As I alluded to in my last article, Belfast does in fact remain a city divided – ostensibly along religious lines, but really more along ideological and nationalistic lines. I think it is safe to assume that the tensions are still there even though the violence has ended… Possibly just for the time being.
Before I report on what we did, I am going to drill down into “The Troubles” as they are known.
The Troubles
The Troubles arose in the 1920s but really got started in earnest in the 1960s and 1970s. The low-level warfare primarily took place in Northern Ireland, but at times it did spill over into the Republic of Ireland and England. I can remember on my first trip abroad in 1971, knowing that in London where I landed, there was always the risk of an IRA bombing.
Although religion was involved to some extent the division fell between a group who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom and the second group who were fiercely nationalistic and wanted the north to become part of the Republic of Ireland. They were the Unionists or Loyalists and the Irish Nationalists or Republicans.
The conflict began when the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association made an effort to end discrimination against the Catholic-nationalist minority by the Protestant-unionists and various levels of government. Government agencies attempted to suppress the demonstrations that were put on by the NICRA. Needless to say, that never goes over well.
In 1969 after an altercation between the two groups became a riot, British troops were deployed to intervene. That is when things started to go really bad.
The main combatants in The Troubles were a number of republican paramilitaries such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA); and various loyalist paramilitaries including the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defense Association (UDA).
Pivotal Events
Although there are an endless number of terrible events during the many years of The Troubles two stood out as being particularly inflammatory and divisive. They were the “Falls Curfew” and “Bloody Sunday”.
The Falls Curfew
I have been primarily using Wikipedia as a source for information about The Troubles and I think it would be best at this point to use a full quote from the Wikipedia entry about “The Falls Curfew”. This will you give you a sense of what took place during and after this pivotable, escalating event in the conflict.
I would also suggest that if you want to learn more about the troubles go and read the full Wikipedia article about the Falls Curfew linked here.
From Wikipedia…
“The Falls Curfew, also called the Battle of the Falls (or Lower Falls), was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in the Falls district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation began as a search for weapons in the staunchly Irish nationalist district. As the search ended, local youths attacked the British soldiers with stones and petrol bombs and the soldiers responded with CS gas. This quickly developed into gun battles between British soldiers and the Irish Republican Army (IRA). After four hours of continuous clashes, the British commander sealed off the area, which comprised 3,000 homes, and imposed a curfew which would last for 36 hours. Thousands of British troops moved into the curfew zone and carried out house-to-house searches for weapons, while coming under intermittent attack from the IRA and rioters. The searches caused much destruction, and a large amount of CS gas was fired into the area. Many residents complained of suffering abuse at the hands of the soldiers. On 5 July, the curfew was brought to an end when thousands of women and children from Andersonstown marched into the curfew zone with food and other supplies for the locals.
During the operation, four civilians were killed by the British Army, at least 78 people were wounded and 337 were arrested. Eighteen soldiers were also wounded. Large quantities of weapons and ammunition were captured. The British Army admitted afterwards that some of its soldiers had been involved in looting. The Falls Curfew was a turning point in the Troubles. It is seen as having turned many Catholics/Irish nationalists against the British Army and having boosted support for the IRA.”
Bloody Sunday
Another pivotal event was Bloody Sunday. It took place in Derry/Londonderry in 1972. There, British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march.
From Wikipedia…
“Some Catholics initially welcomed the British Army as a more neutral force than the RUC, but soon came to see it as hostile and biased, particularly after Bloody Sunday in 1972.”
The Irish band U2 remined the world of this terrible event in their song “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. The video clip offered below shows the lyrics to the song as it plays.
A particularly sad day in Northern Ireland’s history.
The physical vestiges of The Troubles are still clearly on display in Belfast. As you will see here shortly.
And in spite of all that, I do feel that people should put Belfast on their travel list. Even if only to get a sense of what can happen when human beings act on their worst instincts. I feel confident in saying that it is now a safe city and that you would enjoy a close-up look at its history and at some of the ways that it is moving on from those dark times.
We approached our own visit to Belfast with the mindset that we wanted to learn more and understand more about its terrible past, but we hoped that we would also see that the city was on a path forward to a brighter future.
Our Path to Belfast
I’m not sure I should be saying “on a lighter note”, but although things remain somewhat troubled in Belfast, life goes on. Time to take a look at our personal experiences around our visit to this incredibly interesting city.
First up, how we got there. Essentially, we hopped on a train in Galway, got off the train in Dublin, rode the light rail transit to a second train station, and there, we hopped on another train that headed north to Belfast. All told our travel day was about six hours long.
The ride from Galway to Dublin is pretty boring. Definitely lacking in the fabulous Irish scenery we witnessed on most of our other travel routes.
That said, one semi-interesting event did take place on route to Belfast. There is no drinking allowed on trains in the Republic of Ireland. So, it was interesting that some drinking did take place in the coach we sat in heading up to Belfast.
About a dozen young men, perhaps I should say “totally hammered and loud” young men, accompanied by two older gentlemen, got into our coach in Dublin and started openly drinking at one point. Train employees made no attempt to shut them down.
Irritating when you’re trying to enjoy a relaxing trip. Fortunately, they started to fall asleep or just lose interest in their ongoing loud conversation. So, it wasn’t a completely irritating situation all the way north. Perhaps we were just bitter about the fact that we had not bothered to bring any “road pops” with us ourselves. 🙂
It appears that drinking on trains In Northern Ireland is probably OK… I don’t know this for a fact… but it’s obvious that at some point on the northbound train you can purchase booze and start drinking openly on the train. And this happens before crossing the border into Northern Ireland… I checked. Perhaps it is allowed after the last stop train stop in the Republic of Ireland?
Talking to the two older gentleman who were accompanying the posse of young men while we were all waiting for taxis in Belfast we discovered it was a stag party. And what wild and crazy thing do a bunch of drunk young men want to do in Belfast? They were going to a “waterpark” to play in the water… perhaps this one linked here. A bit of a head scratcher. 🙂
OK, so that wasn’t the most interesting of stories, but it is an indicator of how uninteresting our trip from Galway to Belfast was. But there are pictures! 🙂 Here is our trip in all its non-glory.
As you can see, not a terribly interesting day of travel. The time spent in Belfast certainly overshadowed that fortunately.
Let’s wrap this up with a listen to the beautiful Irish lament about the Great Famine, the Fields of Athenry.
The First Day
After settling in… i.e. checking into our rooms and having a drink in the hotel bar… we decided it was time to head out for dinner. We had a particularly helpful front desk/greeter/concierge individual assist us in many ways during our stay at the Ibis hotel. On this first night Stuart secured us a dinner reservation at a very interesting pub a relatively short walk away.
He had told us that on Friday night, the day we arrived, it would be difficult to book a table for dinner in the heart of the city. And he was right. The first couple of places he checked with were fully booked. We were very happy with the alternative he ultimately found for us, Robinson’s.
The “Hop On – Hop Off” Bus Tour
The first time we ever went on a Hop On – Hop Off bus tour was in Glasgow many years ago. And I don’t recall exactly why we decided to do it. It struck us as being very touristy and we generally don’t do touristy things.
The net result however was that we got a fabulous overview of the city of Glasgow and doing one of these tours is now a favoured activity whenever we arrive in a city we’ve never been to before. The Belfast tour certainly did not disappoint. I would consider it amongst the best we have ever done.
The Belfast tour began like most others, as you will soon see, driving by famous historical edifice and locales. But as we approached the Falls Road area in West Belfast the tour changed dramatically.
As you will see it became very much about Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods identifying themselves as such, and sending a clear message about how they were negatively impacted by The Troubles.
As you will see, in the adjoining Unionist/Protestant neighbourhood they are just as active in telling their story using murals. It is easy to see why anger and mistrust still exists on both sides.
Belfast is On the Rise
My impression of Belfast is, that in spite of its destructive past, it appears to be on the ascendancy. Driving around town it certainly looked like a whole lot of new building had taken place and that more was underway.
This improvement was also evident out on the streets and in the city restaurants and pubs. People were out enjoying themselves just as they would in any big, modern city.
Doing a little quick online search reveal that in fact the city has an official rejuvenation plan, “Belfast’s City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy”. It speaks to things like growing the employment and residential population, maximizing tourism, creating regional learning and innovation centers, greening the city, etc.
The Renaissance can also be seen in its livability and economic progress. The Belfast Telegraph reported that Belfast remains in the top 10 cities in the UK in which to live and work in 2023, at number eight. The BBC indicated in an article that Northern Ireland’s economy was growing faster than the UK’s average. Good news all around.
Titanic Quarter
The most obvious symbol of the revitalization is the recently developed Titanic Quarter. The Titanic Quarter is not simply the Titanic-themed Attraction, it is an entire new neighbourhood created on the waterfront.
From Wikipedia…
“Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a large-scale waterfront regeneration, comprising historic maritime landmarks, film studios, education facilities, apartments, a riverside entertainment district, and the world’s largest Titanic-themed attraction centred on land in Belfast Harbour, known until 1995 as Queen’s Island. The 185-acre (75 ha) site, previously occupied by part of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, is named after the company’s, and the city’s, most famous product, RMS Titanic. “
From the official Titanic Quarter website…
“Belfast’s Titanic Quarter is one of Europe’s largest urban waterfront regeneration projects.
In just over a decade Titanic Quarter has gone from master plan to reality as a thriving and bustling destination. Over £618 million has already been invested and some 20,000 people Live, Work, Visit and Stay in Titanic Quarter on Belfast’s Maritime Mile daily, which is now attracting over 3.6 million visitors every year.”
TheTitanic Quarter. is an ambitious project and is having a very obvious positive effect on the city. I plan to go back in a few years to check on the cities progress.
Titanic-themed Attraction
The Crown jewel in this enormous facelift, is of course, the Titanic-themed Attraction. The Love-goddess returned on our last day in Belfast to check it out. Here are her photos.
The Love-goddess’ video of the slipways.
Titanic Quarter Harbour Area
After visiting the attraction the Love-goddess wandered around the harbour and other areas of the Titanic Quarter. Here are some of the photos she shot and another short video.
L-G’s quick video of the harbour area.
My Favorite Thing
And to wrap up our trip to Belfast … My favourite thing … A street using my family surname. 🙂
