Belfast and Northern Ireland have had a tumultuous history. To me, Belfast was the bombed city, where Catholic and Protestants were at each other, where bombs and soldiers were a way of life and so was retaliation and on the television news at night.
In 1998 The Good Friday Agreement was finally signed after two years of talks and 30 years of conflict. This is one of the better things Tony Blair may be remembered for. The history is long and complicated.
We took a Black Cab tour of the Falls and Shankill Roads area and the famous murals. Gerrard, our driver was a wealth of information (from the Falls Road himself) and his childhood was marked with the scars on the conflict (including his leg from a car bomb) The history is fascinating, Shankill Road area is depressing and Falls Road, well I wouldn't want to go there at night either. The housing has been rebuilt, mainly because the rows of cottages were bombed out.
The murals represent many of the branches and factions of the IRA - a complicated history and the fighters for their causes and the victims. Bobby Sands, the IRA freedom fighter is probably best known for his 66 day hunger strike in the Maze prison in 1981- a film last year called Hunger, based on Bobby won an award at Cannes. Life is a high price to pay for your cause.
The peace wall pictured below divides the catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods in Belfast and divides this region of the city running for over 3 miles. It has gates and is open, but can be closed electronically and are often closed at night and in the 'marching season' and other memorial times. The barriers consist of iron, brick and steel walls up to 25 feet high, topped with metal netting. Houses on the Falls Road side of the wall have metal grates over the yards of the houses, as it is still common practice to have objects hurled over the wall.
Belfast is currently undergoing a huge regeneration and is a popular tourist destination now. Oh and George Bush is noted for his 'part in history' in war by the artists of Belfast. And you can even go and see where the Titanic was built!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Random photos - Belfast
Here's some shots from Belfast that just had to be included. Roseleigh House, our B&B we stayed in - it was gorgeous!! The breakfast was awesome, white linen and silverware and we had a front room.
Knockbreda Presbyterian Church. We were taking photos when a guy strolled over and invited us in - they were having a floral exhibition and when I said I knew a lecturer at the Presbyterian College back in Australia, they got the minister and we had a lovely chat. The displays were wonderful and very creative and the pipe organ was stunning. I would love to have heard it played.
Now who would be a policeman in Northern Ireland? Check out the security at the police station!!!! And they are all like this -no windows, grates, wire...it doesn't bear thinking about.
Cows!! a 'call of nature' stop near a paddock and then I turn around and see my audience!! I had to laugh.
Knockbreda Presbyterian Church. We were taking photos when a guy strolled over and invited us in - they were having a floral exhibition and when I said I knew a lecturer at the Presbyterian College back in Australia, they got the minister and we had a lovely chat. The displays were wonderful and very creative and the pipe organ was stunning. I would love to have heard it played.
Now who would be a policeman in Northern Ireland? Check out the security at the police station!!!! And they are all like this -no windows, grates, wire...it doesn't bear thinking about.
Cows!! a 'call of nature' stop near a paddock and then I turn around and see my audience!! I had to laugh.
The Antrim Coast
Northern Ireland is stunning. We think it is one of the prettiest parts of Ireland we have seen so far (there is plenty to see yet!) Probably the beautiful warm sunny weather helped, but this area is very open, rolling green hills and the usual green cliffs right to the sea edge. Portrush beach and sandunes were just like home - we even took photos of the sand!! The day was so clear we could see right across to Scotland and see the Mull of Kintyre. Fortunately Paul McCartney wasn't out with the bagpipe brigade that day!
We did go to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge that I planned to cross, but a 20 minutes wait to buy tickets that cost 8 pounds and another 45 min wait to cross both ways forced us to keep moving in search of lunch. It is a 20m long and 1m wide bridge of wire and rope spanning the chasm between the sea cliffs and the little island of Carrick-a-Rede - 30m about the water. Not sure Scott would have carried out his threat to cross it. I would have, I'm game for anything!
Dunluce Castle is perched on a crag of basalt and was the seat of the McDonnell family in the 16th and 17th centuries. Part of the castle including the kitchen fell into the sea in 1639 taking seven servants and a night's dinner with it!
The rest of our trip back to Belfast was along the Antrim Coastal road and through the 9 Glens of Antrim, beautiful little coastal towns.
We did go to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge that I planned to cross, but a 20 minutes wait to buy tickets that cost 8 pounds and another 45 min wait to cross both ways forced us to keep moving in search of lunch. It is a 20m long and 1m wide bridge of wire and rope spanning the chasm between the sea cliffs and the little island of Carrick-a-Rede - 30m about the water. Not sure Scott would have carried out his threat to cross it. I would have, I'm game for anything!
Dunluce Castle is perched on a crag of basalt and was the seat of the McDonnell family in the 16th and 17th centuries. Part of the castle including the kitchen fell into the sea in 1639 taking seven servants and a night's dinner with it!
The rest of our trip back to Belfast was along the Antrim Coastal road and through the 9 Glens of Antrim, beautiful little coastal towns.
Antrim Coast Northern Ireland
A selection of pictures of the Antrim coast - stunning scenery, Portrush Beach and ruins of Dunluce Castle and some Aussie braving the icy water. The locals all wear wetsuits!!
The Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is basalt columns, solidified lava from an ancient flow. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 in recognition of its outstanding geological features. It receives half a million visitors each year (and you can see some of those in the photos below!)
Of course the Irish are great story tellers and they will tell you it is called Finn MaCool's Causeway..he was a giant and wanted to do battle with a rival giant in Scotland. Finn built the stones across the sea so the giant could cross and face a challenge. Seeing him approach Finn fled home and had his wife disguise him as a baby (she must have been creative!) when Benandonner saw the size of the 'baby' he assumed the father must be HUGE and fled in terror ripping up the causeway in case he followed...hence the steps in Antrim, Ireland and similar at Dingal's Cave on the Scottish island of Staffa!
My Dad visited this same spot on a leave pass from the Air Force during WW2 (1942)and sent me copies of some photos of him in his uniform on the same spot we were.
Of course the Irish are great story tellers and they will tell you it is called Finn MaCool's Causeway..he was a giant and wanted to do battle with a rival giant in Scotland. Finn built the stones across the sea so the giant could cross and face a challenge. Seeing him approach Finn fled home and had his wife disguise him as a baby (she must have been creative!) when Benandonner saw the size of the 'baby' he assumed the father must be HUGE and fled in terror ripping up the causeway in case he followed...hence the steps in Antrim, Ireland and similar at Dingal's Cave on the Scottish island of Staffa!
My Dad visited this same spot on a leave pass from the Air Force during WW2 (1942)and sent me copies of some photos of him in his uniform on the same spot we were.
Summer in Dublin
Summer in Dublin! Well one thing about it means that the days are long...the nights short and it's the time to get out and do things. Other than post on blogs!! Opps. Since the summer solstice the days are getting shorter, but to go to bed at 10.30 and it still be light and the sky never really getting dark but being a beautiful deep blue is amazing. Of course the downside is winter, but I don't want to think about that right now. I actually think the long days have the effective of wearing you out gradually and it gets harder to get up each morning. Or maybe that is just me! People make the most of the long nights - the park is filled with touch rugby teams, soccer teams, picnickers and the tennis courts are busy. This summer is, unfortunately, similar to last year - not very warm! Last year was the wettest in 50 years and looks to be following a similar pattern. There have been a few days in low to mid 20's which are wonderful. The scary thing is the Irish lads whip off their shirts and reveal their lily white chests and office workers pour into the parks at lunch time and the rubbish bins overflow with lunchtime rubbish. If the sun is out and it's not windy, it's rather pleasant being outside or on the balcony. But I think I prefer it to the 38-40 degrees experienced back home early this year.
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