Day 2 Belfast - I wish I had the words

My original expectations of Belfast for this trip was focused on the Titanic museum and the history surrounding it, it turns out I never made it to the Titanic museum even though it came highly recommended by Jim Lyons. However, today was one of those days that really blew my expectations. The day started off a little later and a little slower than normal which was alright as unsurprisingly I had a good time enjoying the local libations with a few other classmates!

We started with a "touristy" bus tour of the city center, some old monuments, some old churches, a castle and then we moved on to "The Troubles". I was so impressed with the details of the troubles that I took a black cab tour for some more details. This is hands down a must do activity in Belfast. 

I thought I was starting to gain a better understanding of Ireland's recent violent history but I had no idea the true meaning of the word recent and the poor choice of the word history. I knew the Protestants and Catholics kept a wide breath on each other and when they didn't there would be small flare ups from time to time but I truly thought everything was "normal" now in Belfast.

It turns out that's not the case... These gates which are part of the peace wall system close like you'd expect at a military barracks, a war zone check point or some other major conflict zone, not some where that the locals say is peaceful and normal.

Gate 1 in Belfast Closed (6p-6a)

This unfortunately reminds me of the longer but tamer Mexican border fence line... Think about that for a minute how is it that one of the largest cities in a well developed countries in the world has to segregate their residents every night to keep the peace. The cab driver said they left the gates open at night a few years ago for a few weeks and it wasn't long before the first issues came up again.

 "a study was released in 2012 indicating that 69% of residents believe that the peace walls are still necessary because of potential violence and only 38% can envisage a time when there will be no peace walls"

Belfast 'peace' wall

Mexican border

We saw some pallet piles being created too which is used to celebrate the Protestant victory of the Battle of the Boyne. This is a whole story in itself but is definitely worth mentioning as it adds to the cult like feel of the area.

There are hundreds of murals in the area as well, celebrating, commemorating, remembering, decorating for one reason or another. Right across the street from most of these is housing structure with families and kids living in them. I find it very fascinating and almost scary that these people are so dedicated and passionate about their cause that they are willing to raise their families in this type of environment. 

This guy called "top gun" is celebrated on a wall as he himself was a victim of the troubles but he murdered around 20 people... Its really a strange thing to see this kind of thing being plastered on walls as something to be proud of. I wish I had the words to describe it.

-The Curious Bob