The Alternative Guide to… Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland at a Glance
Capital city: Belfast
Population: 1.8 million
Local currency: British pound
Famous face: George Best, footballer, responsible for this quote: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”
5 things you never knew about Northern Ireland
The unsinkable ship, RMS Titanic, was built and launched in Belfast; you can find out all about it at the Titanic Belfast exhibition. Don't be surprised if someone issues you with the reminder, “She was fine when she left here!”
The mobile defibrillator was invented in Belfast. Professor James Francis Pantridge and Dr John Geddis were working at the city’s Royal Victoria Hospital when they came up with the novel idea of attaching car batteries to the existing unit and making it portable. Hey presto: millions of lives saved.
You can buy a particular type of malted bread in the shops here. It’s called Veda, it’s absolutely delicious and for some unknown reason, it doesn’t seem to be widely available anywhere else in the UK.
View this post on Instagram
TV show “Game of Thrones” (filmed round these parts) employs more locals than the civil service. The Instagram picture above shows Bregagh Road, the intertwined tunnel of trees used as the setting for Kingsroad in the show.
The DeLorian DMC-12, immortalised in the "Back to the Future" films, was manufactured in the Belfast suburb of Dunmurry. Sadly, only 6000 of the cars were made before the firm went bust.
National dish
The Ulster fry. Take your traditional cooked breakfast (fried eggs, pork sausages, bacon, black and white pudding and a tomato), throw in the all-important potato and soda bread, and you have the perfect Ulster fry.
If you see one thing in Northern Ireland, make sure it’s…
…the Giant’s Causeway. An obvious choice, yes, but a must all the same. As this proves: