Ballygally: An Introduction to Northern Ireland

My wife, Roxie, and I were heading for Ballygally, a village in county Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland. A train from Belfast had taken us to our first stop – the town of Larne, which is a major passenger and freight roll-on/roll-off ferry port.

Before checking in at the Seaview Bed & Breakfast, where we would spend the night, we took a long walk next to the port in central Larne. It was a gray day, and the streets were surprisingly empty. We found Olderfleet Bar & Lounge, which proved convivial and a most satisfying spot for a light lunch of seafood chowder – “a nod to the sea,” to quote Olderfleet.

Looking around, we noticed a number of quotes, all by prominent figures and all about drinking:

I drink to make other people more interesting. – Ernest Hemmingway

Work is the curse of the drinking class. – Oscar Wilde

There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne. – Bette Davis

When I was younger, I made it a rule never to take a strong drink before lunch. Now, it is my rule never to do so before breakfast. – Winston Churchill

Age is just a number. It’s totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine. – Joan Collins

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind. – Humphrey Bogart

Our first day in Larne also included a dinner of fish and chips at Brooklyn Bay Diner, a restaurant featuring a couple of large, darkish rooms with NYC references. When mentioning to our bartender, a young girl, how empty the street had been, she reacted with great force: “This place is dead,” she said. “I’ll be moving to Australia to get work as a hairdresser.”

Her comment brought to mind the economic difficulties Brexit has brought to Northern Ireland. It does seem that they suffered a blow after the UK withdrew from the EU.

During our visits to the South (the Republic of Ireland), we were always amazed at its number of pubs. As the actor, Peter O’Toole, once put it, “In my hometown, the pubs lie so close together, it took me a week to walk 500 meters.” But this isn’t as evident in Northern Ireland.

Seaview B&B had given us a lovely room with a skylight, and breakfast the following morning served a Roxie favorite: Irish soda bread. In the afternoon before leaving for the village of Ballygally, we found Chekkers Vinebar off Larne’s Main Street.

It was packed with a crowd of older local guys having a good time but speaking so fast in their Irish dialect that we could only understand a few words. But the bartender introduced us to what he claimed to be the best Guinness in Northern Ireland.

It was 3:30 p.m. A 15-minute taxi ride took us to the small village of Ballygally. And there, a short distance to the south of the village on a small hill (to the left), stood the rather large, long, white building with the self-catering apartment that would be our home away from home for the next week.

Called Ballygally Holiday Apartments, there are seven flats. Ours was spacious, impeccably clean, and well-equipped with WiFi, linens, appliances (including a dishwasher and clothes washer/dryer), TV and radio, and plenty of glasses, plates, and utensils. The living room featured a purple-colored glass ceiling below which stretched a row of five windows offering a spectacular view over the Irish Sea, the glens of Antrim, and a glimpse of faraway Scotland.

A short walk to the village took us to Spars, a small grocery store where we found the necessities for a simple Croque Monsieur dinner. While in the village, we also paid a brief visit to the Ballygally Castle Hotel, a landmark dating back to 1625 and now the only 17th century building still used as a residence in Northern Ireland.

Like other castles in the region, several of the episodes of the TV series, Games of Thrones, were filmed there. Its 44 bedrooms boast antique pine furnishings and original beamed ceilings.

Speaking of castles, in the village of Glenarm, 7 miles north of Ballygally, we ran into the ancestral home of the Earl of Antrim, now the home of his grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grandson Randal and his wife and two children. Apart from being in the family for quite a while, the castle is famous for its extravagant walled garden.

The sheltered and picturesque harbor in the coastal village of Carnlough, a couple of miles north of Glenarm, has also been featured in Game of Thrones.

As we traveled up and down the Antrim coast, sometimes rugged and sometimes with inviting sand beaches, there were several must-sees we missed. These include the Dunluce Castle, a famous rope bridge, and not least, the Old Bushmills Distillery, which his arguably the world’s oldest.

That brings us back to Glenarm and to our stopover at Coast Road Inn, where I asked Patricia, the bartender, to bring me a shot of the whiskey she thought most superbly embodied the spirit of the region. She brought me two bottles: Lir Black Crest and Lir Green Crest. I sipped the Black Crest, and yes, it was as mellow and rich with flavor as promised. Superb!

We reached a high in Belfast, where we stayed overnight on our return back to NYC. First, there was the ornate, cozy Robinsons Bar, filled with Titanic memorabilia, and with a bartender who introduced me to Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey – exclusively made in Ireland and yet another winner.

Our Irish adventure culminated most appropriately at the Crown Liquor Saloon in the center of Belfast – a masterpiece in bar architecture known by millions the world over. A riot of Victorian decorative flamboyance, it dazzled us from the moment we stepped inside.

Famous not only for its thousands of pretty objects filling the walls and ceilings, it’s also known for its heartily classic pub food. We had Irish Stew – a delectable end to our Antrim adventure.