Home of the all-too-well-known murals, and the "troubles." I really wanted to go here because of my study of conflict (I wrote a term paper on the IRA weapons decommissioning in 2005. I think it is also because of "the troubles" that most people I asked about the trip had never been there. It was only recently that things have calmed down there, but I'm happy to say that even during our short time to the city, the political solution was still actively being worked on.
Our host at the bed and breakfast we stayed at (Vivian Martin at the Greenmount bed and breakfast). It's at the start of Andersontown road (part of "Andy Town"), right at the end of Falls road (probably the most active site of the troubles, where the British picket lines were, the Catholic side of town). Aside from the fact that she gave us great recommendations on where to go and who to go with, she is actually from the area, and her conversations about the area as she was growing up there was some of the best part of staying at their establishment. I won't go into too much detail here (just have to go and ask her yourself!) but needless to say, for someone who has only read about the conflict in newspapers and history books, it was very enlightening. Also, I asked her about how the conflict was resolved, and she said that eventually the women got tired. That's right, mothers and girlfriends said they'd had enough and the peace process rolled right in. Our first night we got there too late to really do anything other than grab some dinner, which we got right up the road at Temple restaurant. I was exposed to Irish chicken tempura, which is to say breaded chicken, but the Irish twist was amazing.
Our first day in the city we decided to take the black taxis (like a route taxi) in to the city center. Most things were going to be closed the next day so we wanted to hit up as many sights as we could. The picture on the right is part of the Belfast city hall, with their sky wheel in the back ground. We had passed by on our taxi ride from the train station to the hotel the night before, and we thought it would be a good start since we lucked out with relatively good weather.
Sadly as we approached the center of the city it started raining, but we were already in the city for the day so we decided to head on up. It was a little expensive for a gondola Ferris wheel ride (12E), but the view of the city was reward enough for our money.
It was warm inside, and although I was doing alright, my travel companion was a little chilly. After the Ferris wheel we continued around the center part of the town, visiting a few churches, including St. Mary's chapel with a grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. I think religious buildings are my favorite places to visit when I travel, I'm not really sure why.
In the afternoon we met up with Martin for a "black taxi tour." He too had lived in the area all his life, and after a side-trip to see the site of the construction of the Titanic (yes, built in Ireland, though I resisted asking him if that's why it sunk), gave us a great tour of the murals and the "peace walls" that surround the various neighborhoods in Catholic/Protestant Belfast. He was hard to understand at times because of his thick accent and the occasional stammer, but he brought a force of knowledge and history into the tour that really made it extraordinary for us. In particular, I liked the historical articles that he brought with him, laminated newspapers from the day they were first printed, showing the significance of the events he talked about on the tour. There is too much to really go over here, and again, you'll have to see it for yourself. One of the more significant things Martin showed us though was the presence of the "peace walls," which he said had actually been built to be even higher in the past two years or so. Just when I thought things were winding down there, I find that the gates between these walls (between the Catholic and Protestant/Loyalist neighborhoods) were often closed at night, and people's movement between them were restricted. He made a strong point that it was not all protestants or all catholics who participated in the troubles, only a few of them. We learned that the Orange Men were still very much active
, and preaching a hatred of the Irish Catholic way of life that was reminiscent of KKK members in the old South. Martin suggested that the only way to heal things for the future was going to involve making sure the school children were given equal opportunity to grow up alongside each other in similar environments, and that the protests, which he saw as hateful, had to be curtailed if there was ever going to be a chance for peace.
When he dropped us off, he suggested going to Kelly's for a good pint. Kelly's, located right across from St. Mary's church, is the oldest pub in Belfast, continuously operating since 1720, making it 36 years older than Guinness (what did they drink before Guinness?). It was very much a Catholic bar. After the murals tour we were both very much on the look out for the Protestant/Catholic distinction (though I'll admit is was usually VERY hard to tell the difference). It was a nice atmosphere, although a little dark, it had good character. The men in the bar kept offering my companion and I some hard liquor sweets, we had to turn them down. This was also where we had our first Guinness in Ireland, and it was every bit as awesome as I'd heard. They're not kidding when they say that Guinness is better in Ireland. My companion was excited to take some indoor long-exposure shots (a bit of a theme for the rest of the trip) and we got som
e great pictures in there. Couldn't tempt her to have some of the pub's stew, and we moved on before too late to look for dinner, before the New Year's Eve crowd moved in. Ocean Colour Scene was playing in a massive concert for New Years Eve, but we were incredibly jet lagged, and didn't have tickets, so we decided to head back to the B&B to have a nice quiet new years eve.
The next day, EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. We thought that, since most things were close for New Years Eve, they would be open on New Years Day, but nothing nothing was open. We made an attempt at the start of the day to go into the city center and get a bus to go to Giant's Causeway, only to find that we'd made too late a start for the local buses, and most of the usual tour groups/buses that go had already left. This was also the case with most of the other Northern Ireland tourist attractions, and even the city tourism office. So we decided to take a day on food and explore the southern part of the city.
We started out walking down to the arboretum on the southern side of town, down through some of the prettier photographic trails and parks. We passed by the famous Crown Liquor Saloon, noticeable for it's "authentic victorian" decor, though we didn't stop inside (prohibatively expensive, even more so because of the British Pound). The day was already sort of late (we had slept in, no alarms were set the whole trip except for the one to catch the plane home) and we found a nice park nearby to walk through, just a relaxing afternoon. Got a chance to take a few scenic pictures, and a chance to see the "real" side of the city, including their version of China Town. We caught a matinee movie, and tried out some of the local fare: Bishop's Fish and Chips.
That night we walked up to the very northern side of the city, and saw the Front Page (bar), St. Patrick's cathedral, and St. Anne's Cathedral (pictured here). It was a nice night for walking around, and it was with a heavy heart that we made our way back to the hotel (catching the last black taxi for the day) and packed our things for Dublin and the driving trip to Doolin that would come thereafter.
All in all, Belfast was one of my favorite European cities, and probably one of the top cities I've visited anywhere in the world, with a rich history, friendly people, and a very comfortable tourism experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment