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”.

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.