Alternate title: Hanging out in Ireland’s Canada
Eager to explore someplace new, we dug out our British pounds* and drove north into Northern Ireland for the weekend. Less than three hours from Dublin and we were at the north coast of the island, which I suppose would be northern Northern Ireland. They seem to prefer ‘Antrim’.
First stop was the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland’s famous natural wonder. It’s basically a rock formation which consists of thousands of columns, broken off at various heights and resembling the ruins of some sort of man-made tiled staircase. I loved it. It made me marvel at the glorious diversity of our planet’s landscapes… yeah, it was that good. The clear, sunny weather and gorgeous coastal scenery didn’t hurt, either.
Having had our fill of nature, next we visited the Old Bushmills whiskey distillery for a tour. It was pretty standard as far as distillery tours go: here’s vaguely how we make it, this is why ours is the best in the world, happy angels, check out this blend that we sell exclusively here at the distillery so act now! etc etc. I’d tell you how much the tour costs, but I don’t know how to make the pound symbol on my American keyboard, so I’ll just say this: taking into account the ‘free’ glass of whiskey at the end, the tour was reasonably-priced.
After a drive along the coast we pulled into our B&B; in Ballycastle, a town I might have chosen just because of its name. The Glentaisie B&B; is in a quiet neighborhood a short walk away from the downtown. It was a lovely little place and I can thoroughly recommend it. The owners are very friendly and helpful, the decor is charming, and the breakfast is yummy.
We spent the evening in town, dining at the surprisingly sophisticated Central Wine Bar and then downing a couple pints at the pub downstairs while taking in the live music and local culture. Ballycastle has a lot of pubs and nightlife for such a small town. Nice place.
Sunday was snowy, and involved lots of sheep. We spent the morning driving through the Glens of Antrim. Although I still can’t tell you for sure what a glen is, I can assure you they are quite lovely and scenic places, even under a dark sky and giant, angry snowflakes.
We stopped in Belfast for a late lunch before heading back south of the border. Overall it was a fabulous weekend, and we found the Northern Irish (is that what they’re called?) to be just as charming as their neighbors from the Republic. I particularly fell in love with their overuse of the word ‘wee’. Adorable.
* In Northern Ireland they actually use Ulster pounds, which are like British pounds except more… fun. But they’ll gladly take British pounds, and give you your change in their less useful currency. Luckily the coins are all British kind, so we just had to make sure to break all our Ulster bills so that we left holding only currency that we’d actually be able to use again.
ooh, I’m very jealous! 🙂 Looks like you had a great time!
sheeep!!!!!
“giant, angry snowflakes” – great and so true!
I liked your post until it came to your comment about the currency. you failed to mention the Ulster pound is “less useful” on the UK mainland because of one plain and simple reason RACISM. The British have treated the Irish (especially Norn Irons) like crap for many years despite their denial of the Brit government killing innocent Northern Irish civilians (technically British citizens)during the Troubles and the conflict many years later. Many a time I have been apalled how my Ulster husband gets treated on the mainland and the many times he was snubbed and was told, “We don’t take that money.” As far as my husband is concerned, who he considers himself British, make sense since Northern Ireland is part of the UK, right? Pounds are pounds.
It is too bad that you didn’t explore Belfast and Londonderry so you get a real taste of what a consciously still divided Northern Ireland is truly about.
But I guess a weekend in “Ireland’s Canada”, as you call it. a statement which would most likely upset a lot of Norn Irons, it would be easy to paint a rosey picture.
Pounds are pounds.
Northern Irish banknotes are no legal tender (but legal currency) in England; same with Scottish banknotes. Sometimes they are accepted in England, sometimes not. But racism….?
Northern Ireland and Canada, similarities: fun money (we call our dollar a loonie. Our two dollar coin: a twoonie, obviously) and full of angry snowflakes,
Differences: we use the word “wee” just the right amount, and no more.
@ Anonymous: Gibraltar’s pound is no good in Great Britain either, other than the coins.
Sheep and snow are always a winning combination.
Corregio,
Are you from Northern Ireland? If so, you wouldn’t be aware of the English prejudice against the Irish for obvious reasons.
Yes, there is a racial stigma attached for the Irish and same for the Scottish, but more so for the Irish. An English shopkeeper who takes Ulster pounds wouldn’t have trouble exchanging it for British notes at the bank. FYI.
After all signs used to be posted in shop windows, pubs, and boarding houses etc., “No dogs, no Blacks, and no Irish or “NINA” (No Irish Need Apply).” Prejudice is still alive today all be it subtle and the refusal of Ulster pounds is a reminder to many Northern Irish people (btw many of which who are Loyalists aka Protestants of Ulster Scots descent who consider themselves British) of this stigma, legal tender just being on the surface.
CN – It was lovely. Definitely worth a visit. 🙂
Emily – Baaaa.
Deborah – 🙂 They seemed especially angry at our windshield.
Anon – I agree that the history of Northern Ireland is very interesting, and I’d encourage you to write all about it on your blog, if you feel this is a topic you want to educate the world about. But I’m not really understanding why you object to the “rosy picture” I paint about my weekend there. It was a lovely weekend. Fun does not become invalid because bad things have happened in the place where you’re having fun. And why do you find my comparison to Canada potentially offensive? Do you have something against Canada?
Corregio – I’m also trying to figure out what the deal is. I would expect that either 1) as part of the UK, Northern Ireland would use the same currency as GB and not print its own or 2) as a separate country, Northern Ireland would have its own currency and not expect it to be accepted as legal tender in other countries. Apparently it’s more complicated than that.
Mark – thanks for showing my comparison wasn’t baseless. 🙂
Kirk – I wonder if the sheep see things the same way.
Coming from Scotland, it is the same deal there with the currency, as far as I know.
Scottish banks, unlike English banks, have the right to produce their own bank notes, all of which are legal Sterling and should be accepted as such in England – but they often aren’t.
For a while Scotland still had Scottish £1 notes, when England had taken them out of circulation, and introduced the £1 coin. At the same time, the English £5 note was reduced to be the size of the then removed £1 note.
For a while you could often pass off Scottish £1 notes as £5 notes if you were careless and a bit drunk in a dark and busy English pub. You just had to be sure to leave before they checked the till. I’d never do this obviously…
Btw, for your non-British keyboard, just hold the left Alt Key and tap 0163 on your number keypad. Alt+0169 (©) can be handy too
Gordon – thanks for the info, and for the tip!