination was island of Crete. One of the reasons I was looking for prepaid sim card in Greece is simple - for navigation (Google maps helps a lot).

From my previous experience with dealing with different sim cards in multiple European countries I already knew, it shouldn't be a problem to get one in Greece.

Planing a Trip to Spain: How to Get a Prepaid SIM Card in Spain

I planned to purchase whatever operators SIm card with broad coverage at Athens airport. Unfortunately when there I forgot to do that, and bought one after a couple of hours near Acropolis metro station from a guy selling Vodafone Sim Cards (just for the information, there was another guy selling WIND sim-cards)

I paid EUR 15 and got sim card (actually two, though never used second one) with 10GB internet limit on it. For a savvy tech guy like me 10GB is not much, but as I was on vacation and only reason I was looking for a sim card with internet was just for navigation 10GB is more than enough. Most hotels in Greece offers high speed Wi-Fi.

The SIM…

Porta Nigra in Trier

11 June, 2017 | Tourism objects | 55 seen

The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is today the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I first visited Trier and in particular Porta Nigra back in 2005, when arrived here from neighboring Luxembourg. My latest trip to the Porta Nigra was in May 2017, during a few day trip in Germany.

The Porta Nigra in Trier Germany

The name Porta Nigra originated in the Middle Ages due to the darkened colour of its stone; the original Roman name has not been preserved. Locals commonly refer to the Porta Nigra simply as Porta.

The Porta Nigra was built in grey sandstone between 186 and 200 AD. The original gate consisted of two four-storied towers, projecting as near semicircles on the outer side. A narrow courtyard separated the two gate openings on either side. For unknown reasons, however, the construction of the gate remained unfinished. For example, the stones at the northern…

Weekend trip to Telavi (Georgia) and Vicinty

10 June, 2017 | Travel guides | 8 seen

This is a short recap article about our latest trip to the region of Kakheti in Western Georgia, during a weekend trip we stayed in a lovely Chataeu Mere hotel near Telavi and explored the nearby vicinity.

We did this trip as indie travelers, first booked a hotel room, then contacted the hotel and asked for transfer service from our Tbilisi apartment to the hotel (and back). For such transfer, we paid GEL 70 (one way).

Once at the hotel (which cost us about EUR 300 for a 3-day stay) we ordered a local taxi service and hired him to take us to some cool local places, for GEL 50 we were taken to the Town of Telavi and Lopota lake. which in fact is quite enough for a slow weekend trip. Our total budget for such kind of luxury, but the independent trip was about EUR 400. 

Peter's Market in Liepaja

9 June, 2017 | Shopping Venues | 12 seen

Peter's market is centrally located on Kuršu street in Liepāja, Latvia. There are more than 200 sales outlets. It's the largest market in Liepaja and second largest in Latvia (after Riga Central market). 

Make sure to visit Peter's market once in Liepāja. Although not so impressive than those in Philadelphia, Barcelona or Riga, it's still quite interesting place. I believe over the time Peter's market has potential to become one of the most visited tourism attractions in Liepāja.

Peter's market in Liepāja

We come here to buy some plants for our rural country house. Lovely selection of many flowers.

Liepāja Peter's market

Sunset hotel in Jurmala

8 June, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 12 seen

I now have a great selection of Jurmala hotels, in todays article the latest addition - Hotel Sunset on Pilsonu street in Jurmala. When traveling to or from Riga and looking for a cheap stay I prefer Jurmala (as it's close to Riga) or some suburbs in Riga. Although some might think Jurmala is an expensive city  in fact - it's not. For a decent hotel room in Jurmala you could easly find value deals for about EUR 40. 

That's how we booked Sunset Hotel in Jurmala.

Hotel Sunset in Jurmala

There is a signboard saying - For Sale. If you are looking for investments in the Baltics, might be an interesting option.

This property is 4 minutes walk from the beach. Only a 2-minute walk from the sea, the Sunset Hotel is located in the heart of Jurmala, just a few steps from the main pedestrian street and 5 minutes walking distance from the Dzintari Concert Hall. It offers comfort rooms with free WiFi and a private bathroom.

Small room at Hotel Sunset in Jurmala

Yes our queen size bed took all the room, indeed the room we get was tiny, but for a one night stay - excellent.

Each room at the Sunset is air-…

Drupal 8 Minor upgrade using Putty SSH Terminal

7 June, 2017 | Drupal Development | 16 seen

In this article I'll shed some light on how easy it is to perform a minor Drupal 8 upgrade between versions using free Putty SSH terminal and just a few lines of code. 

I assume your Drupal is configured under a VPS (take Linode, for example) and your installation path is /srv/www/

See: How to upgrade Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 - Process , Upgrading Drupal 7 (minor upgrade)

Drupal security updates

By accessing available updates page (admin/reports/updates/update) we can easy update modules by just clicking update button, but if you are asked to update Drupal version a manual operation is asked

Update Drupal 8 core

Now, open Putty, enter your username and password (make sure you login with root privileges). Make sure you change tourgeorgia.eu to your actual domain name

Now visit /update.php…

Postcards from Telavi

6 June, 2017 | | 5 seen

It was on an overcast day, we decided to leave our cozy room at Chateau Mere hotel and go explore Telavi. I've been to Telavi several times, and I always thought there is nothing much to see, except the Telavi market or try khinkali at Kafe - Bari Zodiako. Turns out I was wrong - Telavi has to offer much more.

At hotel reception desk we asked for a city taxi to arrive and pick us up and just drive and explore nearby vicinity. The result - Telavi is really cool small town, without doubts I'm looking to return and explore more.

Central square in Telavi

Despite an overcast day I managed to capture a lovely panoramic photography at central Telavi square (next to the musem)

Park in Telavi

What a lovely observation point. Not to speak about interesting formations in the park - rocks and hipster style chairs.

Monument and tree

Frankly speaking before post processing these images I felt pretty sceptical about the result. Turns out even in overcast days you can capture interesting scenes.

Bridge in Telavi

Lines and shapes, grey and green. Lovely, tranquil mood from Telavi,…

Apartment Alte Pfarre in Gudensberg, Germany

5 June, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 13 seen

Alte Pfarre Gudensberg offers pet-friendly accommodation in a historical timbered house in Gudensberg, 17 km from Kassel and 42 km from Bad Hersfeld. The unit is 18 km from Bad Wildungen. Free private parking is available on site.

After a visit to this place we have agreed, let's include such apartments in our future travel plans instead of just simple hotel rooms. Stay at apartments gives much better local touch. 

We booked Alte Pfarre Gudensberg  on May 17, 2017 for a one night stay and it turned out that we were first visitors this year and as a gift we got a bottle of champagne. Lovely. Our booking price was just EUR 85. And let me call this place one of the best places I've every stayed so far. 

Spacious apartment

Now, so many things I would love to see in our own future house.

The apartment is located on the ground floor, has its own entrance and direct access to the garden. There is a seating area, a dining area and a kitchen as well as a private bathroom. A flat-screen TV, as well as a CD player are provided. Other facilities at Alte Pfarre Gudensberg include a barbecue. The apartment…

May 2017 Dividend Income Report - $65.45

4 June, 2017 | Investments | 15 seen

There are two financial goals I'm looking to achieve. The short term goal is to earn from dividend paying stocks more than $100/mo by February 2018. The long tern goal -  to land 1 million dollars in my savings account by the time I will turn 60 (that's in 2045).

I started my wealth building adventure (portfolio) January 2017 with goal to invest $8,561 this year in several batches. Now, five months latter I'm publishing my first dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from stocks and peer to peer lending in May 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. At the end of May I had invested $4,656.36 what equals to about 0.47% from my ultimate goal to have 1 million dollars and 54.39% from my 2017 planned investments

The total value of my portfolio in May 2017 were $4,766.22, making the difference between invested and value + $109.86

• Invested: $4,656.36
• Value: $4,766.22

Growth: + $109.86

…

Cafe - Hotel Kandava

3 June, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 13 seen

Kandava is a small but lovely town in the Western Latvia. I haven't been here many times, just some 3-4, but I really enjoy these small and tranquil Latvian towns. We were just driving around Latvia and around meal time discovered we are in Kandava.

In the city center on Sabiles street we found a lovely cafeteria with clear name - Kandava.Turns out there is both cafe and hotel available at this place. Probably next time when in Kandava, a hotel room in the city center might be great option.

Interior at Cafe Kandava

​I was surprised of after seeing such cozy interior. But not surprised at all discovering that we are the only guests. Luckily the chef was on site and all meals from menu were available. I choose to stick with potatoes pancakes and some omelet.

Omelet at cafe Kandava

Spare Hotel in Riga

2 June, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 8 seen

Spare Hotel is located a 5-minute drive from Riga International Airport and 7 minutes from the historic city centre. It features free parking and an on-site bowling complex. We booked Spare hotel for a short stay in Riga for one night. 

Spare hotel in Riga

Seems the hotel is located in former dwelling house, but our stay here was decent. Had a lovely dinner at hotels restaurant and simple free breakfast.

All rooms of Spare Hotel provide a bathroom and cable TV. Most rooms offer a seating area and a work desk.

Guests of the Spare Hotel can enjoy the breakfast buffet and other meals in the on-site restaurant, which offers Korean, Japanese and European cuisine. Cocktails as well as non-alcoholic beverages are also served.