Blog Archive: March 2016
An ex-pat living in Georgia since 2011, I trade stocks, take photographs, work out at the gym, and many more. Here I write about travel, finance, and other things that might interest me.
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Tbilisi - Pearl of Caucasus
I have spent about five years as an expat living in Georgia, most of the time I have lived in Tbilisi (about six months I spent in Batumi). In today's Piece of Life post series I just wanted to share some piece of Tbilisi. Allow me to call this vibrant city - The Pearl of Caucasus (Thus Yerevan rocks, and most probably Baku too - I still haven't visited Azerbaijan, thus once I fished on the border with Azerbaijan, see Fishing on Jandari lake).…
Beautiful morning mist
It was an early morning of August, back in 2015, I was still sleeping, tired of yesterday's hard work of unloading few tones of sand from our rural house's loft, probably still dreaming to finish anytime soon roofing works, when my better part took DSLR camera and went out shooting - look - what a beautiful mist she captured today: Morning mist Mist in our backyard territory Mist in apple orchard mist over pine coppice
Unloading Few Tonnes of Sand from Loft
For a minute it seemed that all major removal, junk unloading and demolishing works are over, but then I realized we still have that soil coving floor in loft. And I'm speaking of some 25 cm thick layer of soil, for some reason covered there. Few weeks ago I was still naive I hoped to remove that soil/sand from the loft without any help but myself. Yup, that was quite a naive. Now, when finally last shingles were removed it was time for another…
Minimum Wages in European Union 2016
In 2016 there were 22 out of 28 European Union member states with official minimum wage set by the government. Update: Minimum Wages in European Union 2018 The most are receiving residents of Luxembourg (EUR 1,923.00) while the least in Bulgaria (EUR 215). By simple calculations, I averaged the average minimum wage in 22 EU member states - EUR 810.82. In most of the member countries there is an increase in minimum wage in 2016, still, there…
Karabak Turkish Restaurant in Tbilisi
Karabak is very cool Turkish restaurant located on the busy Queen Tamar Aveneu (Tamar Mephe) in Tbilisi not very far from Tbilisi Railway station. When I first noticed a huge restaurant opening here on Tamar Mepe avenue, I got confused about its name - Karabak. My first thought was they are naming restaurant after Nagorno-Karabakh unrecognized Republic. Turns out (as I was told) it's not related to disputed land between Armenia and Azerbaijan,…
Art Cafe Kamara
Art Cafe Kamara is a social enterprise art cafe which employs rehabilitated persons from different addicts, at least I was told so when first visited this place. Funded by the Swiss Government, this social enterprise art cafe is located at the foothills of Tbilisi Botanical garden in the Old Town. Art cafe Kamara Being uninformed about this places social activities, we at start thought - just another art cafe, which wont survive long. But…
Hotel Best Western Modena District, Italy
Best Western Modena District hotel was our last hotel in Italy during our week long travels across the country. This Best Western hotel is a 5-minute drive from the Campogalliano exit of the A22 Motorway, 10 km from Modena. The property offers a gym, and free outdoor parking. At check in I asked can they give us a smokers room, the receptionist lady told they have a lovely, large smokers room, which is designed for disabled persons, we didn't…
Modena Town Hall
Looking for free toursit attraction sites in Italian town of Modena? You might visit Modena Town Hall. Facing the Piazza Grande (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Town Hall of Modena was put together in the 17th and 18th centuries from several pre-existing edifices built from 1046 as municipal offices. Modena Town Hall, Italy It is characterized by a Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio, late 15th century), once paired with another tower (…
Tartine Brasserie - French Restaurant in Tbilisi
Tartine Brasserie is one of the rare places in Tbilisi where brunch is served in weekends. I have been in research for perfect breakfast restaurant in Tbilisi for past couple of weeks already, last week I tried so called breakfast menu at Barbarestan - Wine Shop and Restaurant in Tbilisi it didn't worked well. So another Saturday morning - another Tbilisi restaurant. Located in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town, this place have been on my radar for…
How to Get around in Tbilisi by Taxify (Taxi Mobile Application)
There is a very convenient way of getting around in Tbilisi by taxi using mobile application Taxify. I probably first heard of this company at the end of 2014 by visiting Georgian Startup challenge organized by GITA. For my travels around Tbilisi I mostly use taxi either by calling to the central or just by catching taxi on the street (I prefer second over first still). Taxis are cheap in Tbilisi, but you never know about cars technical…
How to add Custom Markers for Gmap Module Drupal
Gmap custom markers are cool way to enhance your Drupal site. My blog heavily really on Drupal Views + Gmap + Location module. Most of the articles listed in Restaurant reviews, tourist attractions or hotel reviews are nicely displayed on map and pinned with custom created markers. Recently, when updating Gmap module to the latest stable version all my markers disappeared so I had to re-upload markers. That' s how I decided to write a simple…
Pruning trees and shrubs
One of my biggest challenges last summer was unstoppable fight with grass (see: Lawn Mowing), not to mention larger scale works on roof replacement. But there was another major issue we faced - overgrown bushes and totally deprived landscape. When dealing with trees and shrubs it's not only about landscape, but also about their health. You want healthy landscape right? Now, we had a really deprival and unhealthy landscape in our backyard…
Roof Works, Part 5 - And once more let's remove old roofing
Think roof works are cool? In fact - roofing is one of the hardest works in construction and if you have decided by your own to replace your old roofing - think again! Anyway - let me show - how once again (See: Replacing Roof - Part 1: Removing old roofing) we removed old wooden shingles from our rural house back in Summer of 2015. This time I hired two workers to help me out with demolishing works and ...things moved quickly. We were able to…
Actual Price Index at Tbilisi Market - March 2016
Yup, another hipster style article about actual prices for consumer goods at local Tbilisi market (Bazroba). It has been a while since I decided to measure how lari/dolar exchange rates influence actual prices, if you, just like me are an expat living in Georgia - you most probably have faced the consequences of weak lari against US dollar. Thus - I don't believe that foreign currency should affect local economy. National currency of Georgia is…
New Life for Agmashenebeli avenue, Tbilisi
A major and very much needed reconstruction works recently (February 2016) have begun on one of the major Tbilisi streets - David Agmanashebeli avenue. Funded by Tbilisi Development Fund (which is pretty much financed from city budget + private investor capital) promises a completely renovated street by the Autumn 2016. It was mid February and we decided to explore how construction works were held on this street. Another reason I find these…