I have wanted to visit Scarisoara Ice Cave for quite a few years and this time it seemed to be the perfect moment. Took off from Cluj city, on the road passing through Turda and Campeni until we reached Garda de Sus village.

Here, right in the center of the village there is a sign towards Scarisoara Ice Cave. After 100 meters or so the road ends and you will have to go left on the side of the river for about 500 meters on a forestry road. You will have to pay attention to find the next road sign which says 7 km to the cave (the road climbs to the right). From here the road keeps going higher and higher and if you are not an experienced driver I do not recommend to drive here. Also a 5 seat car is ok, but a 4×4 is more suitable.

The road passes through some amazing landscapes, Apuseni Mountains being well known for their beauty.

We left the car when we reached the folk museum, and continued for about 10 minutes on foot.

The way into the cave is quite amazing. You go down on some tiny metal stairs, for about 100 meters down and from up there you could see the opening of the cave with snow. As we got lower and lower the temperature decreased reaching about 0 degrees Celsius (32 F). I will let you enjoy the photos from there:

Bring warm clothes!!

We walked around it on some wooden pathways on top of the ice admiring the beauty of the ice, old for more than 2000 years.

It is ….BEAUTIFUL!!!

On the way up I recommend you stop a few times, to let your body adjust to the heat.

The entry to the cave is 5 lei and the opening hours are from 10:00 – 5:00 pm during the week and 10:00 - 6:00 pm in the weekend.

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.

Another day, another adventure.

This morning we left optimistic toward the Turda Gorges. From Mihai Viteazu village we continued until the crossroads leading to Cheia, than before entering the village, we took the road to the right, with the interdiction sign!!

After the stone and marble carrier the road turned into a rock/stone forestry road and we reached the edge of a hill reveling to us, right in front, the splendor of the Turda Gorge.

After a bit more driving we stopped at the Turda Gorges Cabin, then started climbing up on the ridge marking…

We stopped a few times to catch our breath on the abrupt pathway, and by the time we reached the ridge, a very hard and long cold rain has begun. Right there we met with another friend of Cosmin’s from Milvus NGO… After getting all soaked from the rain, we decided there was no point to continue the road. Needles to say that when we finally reached the car, the rain has stopped. It didn’t really matter because we were all wet anyway.

12:10 pm at the Aniesi Pond in Bistrita Nasaud county. Cosmin is unbelievably on a raft on this pond with one his biology friends.

Now what in the world are we doing here. We are here to collect and observe the Epitheca bimaculata dragonfly, this being the only place in Romania where it has been observed.

This pond is quite a nice place, with the exception of all the mud I had to walk through in my sandals. The place is surrounded by the Rodnei Mountains, and to get here we crossed the railway and a bridge over the Somes River, than followed a path to the left.

Next stop is the Turda Gorges, which means another place marked in my “1001 Natural wonders to see before I die”.

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.

Today we are heading back to Dublin, to complete our trip with a few more stops here and there around the capital of Ireland.
We decided to spend the night to the Ring Farmouse B&B, which was built on the place of a former castle. An aerial view shows it being in the middle of a circle, quite neat. The host was nice and friendly, and the place looked wonderful with all the family photos on the walls, making you feel like at home.

The first stop of the day was the Birr Demesne Castle. The weather was quite dark, so I was doubting at first that it would be a good visit. It turned out to be a very charming castle with a lot of interesting things to see. The castle itself is private, but the gardens, Ireland’s historic science center and the World’s Famous Great Telescope are open to visits…

While we were there some sort of event was taking place, and all these wonderful epoque cars started pulling in one by one.

The Camcor river passing through the gardens gave the place a mystic look.

We made a very short stop in Roscrea to see the castle and some of the heritage. No over stops until we reached Dublin.
Of course had to do a bit of shopping, and mostly we had to buy an extra suitcase for all the books Cosmin bought. Ok I admit it, I bought quite a few as well.
After two more visits in the bookstores we checked in at the hotel, and had dinner at the Vineyard Restaurant in Blanchardstown. If you want to spend your time in a nice intimate but yet lively restaurant with great service, but medium prices, do not bypass this wonderful Bar & Restaurant.

You can find this place at: The Vineyard, Main Street, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15; phone: 01 821 3109

Today we will start to return slowly to Dublin, of course with a few stops on the way.

The Ashbrook Lodge turned out to be nice, even if we had to share the bathroom with my friend Gerry. The host was nice and she talked so fast that I had a tough time understanding her.

On the way we stopped at the Turoe Stone, but there was little to see since for its protection the stone is in a closed shed with 2 little windows. The pet farm also located there seems a fun place to take your children.

Another place marked from the “1001 historic places to see before you die” is Clonmacnoise. It holds some of the High Celtic crosses, temples and a cathedral. A very interesting view of the Round Tower with the river Shannon in the background.

After a stop at the Mongam Bog where I could see the turf harvesting machine doing its job and a small bog train, we choose to visit the Portumna Castle.

This stop is one of the nicest we had in this trip. Surprisingly there were not many tourists, considering the beauty of the place. The garden looked perfectly restored to its past glory, while the Kitchen Garden impresses with its plant variety and vegetables.

The castle is still ongoing restoration but panels show you the impressive steps taken to bring it to its present form. My recommendation…if you are in the area, please take the time to visit this wonderful place.

Our stop for the day was Birr where we checked in at “The Ring” B&B, built on the site of a former castle.

We had a very nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant, in downtown…

Tomorrow…Dublin awaits.

Another late morning start. The irish breakfast was wonderful as usual, but our host seemed quite confused: my friend received another name, and more surprising is that she did not know what was the capital of Romania. And even if she was offered the opportunity to visit Romania for a wedding, she decided on Portugal instead.
We had a walk through downtown Galway and enjoyed some interesting, or better said amazing futuristic art work. In about 10-15 minutes we saw a masterpiece being created with graffiti sprays and few pieces of old paper. You can see the result here…as I said…amazing…

Also here, after the usual entry in a bookstore, I managed to buy two heavy books, which are helping me prepare for a life of adventures: “1001 historic places to see before I die” and “1001 nature wonders to see before I die”.
This day initially was planned as a light one, but we managed to make it quite busy. First we decided to go to the Twain Island, near Oranmore, but after a lot of wrong turns we left towards Athenry. Here we visited the Priory, the Castle and the Cathedral.
By this time I noticed that Ireland has very poor and confusing road signs.
We then headed to Poulnabrone megalithic tomb, but of course with other stops on the way. The Dunguire and Newton Castles filled our historic view of Ireland and its heritage.

At Poulnabrone I was shocked and outraged to see some tourists climb up on it for some photos, regardless of the signs saying not to. We roamed around a bit more through the Burren until we decided we were hungry enough.

We had dinner at Logues Lodge in Ballyvaughn, which I can definitely say it is a charming place with good food and value.
After the wonderful dinner, we watched the sunset going down over the land and the old church in Ballyvaughn.

A long day ahead of us. After a wonderful breakfast, we said our goodbyes to our host and headed to the Doolin peer.
The boat ride to Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands, was smooth and when we arrived to the island we were surprised at the beauty of the place. It was exotic: white sandy beaches, clear blue water, the stone walls separating the fields, the Plassey Wreck, a lighthouse… all made up for the magic of the place.

After walking around for about 3 hours, we had to return to the peer, where some irish representation was taking place.
Our Jack B ferry, was delayed , giving me the chance to admire the Galway Hookers, which were docking in at the small peer.

For an extra 5 euro, the ferry gave us a 20 minutes ride under the Cliffs of Moher, but despite the wonderful landscape in the end I don’t think it was such a good idea.

Got all wet from the waves, and the boat was shaking quite a bit, so I got sea sick, and did not manage to take good photos, due to the number of tourists pushing everyone for that one PS photo.
I was glad when we reached land again.

Our next stop on the list was the Burren, and on the way, we made a stop to see the Cathedral and High cross in Kilfenora.

In the Burren we spent about 4 hours walking until sunset and after drove to Gort for dinner. Chinese food this time.

Our accommodation and the final destination for the day was Ashbrook Lodge in Oranmore.