My rating:

Do not be fooled by the website informations on this B&B in Shanagarry/Ireland. On the outside everything seems OK…nice location etc. The place basically looked like a normal house…with clothes thrown all over in the living room, a boy playing games on the computer in the lobby, everyone just having a normal family night.

We were taken to our rooms, and after I looked around I came to the conclusion that the toilet has not been clean after the previous guest, the sheets did not seem to have been changed for a while either, the carpet needed some vacuuming.

This being said there was little we could do about it at that hour, since we were quite tired after the long drive we had that day.

The new day brought a new experience for breakfast. Our host seemed quite disturbed we were few minutes late than the hour we mentioned the night before, also she was a bit snappy, since she had to take her son to school.

The kitchen really put us off and we did not really feel like eating anymore. She took a long time to make breakfast, the place looked messy…bottom line is that the place needed quite a bit of cleaning (dirty sink, dirty floor, garbage needing to be taken out).

We were happy to leave the place…but if you want to give it a try you can find it here:

http://www.whitelodgebb.com/

Shanagarry, East Cork
County Cork, Ireland
Tel:+353 (0)21 4646107
Mobile: 086 8839218

My rating:

Today we decided to have dinner in Turda town since we were in the area visiting the Turda Gorges, in Cluj Napoca County. We walked or a bit through downtown, and on a side street we found this 4 star hotel and restaurant, The Hunter Prince Castle.
The design of the place is quite nice and interesting, and for sure it seems like the best place in town. We were appointed at a table on a terrace built from wood, with a lot of carving and built in a rustic style. Maybe a bit too many mixtures of carving styles.
At first we were put off by the waiting time…we were brought the menus, but then it seemed we were forgotten there. A few people which arrived after us were served first and we were not even taken the order yet. We were ready to go, but finally our waiter arrived as well (a different one than the one which brought us the menus).
From that moment we didn’t have anything else to complain about: the food was great, the waiter paid attention to us, and the prices are afordable. They have quite a few game courses, and those are more expensive than the rest.
In the end a meal for two people was about 30 euro.

You can find this place at the following adress:

The Hunter Prince Castle
4-6 S. Sulutiu Street, Turda, Cluj Napoca County, Romania;
Phone: +4. 0264.316.850; Mobile: +4.0745.997.264;
Website: www.huntercastle.ro; e-mail: huntercastle@hotmail.com.

On my return flight from Ireland, I had to use Airlingus again.

This time I decided to pay for the luggage online since it was 6 euro cheaper than if I paid it in the airport. Though, this was not enough apparently, because I still had to pay an extra 90 euro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…

Seems the limit for luggage for this international flight from Dublin to Bucharest is only 20 kilograms/person, where TAROM’s limit (Romanian airlines), for a 40 minutes internal flight is of 25 kilograms.

In the end I truly felt ripped off by Airlingus, and probably I will only use it as a last resort.

This was our last full day from my Irish adventure. Breakfast at the Castlenock Hotel was wonderful as usual, and made us ready to head out even if the weather did not look promising at all.
Today we were planning to take the ferry to the Ireland’s Eye Island, to observe the sea birds. Well this in the end turned out to be unsuccessful since the ferry seems to operate only in the busy days, so it is best to check with them if they run the day you want to visit
We walked for about one hour on the east peer of the Howth Harbour, and after that had a short walk on the cliff path trail.
Slowly it started to rain, so we returned to the car with the thought of visiting Newgrange megalithic tomb, another place in my 1001 historic places to see before I die.
After a lot of trouble we took to find the right road leading to Newgrange due to some construction, the personnel at Newgrange sent us somewhere else for the tickets, meaning some few km out of our way. We gave up the idea and just headed back to Dublin on a heavy rain. Quite disappointing to be there and not be able to visit, unless you took a bus from another place.
No visit in Dublin without some shopping and dinner in the Temple Bar area.
We bought again quite a few books and were amazed at the size of the stores. Dinner was at Quays Bar Restaurant, a very nice and lively restaurant/pub.
Along with more rain, we went back to the hotel to take care of our luggage and get ready for our flight back home the following day.
In the end…I believe I am starting to fall in love with the ever green Ireland.

Even if Airlingus is the only airline with a direct flight from Bucharest to Dublin, I would definitely not recommend them to anyone. When buying the tickets, I was quite satisfied with the price… that until I realized we were to pay for everything else: suitcases, choice of seats, meal in the plane.

At the airport they returned everyone back to the paying office, even for a very small extra carrion…For example my tripod, not weighting more than 1.5 kg, had to be checked in, and I paid the normal price as any other 25 kg suitcase, meaning 18 euro!!!!. This being said, at the boarding I had to pay an extra 36 euro, for a small empty suitcase and the tripod…
While other airlines offer you a snack in the plane (even for a 1 hour internal flight from Iasi to Bucharest, they offered us a sandwich and refreshments) Airlingus charges for everything…
In the end, what I thought would be a good deal, since it was a direct flight, turned out to be not such a good choice.
On top of all of this, the flight had a 1.5 hour delay, which we spent in the plane. At least at this time they did not lose any of my luggages.

Airlingus!!!! A definite NO for me.

Traveling has always offered me unexpected experiences. Today my Irish Adventure starts, and what I thought would be a boring domestic flight, from Iasi to Bucharest, turned out to be quite interesting.

I went through checkin at the small Iasi airport (International Airport for few years now), than sat on the small terrace to enjoy a view over the landing track.

I do not usually make a habit in observing other people in small areas, but this time I raised my eyes accidentally to a table next to where I was sitting. I was surprised and thrilled to see none other than Horatiu Malaiele (link in Romanian), a Romanian actor, a very good one in my opinion.

With my heart almost jumping, after I made a bit of courage, I went to his table and asked for his autograph. He was surprised to see what I handed for him to sign…nothing else than my passport :).

I know that most of you will not understand anything, from the movie bellow because it is in Romanian, but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it…

Now it is time for me to wait another 6 hours until my flight to Dublin…I hope this year Air Lingus wont loose my luggage.

I am waiting patiently in the somewhat busy departure terminal, wondering if I will have any more surprises for the day…

In life there will be a lot of people you will have the chance to meet. Some will be uninteresting and you will go on further without looking back, others will put their print deep into your life and your beliefs in a matter of minutes.

One of the people from the second category is mister Adrian Irvin Rozei, which I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday, while I was hired to be his driver for the day.

Even if now he is established in France his love for Romania is obvious, without needing any questions. I was fascinated the entire trip, listening to mister Rozei talk with his friend, none other than mister Radu Negrescu-Sutu.

At the time, admitting my limitations, ignorance, lack of knowledge at so many levels and my youth, I sat quiet, barely opening my mouth, without knowing the importance of the people traveling in the same car as me. There is so much out there… things that we don’t know, or have not heard of.

This is why I sit here, in front of the computer, trying to share a bit of my discovering.

A simple Google search of the two names above will reveal things to you, that I am sure will be a surprise.

For those a bit more lazy, here are a few links:

Radu Negrescu Sutu

Adrian Irvin Rozei

Did I tickle your curiosity yet?

If you come to the point in driving from Romania to/through Bulgaria, and you have decided to cross the border at Calafat/Vidin, there are a few things you need to know:

• IT IS NOT FREE
• Romanian harbor tax is 6 € (20 lei)
• The ferry ride with a small car and a passenger is 26 €, and it will take you about 1 hour to cross the Danube
  
• Vignette is obligatory, it is available for 3 days if you are in transit and it is 5 €
• The Bulgarians will issue you an insurance available for few days, and that is 2 €/person

Besides these costs, I was not required to pay anything else. The European Bulgarian roads are quite nice and smooth, but if you take off to national roads, be advised there will be plenty of potholes.

How many of you know who Aromanians are?

A small incursions into land’s history occupied by Romania today, will tell us that until the end of 18th century, the people living on these lands were known as Vlachs.

In time Vlachs have separated into various groups, one of them being Aromanians, a part of them still living in Romania as an emigrant community in Dobrogea region.

They speak the Aroumanian language, a Romance language related to Romanian, and sometimes classified as a dialect of it.

I came across this video and I was moved to see such resemblances.

I simply love traveling, and someday I will get to see and do all the things I want.

Until then though, this is a map of the places I have been, lived, and want to go to.

Obviously green marks the places I want to go to.