Belfast...

On our first day we drove from Dublin to Belfast. It was great, as we were leaving the car hire (you don't rent a car, you 'hire' it) place in Dublin and asked for directions to Belfast...'just turn left out of the lot and go straight. You will be in Belfast in about two hours.' Sure enough, many roundabouts and two lane roads later, we were in Belfast!

I think the highlight of Belfast was a ‘Living History’ bus tour and ‘The Troubles.’ I have to admit that before this year I didn’t really know much about the struggle in Northern Ireland. It has been interesting to learn more as I have been here in the UK. The bus tour took is through both the Loyalist/Protestant neighborhoods as well as the Nationalist/Catholic ones, pointing out the ‘peace wall’ (a very imposing divider between the two sides) and a number of murals from both sides. Oh yeah, the other higlights were the Italian restaraunt we went to for dinner and this great coffee shop we found!

Back to Ireland Trip

page 1 of 2 Next

112_1245

Waiting for the bus in Belfast...

112_1247

Still waiting for the bus...the 16A, in case
you were wondering! The other trick was
that we had no idea where we were going,
to hire the car, other than the name of the
town that it was in.

112_1248

Jerry, driving, on the right side of the car

112_1249

Me, driving, from the left side of the car.
You might not realize that it takes two
people to drive in Ireland, but I can assure
you that it does!

112_1250

Belfast City Hall

112_1252

The dome of the City Hall

112_1254

Hotel Europa, the most bombed hotel
in Europe

112_1255

A mural at the entrance of Sandy Hill,
a loyalist (pro-British, Protestant) area
of Belfast. The following pictures are of
murals throughout this neighborhood.		 112_1258

112_1259

These murals are on walls, within the
neighborhood. 		112_1261 112_1263
112_1265

112_1266

Painted curb in the loyalist neighborhood

112_1268

Queens University of Belfast

112_1272

Which picture doesn't fit? 		112_1275

112_1281

The 'non-smoking section' of a cool
little coffee shop in Belfast

112_1282

Jerry, enjoying the 'white coffee'
(coffee with milk, but they heat the
milk for you)

112_1283

Grave memorial, fenced in so that it will
not be defaced

112_1284

More murals and painted curbs

112_1285

In the Nationalist/Catholic area of Belfast		 112_1286 112_1287
112_1288

112_1289

This is a famous mural of Bobby Sands.
In 1981 IRA prisoners in Northern
Ireland went on a hunger strike to demand
the right to be recognised as political
prisoners (rather than as terroritsts). Ten
of them fasted to death, including Bobby Sands, an elected MP.

112_1290

I was really struck by this statement.

112_1292

112_1293

112_1294

The Belfast Castle

 

page 1 of 2 Next

Back to Ireland Trip