Cost of living in Batumi, Georgia

24 March, 2017 | Living in Georgia | 71 seen

This article was originally written as a guest post by Ms. Irina Nikolaeva (written back in 2017)

In the article 5 reasons why Batumi is better than Moscow (or other big cities), I specified the low cost of living as the first reason why I moved from Moscow to Batumi. So let’s have a closer look at this topic.

Apartment. The middle price of apartments for 1-2 people (about 50 sq. m., studio with a separate bedroom) is about 300$. That would be a flat not far from the city center (honestly the city is so small as most living areas would be in 15 minutes from the center), with good design, fully equipped with consumer electronics. If you have less money, you can find something lower, from 150$. This price is real if you would search for a flat in the period from October to March and rent a flat for one year or until May or June.

Batumi Real Estate Crypto Investment

Then closer to the summertime flat rents are growing and becoming extremely high (from 500$ for the same flat). This way every apartment owner tries to earn more money during three months of holiday time.

Utilities. If you rent a…

Home Remodeling - End Of The Season 2

23 March, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 11 seen

Wow, that was a ride. In this post I will write down all major tasks we performed during Summer 2016, which was second year since we started to manage and repair our rural property.

Learn more how it all started: Home Remodeling - How It All Starts

Each year, at the start at April we arrive to our house and put a lot work and investment to make this a livable place. In the first year, the major task performed was roof replacement, see: Meet the New Roof (Pictures Before and After)

Season 2 we started with following goals: 

For this years plans - a water supply is a must have, in order to get water here, we need to dug a well at first. We plan to construct a bathroom (for that we will need to change few bearing beams and rebuild from scratch few walls). I believe a lot of effort will be put on territory improvement, one of the things we plan to do on this - to dug our small fish pond a bit bigger)...and plan a really cool outdoor terrace.

The good news - we completed about 85% of initial goals. And yes, there are no bad news. 

We started in Spring with territory cleanup, chimney repair works, trimming trees…

What's Minimum Wage in European Union 2017

22 March, 2017 | Macroeconomics | 55 seen

This is already fourth annual article covering minimum wage and its disproportion among 22 of 28 European Union member countries.

Update: Minimum Wages in European Union 2018

Feel free to browse through the archives for previous years, before proceeding, see: 2016, 2015, 2014

In 2017 there were 22 out of 28 European Union member states with official minimum wage set by the government.

N.B. Countries that don't have a minimum wage set by the government in European Union - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Cyprus, Italy and Sweden (collective bargaining agreements effective, instead of minimum wage)

Now, the biggest question about future reports involves Britain after Brexit. As for 2017 United Kingdom still counts in as a member country of EU, in the following table below you will still find data on how much Britons receive in the minimum wage in 2017

As for the previous years, there are no changes in the country with highest and lowest minimum wage. Luxembourg as usual ranks #1 with almost EUR 2,000 minimum wage in 2017, while…

Planting Strawberry Plants In Fall

21 March, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 11 seen

It was at the end of September (2016), when we planted 80 strawberry plants in a field which was prepared few days ago with a tiller. See: Ground Milling With A Tiller

Earlier this Summer we planted about 15 strawberry plants in wooden boxes, but as we were of for a week long travels to Spain, corvine's ruined 90% of our harvest. This is the thing I worry most, probably some net should be added over plants in future.

Strawberries planted under film

We bought about 6 varieties of strawberry plants (in total 80 plants) at local plant nursery, paid for both film and plants under EUR 20. Film is strengthened using special plastic bolts. Rocks are added as an extra safety against wind.

View towards house and rock garden

First harvest is expected to be around Summer Solstice 2017.

Temporary Window For Bathroom

19 March, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 9 seen

This year's (2016) home remodeling works are coming to the end, though one problem were left - a window for bathroom. 

As just outer constructions of walls were performed, and there are still a lot to do inside, before having actual working bathroom, I was left with two options, either purchase an used plastic window and install it or be more creative. I opted for the second variant. And as a temporary window I used old wooden doors.

Window box for bathroom

See complete works for bathroom.

Old wood doors

These doors will be used as a temporary bathroom window for upcoming winter.

Window installed and secured from inside

Carpe Diem Cafe Bar in Tbilisi

18 March, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 24 seen

Carpe Diem is a cozy cafe bar in Tbilisi, located between Narikala fortress and Shardeni. Here at Carpe Diem you can try tasty home made burgers and have a herbal tea in pot. 

Because of this place been located in a steep uphill between Narikala fortress and Old Town, I have visited this place just twice so far, both of the times after climbing down from the fortress. The good news, this cafe bar have been in business for years, and it means just one - it's a good place. 

Carpe Diem is one of the rare places in Tbilisi, where  smoking inside is not allowed.

Carpe Diem in Tbilisi

Carpie Diem in Tbilisi is located next to the Armenian Apostolic church. Had to make a panoramic photo, to frame both places in one photo. 

Interior at Carpe Diem

Ground Milling With A Tiller

17 March, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 6 seen

During the Summer of 2016 we met some new faces, and so back in July we met with a neighbor (Ok, he is actually living some 10 km from our rural house) with a tractor with tiller - I started to ask about the device, would it be possible to mill ground at our place, as we are really into growing some veggies not only in a wooden boxes, but would love to grow something in the soil. 

It was at the end of the September, when I got a call from the neighbor and he asked - OK, I will be at your place tomorrow with a tractor. I thought, cool, let's do it. And so did in couple of hours neighbor with a tractor an tiller did the magic - the ground was milled. 

Tractor with a tiller

With time I'm planing to buy some tractor with a tiller and grass mowing functionality, but for now this was a win-win deal. Sometimes its cheaper to rent.

Ground milling process

After milling the soil is soft as a powder

New garden is ready

Noe it's time to seed in something, more on that in upcoming blog posts.

Former Archaeological Museum Building in Tbilisi

16 March, 2017 | Tourism objects | 262 seen

Former Archeological Museum Building in Tbilisi is a great example of the Soviet architecture in Georgia.

I had a chance to discover this place and explore surrounding area, first time in February 2017, thanks to the Tbilisi Soviet Architecure tours organized by Brutal Tours: See: Brutal Tours - Explore Soviet Georgian Architecture in Tbilisi

​The museum was established in 1988 by the well-known Georgian archeologist, head of the Tbilisi archeological expedition, Rostom Abramishvili (1924-1996). The museum housed monuments, discovered by the archeological excavations in Tbilisi. The chronological frames of the collections were from the V c. B.C. up to the feudal times. In the museum was kept the earliest in the world samples of tinned bronze objects from the Delisi (Tbilisi district) dwelling, dated as 4.000 years old; bronze buckle inlayed with silver decorated with horse rider image; inventory of the Treli royal burials (XII-VIII-VII c.c. B.C.)

Museum is not operational in 2017

Former Archeological Museum Building in Tbilisi

This place was a great discovery to me, I enjoyed it a…

Autumn in Latvia

15 March, 2017 | | 7 seen

In today's Piece of Life photo series a story from Autumn 2016 - when almost all major planned home remodeling works for this Summer were finished, in a dank September morning we decided to catch a morning mist by visiting some nearby objects.

Road in mist

I love mist photography, in fact i love to capture mist in the early mornings in our backyard, see: Beautiful morning mist and Another morning, another beautiful mist

Crop fields in Autumn

They look even more beautiful in Summer, see: Summer in Latvia

Water reflections

One of the ways to make your photography more interesting is by shooting water and water reflections, see: Water Reflections on Lisi Lake

Road in mist

These are the forests we went gathering mushrooms this Summer, see Deep in the Forest

House in mist

Not ours, but our neighboring Berghof manor

Kazdanga mill lake in Autumn

See: Kazdanga Mill Lake And Its Surroundings

Brutal Tours - Explore Soviet Georgian Architecture in Tbilisi

14 March, 2017 | Travel guides | 45 seen

A while ago with a friend of mine (another expat in Georgia) we started an online community on Facebook: Georgia Expat Photographer club.

In matter of no time we gathered a critical member count and were looking to start offering some day trips in Tbilisi or Georgia, helping other photographers explore interesting and cool sites for a free or minimum charge.

Like organizing these trips by ourselves between club members, kind of crowd funding for photographer travelers.

Learn more: First Georgia Expat Photographer Club Meeting

We did a few day trips at the start, like Hiking in Borjomi (Georgia) or Hiking In Birtvisi Canyon (Hidden Trails Of Georgia), also we did some tutorials on HDR photography for club members and so on. Unfortunately, at one stage we stopped our activities, because of passive interest from group members, people were joining but didn't showed much activity toward organizing things, and we let the club in a free flow, after all - basically photographers were just submitting their photos or some club members tried to marketing their services, which IMHO is OK, as long services…

18 Top Best Selling Asus Laptops in 2017

13 March, 2017 | Laptop Reviews | 306 seen

ASUS laptops continue to be popular in 2017, making up about 20% of best-selling laptop computers on Amazon's TOP 100 best sellers list. 

In this article I've listed 18 traditional ASUS laptop models, that will suit almost all consumer verticals, starting with cheaper editions affordable for students, and ending with very powerful laptops designed for gamers.

Top 14 Best-Selling Asus Laptops in 2023

I've excluded ASUS Chromebooks, which actually are pretty popular nowadays, but it just seems fair to list here traditional laptops. In case you are looking which Chromebook to choose here are two models from ASUS you might consider:

• Asus Chromebook C202SA-YS02 
• ASUS C302CA-DHM4 Touchscreen Chromebook

​Speaking of me, I have been a proud owner of a budget ASUS X552 since the end of 2015, and have no regrets yet.

Alternatively see: Popular ASUS Laptop / Notebook Releases in 2017

A quick note: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on…

Inner Wall From AAC Blocks For Pump Room

13 March, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 12 seen

Last home remodeling works are carried out for this end, in today's article - final inner wall from aac blocks, for auxiliary room, where right now just pump is stored in the corner, but it's planned to install a boiler and washing machine at this part of house soon.

See: Connecting The Dots - Water Pipe And Pump Installation

Pump room

I made foundation for inner wall few days ago, also see how we demolished old walls here: Demolishing Inner Walls To Build AAC Block Walls

First row of aac blocks

Now, for the next Summer (2017), one of the first works we will start with, will be pouring in concrete floors, right now looking on these pictures it seems another epic journey. 

Almost done

UAE Resident: Why Migrate to Georgia

12 March, 2017 | Living in Georgia | 6 seen

This is a guest post by Mrs. Fatima Ali, reader of this blog, who contacted me about possible migration from UAE to Georgia.

As lately I've been receiving several such questions and mostly from UAE, after giving some basic advice, I asked Fatima Ali, could she come up with a short article in a free flow on topic - Why Georgia?

See: Can You Buy a Good Life in Tbilisi With $500 as a Foreign Expat?

With the permission of Mrs. Fatima Ali and little re-editing I publish her honest answer bellow:

As a resident of the UAE vacationing in Georgia and either you've spent a few days or weeks there you cant deny the instant realization you get from the moment you walk out the airport that this country is indeed completely different.

See: All about Georgia

Dubai - a city of so many charms, might seem like the dream, but realistically speaking, and mainly because of the location the weather is its greatest con. Georgia, on the other hand, is the country of a full circle of the 4 seasons available throughout the year.

Beautiful breath taking scenery puts your soul at instant ease,  and if you're…

DIY - Bookshelf From Wooden Boards

11 March, 2017 | DIY | 9 seen

Time after time I love to excel as a Do-it-yourself guy, for today's DIY article - how i built bookshelf for our rural house from wooden boards.

Let's start that we have a complete mess in our master bedroom, as we don't have any storage to store stuff. A time ago I built a king size bed frame, again from boards, see: DIY - Bed Frame King Size Rural Style, now it was time to put in order that mess.

Mess

Can you find a cat there?

Wooden boards for bookshelf

Those boards are leftovers from roof works done in Summer 2015, see Meet the New Roof (Pictures Before and After)

Almost there

Look who have found a nice shelter

Final result

Restaurant Kala in Tbilisi

10 March, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 21 seen

Restaurant Kala in Tbilisi's Old Town actually is one of the first restaurant I've visited once set my foot on Georgian land back in April 2011. 

I have spent countless evenings here, enjoying Georgian red wine, listening to great live musicians and of course trying dishes.

I would list Kala as a medium priced place, with pleasant atmosphere and great service.

Interior at Kala restaurant in Tbilisi

Salmon sandwich served with French fries

Basically here at Kala they serves both Georgian and European cuisine. VISA cards accepted.