Bel Bel Belfast... now as a tourist

Note: I'm now about a week behind. I'm working on getting caught up, but just haven't had the time!!! For the record, I celebrated the fourth of July on the sixth of July, Phil arrived Wednesday, and I was in Kilkenny on Friday night... those blogs to come!

Saturday I was more of a tourist in Belfast with the rest of my fellow international UREKAs plus Marieka.

First, a few notes on just Belfast. It is located in Northern Ireland, which is a completely different country than the rest of Ireland (which is also known as the Republic). It runs on different currency, and the taxes on things such as food and drink are less (more alcohol for your buck!!). There are also British flags hung everywhere, since it is technically a part of the U.K. We picked an especially interesting time to go, given that it is the marching season. This means that this is when the Protestants commemorate the Battle of the Boyne, a battle in 1690 that helped ensure the supremacy of the Protestants in Ireland, by marching through the streets of different cities in Northern Ireland.

So now some brief history of Ireland, so that this makes a bit more sense. Catholics (or the Republicans) want Northern Ireland to be a part of the rest of the Republic. The Protestants (or Unionists) don’t. It has been more of a political battle than a religious battle, with the Catholics being the Irish people, and the Protestants being more from the U.K. The marches I described earlier are no longer violent (although a friend told me of a time in Dublin where people were walking around with hoodies on and throwing bricks, so there is still tension). This history, however, is not 100s of years old. In 1973, Bloody Sunday occurred where the British soldiers fired shots into a peaceful Catholic demonstration and killed 13 people. The British at the time took no responsibility. It wasn’t until 2 weeks ago that the British parliament finished their investigation and apologized for their actions.

Sooo… this city of Belfast that I was in was one of the central points of this conflict and it showed. We went to a place where there are murals that were painted that depict the past and present divisions. Here are a few pictures of my favorites, or quotes that I found interesting:





















The following mural is one of the more famous murals. If you notice the gun, it follows you no matter where you are. It was extremely eerie, like the Mona Lisa but with a gun (the Mona Lisa is eerie enough).












We also drove passed a big metal gate (quite daunting if you ask me) that closes at night. It closes in the Catholic neighborhood. I asked the taxi driver why they still need it if there hasn’t been violence in years. His answer was merely just to prevent trouble.

There are also 27 walls like the wall in the following picture that are still up throughout Belfast (almost like the Berlin wall) to separate the Protestants and Catholics. On this one in particular, there are peace messages written from people around the world encouraging the people here to overcome the past. An example:



I was boosted up by James and Oliver and wrote one of our own:



Our tour guide said that right now there are no plans to bring the walls down. It wouldn’t do any good right now, he said. He did say that the day the walls are brought down will be a great day for Ireland and the rest of the country and even world. I asked him when he thought everything will cool down enough for the walls to come down. He didn’t think it would happen in his lifetime, and possibly not even mine.

This was all very shocking for me. In only 20 % of Belfast do the Protestants and Catholics live together. Otherwise, the two communities are still completely separated. Wow. I guess I just don’t understand how people can’t overcome their differences to even live peacefully together, and that a physical wall is needed to prevent violence. I thought we were passed this in most of the world, especially in a country such as Ireland.

After this, we headed to some more touristy things in Belfast (more meaning a church, a clock, a fish statue, and that’s it really). We were done touring Belfast by 2 pm. The city was nothing special (except for the murals that I think people have to see if they head there). So guess what… we went to eat!!! We went somewhere that they serve Irish stew, but of course by the time we got there, they were out of Irish stew. No bueno. The food I did get (beef and Guinness pie) was still excellent. Next, back to the hostel, sleep while watching an AWFUL movie (nice choice Jussi) and then drinking before we headed out. One quote of the night by Luke: “I just figured out I’m a lightweight.” Some dancing and what not at a night club at a place in Belfast called the Odyssey. James and Jussi both commented that the girls in Northern Ireland are hotter than the girls in the Republic (honestly, there’s no difference boys…) Great night with great friends:












and back to bed. ZZZZZ….