BIG Ships, The Troubles, and some TRAD

We were up fairly early to grab a taxi to take us to the Titanic Museum. This was a really interesting and well done museum about a topic that is often overdone. In the early 1900's, Belfast was known the world over for it's ship building industry. Thus, the importance of the industry to the area is the basis for the museum. It highlights the entire process for the construction of the Titanic and her sister ship Olympic built at the same time in the next slip. When the ship is complete and sets sail, the museum has touching displys of those who were lost. In the photo of the lifejacket, you can see names listed in the background. They are of those who perished. Many regulations were changed in the industry and maritime laws because of this great loss. There is an excellent section listing out each of the changes made. The museum completes the story of the Titanic with a display and videos of the crew that eventually found her again at the bottom of the ocean. Very nicely done...we were there a couple of hours!

Using Belfast's public transit, we stopped at the capital but were not able to go inside due to elections that were in progress. We strolled on down to The Crown Liquor Saloon, a National Trust property, where we had lunch. This is a Victorian era pub that is extremely well preserved - included several photos below. It is full of "snugs" and we had one for ourselves to eat our lunch and dessert! They were originally for the "upper crust" so they did not have to mingle with the regular people in the bar.

A "Black Taxi" met us when we finished lunch to take us to do a political tour of Belfast. This was full of murals and stories of the years of The Troubles and how it is, to this day, a bit of a tenderbox in spite of it being the 30th anniversary of the Peace Deal. There are over 21 miles of Peace Walls in NI and are typically in ares where the working class Catholics and Protestants live close to each other. The most famous section can be found between the Falls Road/Shankill Road neighborhoods in Belfast. The gates remain and are closed at night still to this day! The murals are quite shocking to see as Americans who have never really faced this type of violance at home. In one image below, I have what appears to be the same photo twice. However, if you look closely, you will see they are taken from different angles. On the far left, in black, you can see a gun pointed in the direction of the camera -- in both photos! It is like the gunman was following us. Creapy!!

On the Catholic side of the wall, there are homes that back up to the wall and are protected by "cages". The Bobby Sands mural is one their most famous. He was a member of the IRA who was elected as an MP at age 27 in 1981 while he was in prison. He became a matyr to the Irish republicans (those fighting for one Ireland) after he died in prison during a hunger strike that took 10 prisoners. It is a deeply complex history - the fight for Irish independence.

One noticable difference in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is the use of the Union Jack and many things British. Many NI residence consider themselves to be more British than Irish. Definitely, not so in the Rep of Ireland. With the coronation having recently taken place for King Charles, III, there was lots of bunting, banners, and Union Jack flags flying. There is basically no Galic in NI and they are not part of the European Union. They are 2 very different countries with an invisible border between them. We did not even see signs as we left and entered announcing which country we were in at the time.

We ended up at the pub across the street from where we were staying for dinner. The live traditional music they had on tap for the evening was a wonderful bonus! The Sunflower Public House, one of Belfast's most iconic because of the security cage on the front door. This is a leftover from the 80's and remains today to help preserve some of the city's history.Leer más