Blog Archive: April 2019
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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Restaurant Antre Batono Ubisa
Restaurant Antre Batono Ubisa is located near the Ubisa village in the region of Imereti, Georgia some 170 km from Tbilisi. We made a stop here and discovered this lovely place, while traveled to Batumi via Tbilisi - Senaki - Leselidze highway at the end of April 2019. This place serves typical Georgian cuisine, VISA is accepted and last, but not least prices are considerably lower if compared to the Tbilisi restaurants. The outdoor…
Restaurant Marani in Vertkvichala
Restaurant Marani Vertkvichala is located near the village Vertkvichala on Tbilisi - Senaki - Leselidze highway some 160 km from Tbilisi in the Imereti region of Georgia. We stopped here for a brief stop to take a meal and have some rest before heading back to Tbilisi (from Batumi) Restaurant Marani The place looked like a lovely B&B to me, as I noticed there are some hotel rooms, but when asked the waiter, he denied that there is a…
Day trip To Tsalka and nearby Villages
Originally it was planned as a two day trip to Ninotsminda in the region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. For the first day, it was planned to make stops at Tsalka reservoir, Paravani lake with an overnight in Ninotsminda. For the second day, there were plans to visit nearby Russian Doukhobor villages of Gorelovka, Orlovka, and probably some others. Unfortunately, once we reached Tsalka, the road literally ended, we spent about an hour of offroad…
Park Inn by Radisson Riga Valdemara
Built in 2016, Park Inn by Radisson Riga Valdemara invites its guests to stay on the western side of Daugava River with good connections to the Old Town, Riga International Airport and main sights. Guests can enjoy a meal at the onsite restaurant, enjoy views from terrace and exercise in the fitness centre. We stayed at this hotel at the start of September 2017. By now I have an extensive list of Riga hotels, and I must admit that Park Hotel by…
Hofbrau Munchen Gudauri
Hofbrau Munchen Gudauri is a roadside cafeteria located in Georgia (some 20 km from Gudauri) I'm not very well familiar with Hofbrau Munchen brand but seems this is a popular German brewery brand in Germany and abroad, the one located on Gudauri highway seems is not actually affiliated with the German brand (but you never know). See more: https://www.hofbraeu-muenchen.de/en Anyhow, you can get here some German beer and some German cuisine (…
Tsalka
Tsalka is a town and municipality center in southern Georgia's Kvemo Kartli region located some 100 km from Tbilisi. Next to Tsalka is located the largest water reservoir in Georgia - Tsalka reservoir. Town of Tsalka is known by many abandoned houses next to the lake, and in fact, while traveled here for the first time back in 2011, I had an idea it would be cool to buy a house here. My dream of owning a house in Tsalka died in January 2019.…
Restaurant 'Piano" in Liepāja
The 'Piano' is a World class restaurant located in Promenade hotel in Liepāja Enjoy delicious meals and a romantic, relaxed atmosphere at "Piano" restaurant located in "Promenade Hotel". I first discovered and tried Piano restaurant back in September 2017. Restaurant Piano in Liepāja On the extensive restaurant menu, you will find exquisite and diverse dishes specially prepared from local Latvian products - gourmets will enjoy the fresh…
Mount Kazbek
Mount Kazbek, is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus located on the border of Georgia's Kazbegi District and Russia's Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. It is the third-highest peak in Georgia (after Mount Shkhara and Janga) and the seventh-highest summit in the Caucasus Mountains. Kazbek is also the second-highest volcanic summit in the Caucasus, after Mount Elbrus. The summit lies directly to the west of the…
Investment Goal #6 - Minimum $600 Purchase for US Stocks
Starting in 2019, I'm raising a little bit my investment goal for US stocks, from now on the minimum stock purchase will be $600 or more. I have increased my spending goal for about $50, which might seem like a modest, but actually is pretty decent. Investment Goal #4 - Minimum $550 Purchase for US Stocks With my current stock broker (Lynx broker) I'm paying a $5 commission for each US stock purchase. That's about 0.083% in commission. A…
Hotel Stancia Kazbegi
Hotel Stancia in Kazbegi is a great and cheaper alternative to the more stylish and lavish Rooms Kazbegi hotel. Featuring a garden and a restaurant, Stancia Kazbegi is set in Stepantsminda. Among the various facilities of this property are a terrace and ski storage space. The hotel also offers free WiFi as well as a paid airport shuttle service. We booked Hotel Stancia in Kazbegi in early April 2019 and paid around GEL 150 (USD 56) for a one…
Tsalka Lake / Water reservoir
Tsalka reservoir - is the largest water reservoir in Georgia, located in the Tsalka municipality, some 100 km from Tbilisi, at 1506 meters above the sea level in the valley of Khrami river. The total area for Tsalka reservoir is 33.7 km², Maximum depth - 25m, while the average depth of 9,3 m. Reservoir stretches from the west to the east. Tsalka reservoir in winter Made this photo January 19, 2019, while doing a trip to Ninotsminda…
Hotel Talsi
Hotel “Talsi” is located in a picturesque place, next to Vilkumuiza lake. Hotel "TALSI" offers 53 different standard Single, Double rooms and comfortable Suites. I booked Hotel Talsi, for a couple of days (nights) in August 2017. As there are not many hotels located in Talsi, Hotel Talsi seemed like a logical choice, which actually was quite true. As I traveled without a car, I managed to organize a taxi service from the hotel during my short…
Trading Bitcoin / Ethereum Options (Selling Puts) on Deribit - Part 1
Deribit is my latest discovery from the crazy crypto world. It all started with simple buy-and-hold operations back in 2017. What followed was, a day trading on Poloniex, I even built a custom Ethereum mining rig. I have played with cloud mining contracts from hashflare, and now I've found my way into Bitcoin / Ethereum options trading. It's not that I would call myself an expert in options trading, in fact, I have made just a couple of put…
Birtvisi Canyon in Georgia
Birtvisi canyon is located in the Tetri-Tskaro district in Kvemo Kartli region about an hour drive from Tbilisi. Canyon is ideally suited for those loving hiking (see: Hiking In Birtvisi Canyon (Hidden Trails Of Georgia)) and outdoor activities. There are many smaller and larger gorges, rocks and of course amazing nature. Also, the Birtvisi fortress is located here (which I still haven't found after some 4 years of inactive searches). The…
My 17 Year Old Dividend Portfolio (From Single Nasdaq Baltic Stock)
The inspiration for this post came from a Dividend Empire article titled My 33-Year-Old Dividend Growth Portfolio. Also, I would like to mention that a couple of weeks ago I met a fellow Italian investor here in Tbilisi (Massimo, if you are reading this - hi to you), we spent about 90 minutes enjoying a cappuccino and discussing investments in Tbilisi, Georgia, investments in oil, gas, and of course dividend investing. Massimo told me he has…