Well, we are back in Dublin, briefly, as our Ire-LAND tour comes to an end. Tomorrow it’s off to Helsinki to see Simon & Jatta again for a few days.
Today we started in Belfast with the “Black Cab Political Murals Tour”.
And then it was off on our last driving leg to Dublin.
As we had only a relatively short drive back to Dublin, Adrienne had organised a few things for us in Belfast for the morning before we left town. And as it was a rainy day for our last travelling day, it was lucky that most of it was indoors !
First up we were booked on a tour called the “Political Murals Tour” which we expected would give us a bit of history into the period known as “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland and the painted murals which sprung up as a result. In the end, we were both quite gobsmacked with what we learnt, predominantly that the “end” of the unrest which had taken place in 1998 was really just a “cease-fire” which has continued to this day but with tensions continuing to simmer, and lasting progress moving at a very slow pace.
A couple of the murals – the one above is quite recently done and quite provocative – when you walk around the illusion is the guns follow you !
We were met by Ciaran, a Belfast native of our age and who had basically grown up through the worst of the “most recent” problems – beginning in 1969. We learnt that the spelling of his name was significant – it was the Irish – and Catholic- version of Kieran. I’m not about to go through the full history – you can read about it here – however anyone in their 50’s and 60’s will remember growing up with the news coverage of the violence and battles between the British Army and IRA in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s before the “peace” was achieved. Whilst the problems were more widespread than just Belfast, it was a key location.
One of the gates still closed and locked every night
Whatever your political or religious bent as far as what happened is concerned – and there are always two sides to any story – the more significant issue now is that whilst the rest of the world might have the view that the unrest ceased 20 years ago, it is still very much alive. There is still a large wall – 35 metres tall in parts – ironically called the “Peace Wall” which divides parts of the city. Areas in Belfast still have gates – originally installed to divide the combatants – which are still locked each night and opened each morning. Whilst integration of Protestant and Catholic communities is happening very slowly, there is still a significant intense separation and an underflow of hatred celebrated annually and known as 11th Night – you can read about it here. Some of the pictures we saw of the bonfires across the city need to be seen to be believed ! Whilst there are large efforts to create change, there are significant efforts to resist that change – and that conflict extends back over 300 years.
A section of the “Peace wall”
Homes along the wall basically live in cages – their yards protected from missiles thrown over the wall !
All in all the tour was quite an eye opener !
After the tour, we went back to the hotel to check out. From here we drove across town to see the Titanic Experience – a Disney-esque take on the famous ship which hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. It is a multi-storey showcase of the story of Titanic, from the start of the heyday of Belfast ship building, to the construction process and impact on the local workforce, to the launch of the ship, to the catastrophic sinking and aftermath – up to the discovery of the wreckage 73 years later.
From here it was really just a drive of a couple of hours back to our starting point for the Irish part of our tour, in Dublin. On the way, we crossed the Boyne River – where all the trouble started ! Here a battle was fought between William of Orange and James II in July 1690. William of Orange won a crushing victory, which secured the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland for generations.
It rained pretty consistently all day and we stopped at a shopping mall on the outskirts of Dublin to get our bags organised so we could drop off the car before checking into the Radisson Blu at Dublin airport for the night.
And that brings us to the end of our tour to Ireland. The weather was not that great overall however it was certainly kind enough to us so that we still managed to see some spectacular sights and scenery around the country. We met some characters around our travels and had some interesting experiences – those roads !
So now we start to head toward home – first stop Helsinki !
Today’s Tour Trivia – Violet Jessop, a stewardess on the Titanic, survived 2 ships sinking (including Titanic) and another being rammed between 1911 and 1916.