June 17 : First Day In Belfast

Today we travelled from Dublin to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. It was a short two-hour drive with a stop at Downpatrick, which is the grave site of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick.

Downpatrick was really a waste of time. The burial site is marked with a heavy stone on top of a grave with nothing special to indicate that St. Patrick is buried there. The cathedral is plain and uninspiring.

In the early 19th century, Belfast was a major port. It played a significant role in the Industrial Revolution in Ireland, briefly becoming the biggest linen-producer in the world, Shipbuilding was also a key industry. The Titanic was built in the shipyards of Belfast.

Belfast was heavily damaged in the Second World War and most the port and the city centre had to be rebuilt. Initial raids were a surprise as the city was believed to be outside of the range of German bomber planes. In one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Then during the Troubles, in the last 25 years of the 20^th century, Belfast was a focal point for the violence between Catholics and Protestants. In fact, the hotel we are staying at, the Europa Hotel, was the most bombed building in Ireland during this time, due to its proximity to the news media.

Belfast has a population of 700,000. It now has a diversified economy and a thriving cultural scene.

When one thinks of Belfast since the 1970s, you automatically think of the sectarian violence called “The Troubles.”  We went on a guided tour with a company called the Black Cab Tours, to get first-hand impressions of what it was like to live during these times in Belfast. They spared no details in describing the horrible events of that period and how the violence is remembered in the most affected neighbourhoods.

We started off in Shankhill, which was a Protestant neighbourhood. In the main square, there is a giant mural to a Protestant militant, who is honoured for killing twenty-one people, before he died of a drug overdose. There is also a poster that contains two riflemen with the guns aimed directly at you. Even if you move from side to side, the rifles seem to follow you. It is there as warning that Protestant militia still runs the neighbourhood.

We then went to a dividing wall, which keeps the neighbourhoods separated. It is forty-two feet high and three feet thick and runs 20 miles long. Even with the Good Friday peace accords, the wall still remains in place.

We then went to Bombay Street in the Catholic sector. Here were murals to IRA soldiers who had died along with civilian deaths and the photos of the homes destroyed during the riots. We also got to see the infamous rubber bullets used by the British army.

It was a very sombre experience.