Northern Ireland
I suppose I knew that Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom and a completely different country from the Republic of Ireland – I even wrote a paper in college about the Troubles – but it wasn’t a fact I focused upon. I sort of just lumped both countries together into one amorphous concept called Ireland until we visited Northern Ireland. You don’t realize right away that you are in a different country when you cross the border. Many things are the same as the Republic: the pubs with Guinness signs outside; the sheep, Guinness, and shamrock merchandise in the tourist shops; the chatty people – they’re all there. But the British influence is undeniable.
First of all, there’s the different currency thing. If Americans get screwed when using the euro, the pound is even worse. Although the exchange rate is down considerably from a couple of years ago, everything costs us almost 60% more than it would at home. And it didn’t always seem like prices were adjusted accordingly, which meant that if we were paying 4 euros for a pint of Guinness down south, we now were paying 4 pounds. We lost track of our budget in the Republic sometime after the second round of Guinness, and we certainly weren’t going to make up any lost ground in Northern Ireland.
Second, there’s the accents. The Irish brogue down south was challenging sometimes, but always decipherable. The accents up north are thick; somewhere between an Irish brogue and the English lilt. It is a toss-up who was the hardest to understand: the woman at our B&B in Derry or the farmer in County Armaugh. I think the farmer wins. Even though he was speaking English, we only comprehended every third word. Other guests at the farmhouse told us to listen faster in order to figure out what he was saying.
Third, it just looks different. Northern Ireland feels more compact and congested than the south. Even when you are in farmland, cities and towns are not far away. There are less pubs and more bars (for whatever the difference is).
Then there’s the whole matter of the Troubles. There was no mention of the Troubles when we were travelling through the Republic, but it is impossible to ignore the conflict when travelling through Northern Ireland. The relationship between Northern Ireland, the Republic and Great Britain is long, complicated, and intertwined. In a nutshell, the conflict has to do with politics, religion, roots, nationalism, poverty, discrimination, violence, and pride. As an outsider, it seemed to me that Northern Irelanders are trying to heal and move past the Troubles, but the scabs over the wounds are tenous. The tourism board is trying hard to divert everyone’s attention away from the past. The slick, trendy brochures focus on what is going on in the country’s present, with only scant references to the history. But we saw reminders of the Troubles with our own eyes: the British flags that fly to display loyalty to the crown; the Irish colors painted on lamp posts and curbs; the attempted violence that is still occurring; the pieces of car bomb in the ground on a farm; the uneasiness when one strays into the neighborhood of the others; the imposing murals that dominate the neighborhoods; and the gate dividing the Catholic/Republican and Protestant/Unionist neighborhoods that is still locked every night.
Of course, Northern Ireland is so much more than the problems they have had in the past. The all too recent history is fascinating to learn about, but Northern Ireland has beauty, warmth, and attractions in its own right. I was glad we made the decision to travel there; it presented a whole picture and clarified the amorphous Ireland in my mind.
p.s. Hope everyone in the states is having a happy and fun Labor Day weekend!