I've never been to Northern Ireland.

Nekarsulm · 02-07-2014 10:46PM

afro man wrote: »

yes well worth it plenty to do in Belfast for overnight or weekend trip , great shopping / plenty of pubs / sightseeing etc friendly enough city once you get used to the strong accents , just avoid it for the week leading up to and after the 12th of july old tensions tend to surface in places

And these are the two weeks that the business class, and everyone with a few pounds in their pocket, either go abroad or to Donegal. Try getting a holiday home or space in a caravan park in Donegal the twelfth weekend, and you will be disappointed. If you get stuck in a town with a march going on, get out the sandwiches, sit on a wall and see how many tunes you can name! You'll be grand. Southern cars are not a target, because everyone knows a southern car in town on that weekend is some Southern Brethren up for the parade.:D

porsche959 · 02-07-2014 10:47PM

mad muffin wrote: »

Can't be all that bad since Apple decided to open the only Apple Store in Ireland in Belfast over Dublin.

Interestingly enough, the only official Ferrari dealership on the island of Ireland is in Belfast.

http://www.belfast.ferraridealers.com/

fleet_admiral · 02-07-2014 10:47PM

Zaph wrote: »

I'd hesitate to even call it a beverage, never mind a fine one.

Its grand if youve a few paint brush needing cleaning

prizefighter · 02-07-2014 10:53PM

I remember spending a weekend in Belfast with a group of friends. I noticed when we were walking down a street having a laugh about something or other people would stop and stare from their gloom filled huddles as they shuffled by. It was pretty weird. I don't think I saw one person smile there. It was as if we were resented for smiling and laughing and enjoying each others company. Odd. Also been called a fenian and threatened with a violent death while I ordered a beer in a bar was a new experience.

awec · 02-07-2014 11:07PM

Zaph wrote: »

I'd hesitate to even call it a beverage, never mind a fine one.

It's nectar.

The Ice Cold variety especially.

dundalkfc10 · 02-07-2014 11:09PM

prizefighter wrote: »

I remember spending a weekend in Belfast with a group of friends. I noticed when we were walking down a street having a laugh about something or other people would stop and stare from their gloom filled huddles as they shuffled by. It was pretty weird. I don't think I saw one person smile there. It was as if we were resented for smiling and laughing and enjoying each others company. Odd. Also been called a fenian and threatened with a violent death while I ordered a beer in a bar was a new experience.

Well to be fair you should have known what kind of bar you were going into, you were in Belfast, thats your own stupidity (if not known, found out by asking taxi driver, shopkeeper etc...)

dundalkfc10 · 02-07-2014 11:10PM

awec wrote: »

It's nectar.

The Ice Cold variety especially.

Ice Cold Harp is muck

A proper Pint of Harp is what you want

Duck's hoop · 02-07-2014 11:15PM

anncoates wrote: »

Fleg is actually how it does sound in a really Belfast accent.

But there's at least 6 different Belfast accents.

NI is class for the most part. But I've been going there since Noah was a gasun and I'm not a pig ignorant prejudiced ass hat.

The flipping irony of all the haters on here slagging the nordies for being prejudiced is... Ironic?

Day Lewin · 02-07-2014 11:16PM

Ive gone there lots of times and nobody ever said a cross word to me. Its true that the local style is kind of blunt and even dour...but there is plenty of good humour and comedy too.

Pretty villages, lovely scenery, and in my experience, a dawning tourist industry is very glad to get business from anyone with money to spend
i keep my political or religious views, if any, to myself. The place is clean, efficient -
but it sure is not the same as either England or the Republic.

And yes, it does make sense to inquire locally about the district that you might walk through at night or park your car - but that is true of any town in the world, really: just common sense!

PizzamanIRL · 02-07-2014 11:19PM

It's a bit like the Republic of Ireland except it's up north a bit.

Tail Docker · 02-07-2014 11:20PM

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Well to be fair you should have known what kind of bar you were going into, you were in Belfast, thats your own stupidity (if not known, found out by asking taxi driver, shopkeeper etc...)

If you're from the south, it's hard to know the dividing lines. I've stayed in Hotels that were as welcoming as anything, friendly, great craic, and I've also stayed in a Hotel where the dinner was pretty much flung onto the table.. the Taxi driver asked us were we mad booking in there as a group of southerners, but ffs, who knew?

I didn't study the political/religious make-up of the area, I just booked a hotel. So there's good and bad. I love the good, great people and good fun. The bad, not so much.

kowloon · 02-07-2014 11:22PM

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

A vexillologist's wet dream!

I learnt a word!

Herb Powell · 02-07-2014 11:24PM

Half of my family is from there, so yeah, I've been there very often ever since I was a wean.

Honestly there's some great things to see up north, and it's generally nice. It does feel a bit different to the south, and of course they use pounds and all that craic, but at the same time it's Ireland.

I get quite annoyed when people start spouting ignorant **** about the north, most haven't ever been there and haven't a clue.

prizefighter · 02-07-2014 11:25PM

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Well to be fair you should have known what kind of bar you were going into, you were in Belfast, thats your own stupidity (if not known, found out by asking taxi driver, shopkeeper etc...)

It was a generic touristy bar in the centre of the city!!! I didn't think there was any affiliation issues in the likes of a ****ibg tgi Fridays type ****hole. Besides later on in the same bar a group of guys who twigged our accents told us to let them know if we got any grief as they were on 'our' side and only too happy to help. It is a testament to how far the place needs to go if death threats against you are considered your own stupidity.

anncoates · 02-07-2014 11:30PM

Duck's hoop wrote: »

But there's at least 6 different Belfast accents.

OK.

The kind of Belfast accent that finds flags important

Johngoose · 02-07-2014 11:30PM

Like the others was tempted to make sarcastic comments, but actually well worth a visit. Head to Belfast, it has The Giant's Causeway nearby and other beautiful scenery.

Grayditch · 02-07-2014 11:32PM

Game Of Thrones happened there centuries ago. Sometimes you can still see their ghosts, fighting on the cliffs and the ghosts of the camera men and stuff.

Shakespeare's Sister · 02-07-2014 11:33PM

I have been to Belfast, Derry and Omagh - loved them. That's because I'm interested in NI and fukcing love the accent. :pac:
You can sense crossing the border all right going up to the east of it. "Jesus saves" evangelical christian type signs mixed with virgin Mary statues and Bobby Sands memorial pics. It's a bit surreal IMO.
Newry is like... say... Fermoy mixed with an English town. Shops like you'd find in an Irish country town next to Argos/Tesco.

Going up to Derry via Donegal has a less British/Irish feel to it, and more of just an Irish feel.

anncoates · 02-07-2014 11:33PM

katemarch wrote: »

Ive gone there lots of times and nobody ever said a cross word to me. Its true that the local style is kind of blunt and even dour...but there is plenty of good humour and comedy too.

Pretty villages, lovely scenery, and in my experience, a dawning tourist industry is very glad to get business from anyone with money to spend
i keep my political or religious views, if any, to myself. The place is clean, efficient -
but it sure is not the same as either England or the Republic.

And yes, it does make sense to inquire locally about the district that you might walk through at night or park your car - but that is true of any town in the world, really: just common sense!

Yup. I lived in Belfast for 4 years and know the city relatively well. Some of the stories here make me think people were unlucky, are spoofing or were very naive.

awec · 02-07-2014 11:33PM

prizefighter wrote: »

It was a generic touristy bar in the centre of the city!!! I didn't think there was any affiliation issues in the likes of a ****ibg tgi Fridays type ****hole. Besides later on in the same bar a group of guys who twigged our accents told us to let them know if we got any grief as they were on 'our' side and only too happy to help. It is a testament to how far the place needs to go if death threats against you are considered your own stupidity.

So you are saying you got a supposed death threat in a city centre bar (:pac:), but decided to stay in the same place and drink away?

Yea, right.

Spoof.

Hammer Archer · 02-07-2014 11:37PM

Have to say, Belfast is my favourite city in Ireland. Great nightlife, very friendly people, much fewer scumbags in the city centre than Dublin and a Belfast Giants game in the Odyssey is great craic. The Christmas Market in City Hall is fantastic as is the giant TV screen for watching sports. Can never get my head around why people from the Republic still have backward aversions to going there.

As for the rest of Northern Ireland, I've only really experienced it at GAA games (Derry, Omagh, Newry etc.) but I've found them to be the most welcoming people on this island.

awec · 02-07-2014 11:42PM

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Have to say, Belfast is my favourite city in Ireland. Great nightlife, very friendly people, much fewer scumbags in the city centre than Dublin and a Belfast Giants game in the Odyssey is great craic. The Christmas Market in City Hall is fantastic as is the giant TV screen for watching sports. Can never get my head around why people from the Republic still have backward aversions to going there.

As for the rest of Northern Ireland, I've only really experienced it at GAA games (Derry, Omagh, Newry etc.) but I've found them to be the most welcoming people on this island.

Giants games are good nights out for families but I find them a bit cringey. The whole thing is very cheesy. Probably interesting if you've never been to an ice hockey game before.

Though it's good to see that they have managed to last so long - I thought the novelty would wear off but they seem to have found a regular support.

Tail Docker · 02-07-2014 11:42PM

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Have to say, Belfast is my favourite city in Ireland. Great nightlife, very friendly people, much fewer scumbags in the city centre than Dublin and a Belfast Giants game in the Odyssey is great craic. The Christmas Market in City Hall is fantastic as is the giant TV screen for watching sports. Can never get my head around why people from the Republic still have backward aversions to going there.

As for the rest of Northern Ireland, I've only really experienced it at GAA games (Derry, Omagh, Newry etc.) but I've found them to be the most welcoming people on this island.

Lol. We were there during the riots last year and were escorted down the street by armoured landrovers and advised to "get the fcuk out of here lads, ffs" by a PSNI chap. Stuff like that tends to colour your view a bit. People do gloss over some of the very real issues that there still are up there. Getting concrete delivered to a job, only for the driver to dump it on the floor as "he wasn't waiting around for a pack of f.... taigs..." I could go on..

Lenin Skynard · 02-07-2014 11:43PM

Been going up to Derry every year since I was a kid, half the family is up there. Hard accents and hard people, same experience for a culchie like myself as going to some parts of Dublin. Pretty much the same otherwise.

Derry is a beautiful city though and it should be held up as the real shining light of the peace process. Things have come on in leaps and bounds up there over the last ten years or so.

awec · 02-07-2014 11:46PM

Tail Docker wrote: »

Lol. We were there during the riots last year and were escorted down the street by armoured landrovers and advised to "get the fcuk out of here lads, ffs" by a PSNI chap. Stuff like that tends to colour your view a bit. People do gloss over some of the very real issues that there still are up there. Getting concrete delivered to a job, only for the driver to dump it on the floor as "he wasn't waiting around for a pack of f.... taigs..." I could go on..

What street was this?

Some incredibly unlucky people on this thread - bad experiences seem to follow them around it seems!

Tail Docker · 02-07-2014 11:49PM

awec wrote: »

What street was this?

I don't believe you either, for what it's worth.

Some incredibly unlucky people on this thread - bad experiences seem to follow them around it seems!

We work up there pretty much every month, usually around the docks. I was asked today if we'd go up over the twelfth as "their business is quiet then and it's a good time to get the job done". I had a giggle and passed. You can believe whatever you like, that's your prerogative. As I said before, there's been great experiences and some not so great, but rose tinted glasses are a bit silly, imo.

As another example, I wandered out of our Hotel in Armagh to look for a restaurant one thursday evening about three years ago, feck, but it was quiet...after about 500m, I noticed my only companions were the PSNI officers bobbing from doorway to doorway, like Meercats in a hailstorm.. one shouted over to "get the fcuk off the streets, you fcuk... headcase"... I still have no idea WTF was going down, but a normal day out, it was not.

guppy · 02-07-2014 11:52PM

Only made it to a b&b in Belfast for an overnight before going on our two weeks holiday away, but they were lovely people, gave us a great rate seeing as we couldn't stop for breakfast. If they were any indication of NI folk, I'd go back in a heartbeat.
My grandad was from Crossmaglen, we grew up on stories of soldiers crossing lines, and they were hard folks. Still, my grandad never supported the paras, he never wanted any blood shed.

Zed Bank · 02-07-2014 11:53PM

If you see union jacks painted on kerbs it's already too late.

Hammer Archer · 02-07-2014 11:53PM

awec wrote: »

Giants games are good nights out for families but I find them a bit cringey. The whole thing is very cheesy. Probably interesting if you've never been to an ice hockey game before.

Though it's good to see that they have managed to last so long - I thought the novelty would wear off but they seem to have found a regular support.

That is ice hockey though. Its a show as well as the ice hockey itself. Similar to the NHL but on a smaller scale. I'd go up a good few times each season and try get to a few away games now. I tend to ignore the rigmarole surrounding it now and focus on the game.
They consistently get big crowds (over 7000 full house at one a few seasons ago) and are easily the best team in the UK league at this moment.

Karl Stein · 02-07-2014 11:53PM

There isn't much difference between the people who'd identify as Irish in the six counties and the Irish in the rest of the island.

I've never been to Northern Ireland.

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