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Ship-shape but how to prolong your Belfast stay?

4th October 20244th October 2024 funtime65

And they’ve left, the 125 cruise passengers on an extended 40-day stay in Northern Ireland… ship-shape but how to prolong your Belfast stay?

The windows of the world have been on the passengers on the Villa Vie Odyssey these past two months

As they enjoyed an unscheduled stay on the Foyle.

Or a marketing tool for our friends at Visit Belfast as the perfect PR gift.

Room with a view: The Villa Vie bedrooms

To show the rest of us (and Belfastophiles like ourselves are already converts) how to spend 40 days here.

There was more than enough in our hosts’ presentation on their visit to the sumptuous The Dome in George Street, Edinburgh.

To keep us entertained for a couple of months.

As it goes I’m just back from Belfast where I’d made my way to the docks.

Where a ship even more renowned than the Villa Vie Odyssey is celebrated.

You know the cruise ship which sails around the world over 1301 days and 425 destinations.

Quarter Masters

The Titanic Quarter has transformed the Belfast tourist landscape.

With 3.6 million taking it in annually and 20,000 living, working, visiting and staying daily.

Standing at the boards on the slipway where Titanic was built it is truly an assault on the senses.

For all its scale we are reminded that the Villa Vie Odyssey and today’s cruise ships would dwarf the Titanic.

But in its appeal none will ever match the Titanic.

Which is why, of course, Belfast’s house guests became familiar visitors with the Titanic Quarter over their 40 days in town.

Now, while the Quarter is on the Villa Vie shipmates’ doorstep the rest of us access it along the Maritime Mile from the city.

Follow the Seahorse

The first thing that strikes visitors to Belfast city is its intimacy and that you double back on yourself.

We remember inside knowledge from past visits to use the Grand Central Hotel’s Seahorse on the side of the building as our compass.

It keeps even this accidental tourist straight and confident to explore further.

To the Cathedral Quarter, the Ulster Museum with its Game of Thrones tapestry when we visited.

The weavers at the Ulster Folk Museum and the Sandy Row we associate with Van Morrison.

For those who want to delve further into the city’s history and more recent the Glider bus is an easy way of getting around the city.

Black Taxi tips

The Belfast black taxis, of course, differ from those that proliferate in London.

The native and knowledgeable Belfastian drivers with their famous gallows wit take tourists around both sides of the divide.

From the 28 years of The Troubles.

And visit the imposing statue of Edward Carson, the defender of Ulster, at the expansive seat of government at Stormont.

A day in the life of a Belfastian

Put your hat on it: Van Morrison at the Europa

Today, Belfastians go about their lives unhurried and untroubled.

Starting their day with a ‘wee’ (huge) Ulster Fry breakfast.

And while it’s not obligatory to stop for lunch at the Italianate architecture Crown Liquor Saloon with the best Guinness in Belfast.

It is recommended to tarry a while in one of its booth snugs and get late back from lunch.

And maybe grab a cocktail at the Europa Hotel opposite on your way home from work and if you’re lucky enough and Van is doing one of his jazz cabaret acts then take that in.

Belfast, in truth, throbs to the sounds of traditional music, it is slated to hold the Fleadh next year.

Samhain folk

Crowning glory: Game of Thrones and Belfast

It was, of course, at the vanguard of many other genres over the years from its punk days to today’s multi-cultural sounds.

The city is readying itself now for the Irish festival Samhain, which the rest of the world sabotaged and calls Halloween.

It is safe to say that should you be lucky enough to be delayed for 40 days in Belfast then you will never run out of things to do.

And the locals will make you more than welcome.

So there will be no need to ask: Ship-shape but how to prolong your Belfast stay?

Countries, Ireland, UK

Eight years in the Brexit tourist wilderness

24th June 202424th June 2024 funtime65

Everyone may remember where they were when they heard… but nobody knows where we’re going after eight years in the Brexit tourist wilderness.

At 4.39am on June 24, veteran broadcaster David Dimblebay declared on the BBC that the British people had voted to leave the European Union.

Only he would wait to distinguish that England and Wales had decided to leave while Scotland wanted to stay.

And while Dimblers had said Britain had opted to leave he neglected to mention that it was for the UK to decide.

The Irish Question

So that meant Northern Ireland as a member of the UK, but not in Britain, got to choose and they wanted to stay.

And this, of course, was almost totally ignored in the rush to scare Britons unreasonably about an invasion of Turks.

And the fact that Brexit would compromise the Good Friday peace agreement.

For there to be a soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Forward fast eight years of chaos where Northern Ireland’s people had to go without a government while their leaders squabbled.

In the Republic, meanwhile, where I was living it seemed a bit of a sideshow.

And the talk was, as it was for the centuries when the whole of Ireland was under British rule that its peril was Ireland’s opportunity.

Britain’s peril

Today in 2024 Dublin is the biggest English-speaking city in the European Union.

And subsequently the gateway for those who want to invest in the biggest single market in the world.

While there was, and continues to be, a stream of people with Irish background, and none, applying for an Irish passport.

Including, Daddy’s Little Girl, reared and educated through the Irish education system before relocating to Scotland.

And Where she immediately found herself denied freedom of movement in Europe.

And so she has compiled a small pile of documents including her Donegal granny’s birth and marriage certs.

She now expects to wait six months to receive her golden ticket… or in this case, the green passport with the harp on it.

Irish passport to redress

Where to go: Irish in Britain will help you out

Now your Irish passport will grant you automatic rights to live, work and travel… and applies to the Northern Irish.

In the 31 countries of the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

While Scottish, English, Wales natives cannot.

With all of us needing to leave ourselves at times a couple of hours spare to stand in the naughty line at customs, say in Berlin.

While EU citizens walk right through.

Culture, Deals, Europe, Ireland

Dunluce Lodge is a McCool place to stay

30th May 202430th May 2024 funtime65

And it’s why we love the Giant’s Causeway and the North of Ireland and why five-star Dunluce Lodge is a McCool place to stay.

Northern Ireland’s newest five-star hospitality venue has unveiled The Stookan, its private annex.

Where you’ll be able to look out on to the UNESCO geological wonder and the Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club where the Open Golf Championship returns following its success back in 2019.

Boasting eight private suites, an intimate dining space and a fireside lounge that can be hired for exclusive use, The Stookan is inspired by myth and legend.

You want to know more?… thought so.

Well, this one is from 60 million years ago and involved an Irish giant and a Scots lass.

And it has been replicated across the ages only our family’s history involves a handsome Scotsman and an Irish maiden.

Finn and games

Finn McCool is the man of myth who is said to have fallen for a Scots girl and tried to build a causeway across to Scotland.

Only to be kiboshed by his Granny..

And in truth Irish grannies or mammies haven’t changed much over 60 million years.

We’re told that when news reached Gran about how Finn had collapsed from the efforts.

Of building the causeway she kept ripping down, and crossing, she was devastated.

She climbed to the top of a hill to witness his death throes, and horrified turned to stone where she stands to this day.

When you visit the Giant’s Causeway, look to the West of Port Ganny (the bay before the Little Causeway).

There you can see the stooped figure of Granny heading up the Stookans headland frozen in stone.

Drams are made of this

It all makes sense, and even more so on the way back from the world’s oldest distillery at Bushmills.

Although we’d recommend that you don’t take on the rickety Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge if you’ve had a Bushmills…

Maybe do the bridge first.

Being golfing country Dunluce also boasts an onsite putting green, designed by renowned golf architect, Martin Ebert.

Benchmark: With the Son and Heir, a Queen’s post-graduate

While more high-falutin, there are complimentary private transfer.

To the nearby helipad and clubhouses at Royal Portrush and Portstewart Golf Club.

And a small and intimate spa and fitness facility.

Dunluce Lodge is operated by the global full-service hotel management company, Valor Hospitality Partners, in partnership with the US based Links Collection.

Countries, Europe, Ireland

St Veronica wipes out King Billy on the Glorious 12th

12th July 202312th July 2023 funtime65

Now at the last count we found 22 saintly contenders who share this day but today we focus on how St Veronica wipes out King Billy on the Glorious 12th.

St Veronica, we know from one simple act of humanity from the Passion of Jesus Christ.

When she wiped Our Lord’s sweat and blood-splattered face on his way to Calvary.

For which she was sanctified and given this day for Christians to mark every 12th of July.

Though some in the North of Ireland prefer to bedeck themselves in orange and march in memory of Protestant saviour King William of Orange.

And burn effigies of the Pope upon towering pyres of tyres.

The Donegal exodus

All of which leads to an exodus of Catholics to bordering Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.

Our own Veronica here in our family, our beloved auntie who used to take me on childhood holidays there and in Co. Galway, now lies for eternity there in her home county.

And I was able to return the favour to drive her and my Dear Old Mum, her big sister, up to Ireland’s northernmost county, in her sports car, with both women chattering and pressing buttons on the dashboard.

Veronica’s, or Ronnie’s as we all knew her, was well-named and such was her devotion to her faith I remember her especially this day, her patron saint’s day.

The virtuous Veronica

The holy of holies. At the end of the Francigena in Rome

Of the other Veronica, well, little is known of her after her act of kindness.

But more is known of the cloth she handed to Jesus with it believed to reside now in the Vatican.

There is reference to it coming into the hands of Pope John VII in the early eighth century.

While its legend became popular in the 13th through 15th centuries when the veil was on public display.

Indulgences were granted for people who performed devotions before it.

The trail went somewhat cold around the Sack of Rome in 1527.

There are believed to be six known copies in the world with the original kept in St. Peter’s basilica.

Portrait of a saint

Hands up for King Billy: UIster Unionism

So, if you want an alternative to Northern Irish unionist triumphalist on this day.

Then try the patron saint of laundry workers and photographers… and thank you for my own award-winning snapper, Mrs M.

Because now you know, St Veronica wipes out King Billy on the Glorious 12th.

Countries, Music, UK

Gala days in the Scottish Borders

8th July 20238th July 2023 funtime65

Scottish life is a rich tapestry all right and you can enjoy the full fabric on Gala days in the Scottish Borders.

Galashiels, or Gala to the locals, sits in the Tweed valley which includes Selkirk,Hawick, Kelso and Berwick upon Tweed…

It’s apt that the tapestry which depicts the country’s millions of years of history up to 2013 should be housed in the Borders town.

Because of its place in the world of fabrics.

And more of that later.

All history in here: Scotland’s Tapestry

The Scottish tapestry was hand-stitched by 1,000 people from across the land.

And it is made up of 160 linen panels and 300 miles of wool.

Enough to stretch the entire length of Scotland.

Tapestries were, of course, our medieval predecessors’ Instagram.

The oul cloth

William the Conqueror’s victory over King Harold was famously depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry.

And even in our modern digital age we have reverted to a love for the oul cloth.

With Belfast and the North of Ireland, a popular location site for Game of Thrones.

Chronicling that GoT world in its very own tapestry.

A rich thread runs through Gala from its inception in 1124.

And you’ll work out from that that there will be big events for its 900th anniversary next year.

When we visit to see an old university buddy, Al, a fellow Glaswegian but adopted Gala Braw Lad of a quarter of century, he is clearing up.

From a balcony party for said Braw Lads.

The Candy Man

Sweet stuff: Jock gets his Coulter’s Candy from Robert

The Braw Lads Gathering is a commemoration of the victory of local lads over the English back in 1337.

With the English ambushed while they ate local plums.

And to this day Soor Plums are given by the girls to their lads in the ceremony.

Now Soor Plooms as Scots of a certain age will know is a boiled sweet which brings us to Gala’s other claim to fame.

Adopted Gala weaver Robert Coltart manufactured an aniseed-flavoured confectionery in neighbouring town Melrose.

And he sold it around the Borders towns, marketing it to the local children in distinctive style which is marked in Gala’s Market Square.

Sing me a lullaby

The song was a jingle for the aniseed-flavoured confectionery that he manufactured in Melrose.

And sold around the markets of the Border towns.

Alas his candy has gone but his jingle has become legend, sung by mums and dads as lullabies to their kids a sample of which we bring you here.

Courtesy of Donovan, and then the Irish Rovers…

‘Ally bally, ally bally beee
Sittin on yer mammy’s knee
Greetin for a wee bawbee
tae buy some Coulter’s candy.’

With a bawbee an ancient coin and Coulter’s a variation on Robert’s surname.

Candy to go

The song has travelled wherever Scots have gone.

As I found out at the Barbados Celtic Festival in Bridgetown on my ambassadorial visit to Barbados.

When the teacher of the wee Bajans led her class in a recitation of Coulter’s Candy.

And if you’ve got more than a day visit in the Borders, and we’d encourage you to bide awhile, then check out Visit Scotland’s site for accommodation within your range.