We were picked up by our cabbie Tom, from Belfast Mural Experience, at 9:30am and we began what was a really interesting day.
We spent the morning criss-crossing the “Peace wall”, a barrier that started life as a wire mesh fence separating the “Unionist” north from the “Republican” south. It was later “improved” to a concrete barrier to save the cost of patrolling it, and to protect the Constabulary that patrolled it. It extends for a total 23 to 25 miles through Belfast (but is not continuous).
Today the wall is the carrier of messages of peace towards both sides from people of the world, including Bill Clinton, the Dalai Llama, Desmond Tutu, U2, and so many more, and now including us. ?❤ Our guide said that even Justin Bieber had signed the wall and that his lapsed catholic faith was almost restored when a rain storm washed it off. ?
The conflict in Northern Ireland, focused on Belfast has been ongoing for over 800 years in one form or another. Rooted in sectarianism and geopolitics with the scars of the past still raw in the minds of many on both sides it takes 7 generations for the wounds to be healed.
The timing of our visit and tour was by coincidence on the 50th Anniversary of the shooting deaths of Patrick Rooney aged 9, and Hugh McCabe aged 20, by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. We visited the site of the shooting to start our tour, and saw the tower building in which the British Troops took up Headquarters when they were brought in to bring “balance” to the policing of the two opposing sides. A very strategically positioned site.
In a few places there are gates that are locked at night, every night, still!, to ensure nothing violent happens after hours between the rival forces. There are messages of hope painted on the gates, the same messages both sides.
There seems to have been a system akin to apartheid in place for decades, maybe longer, where favouritism is shown heavily towards one side at the expense of the other, in housing, jobs, education, etc. The younger generations are slowly integrating, and mixed relationships (Catholic and Protestant together) are coping with the local social stress that is applied to such relationships by moving into mixed neighbourhoods, it is a way forward and a sign of hope for the future.
We both came away from our tour with very mixed emotions, confusion, disbelief, sadness and hope. We are so lucky for the environment we have grown up in, we should never forget that. But we should also be very respectful for people who have grown up in an environment of conflict, it is too easy to judge people and situations from the outside, the life experienced by them is so much more complicated than we could ever understand.
We left the complexities of the communities either side of Falls Rd and Shankill Rd to go and visit the Belfast Titanic Experience. It is housed in a building in the shape of four full size bow sections of the Titanic. We got the audio guide with the tour, it just makes so much sense, we don’t have to spend time reading all the formation we can listen and look at all the things at the same time. The tour takes you through the history of Belfast in the early 1900’s and the conditions people worked under. It tells the story of how the Titanic and it’s sister ships the “Olympic” and “Britannic” were a revolution in cruise ships, setting a new standard and changed the industry. The sinking and subsequent misinformation from the cruise line and in the press added to the Titanic mystique. A series of communication errors, seemingly caused by a mix of the technology of the time, the pride of the cruise line and over zealous reporting without credible information caused a lot of confusion about what really happened on that fateful night of 14/15 April 1912. The sinking changed the safety requirements of cruising forever, thankfully. A very interesting tour.
From there we visited the Belfast Botanic Gardens and Ulster Museum. The gardens have a Palm house similar in design to those we saw at Kew Gardens, although much smaller. They work very well, with a sizable crop of pawpaw/papaya on the trees. There were lanes of walled gardens and vast green spaces, a very relaxing place. The museum was interesting and confusing, a sort of hybrid museum / art gallery. With everything from a whole Triceratops skeleton to geological showcases to contemporary and period artworks. Very interesting, but confusing.
From there we tried to have a look into the Belfast Opera House, but couldn’t get passed the foyer (too well guarded! ? ).
Finally, we finished our day at the Belfast City Hall. They have a large part of tkhe ground floor set-up to tell the story of Belfast. It was very interesting. I took a photo of the “Famine Window” for mum, it is on the holiday that I have realised why mum’s ancestors came to South Australia, I am sure that the Famine of the 1840’s to 1850’s played a big roll in it.
Later on we went to Kelly’s Bar for a drink and we had hoped some Irish Stew for dinner. Alas, they had run out of stew! The drinks and atmosphere of the pub soon overcame our disappointment. I had a great conversation with a very animated local, “Paddy from Belfast”, up at the bar, such a character. He gave me some very useful tips for things to do up around Donegal, a real character. ?
We leave Belfast tomorrow and head north and west to take in the countryside and some iconic Irish attractions.
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