Friday, September 6, 2013

A Black Cab Tour of Belfast

Wednesday, September 4
We went by bus from Dublin to Belfast. Still pretty done in by jet lag, we planned a lighter day. After lunch and a pint we happened upon one of the “black cabs.” These cabs runs special tours, telling the story of “the troubles.” The legend is, most of the drivers on these tours are former members of the IRA, so they know of what they speak. Our guide, Eugene, was a dear man, it seemed to us. His father had been severely injured in a bombing in a pub. We were taken to the loyalist part of town where welfare housing has been built – in some ways like our inner city projects. There we met a colorful man by the name of Louie, who had the gift of gab and not a little blarney. He told us many stories and would have told us many more if we hadn't torn ourselves away. The Irish Troubles are far more complex than I had imagined – both politically and in terms of religious differences – and I don’t pretend to understand the deep-felt emotion, anxiety and pain still felt by so many in Northern Ireland. Even though there has been a truce since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the tension in Belfast remains palpable.
In the neighborhood we visited on the Protestant side of town, there are many murals painted on the sides of buildings, most celebrating Loyalist “heroes” who fought to maintain British control over Northern Ireland. Their enemies were those who were fighting for Irish self-rule. There were militants on both sides, of course, representing many different political and para-military groups.
On the way back to our hotel, our driver, Eugene stopped at the Peace Wall – a 45-foot high wall that separates the Protestant and Catholic sides of Belfast. Thousands of people have written prayers and messages of peace on the gate and the wall, which runs nearly four miles through the middle of town.
School girls in Belfast

Sampling the fare in one of Belfast's many pubs

Mural in a Protestant neighborhood

One of the peace walls

Eugene and his cab "Lily"

Botanical Gardens, Belfast

The Crown Pub

1 comment:

  1. So jealous of your ice cold Harp. Harp is one of my favorite beers, but in the States we can only get the version brewed in Canada using the Irish recipe...not the same.

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