Driving past majority-Catholic neighborhoods with houses that still have metal screens that can be pulled across windows was humbling, as was the 38 miles (we didn't visit all of it!) of the "peace wall" (photos in another post) that divides opposing neighborhoods. Its gates are still closed and locked every night at 8 pm (there have been moves to stop locking the gates, but the government has not been in session for over two years, discussed in an upcoming paragraph).
Why are they called "peace walls"? They are meant to "keep the peace" and they are often heavily graffiti'd or muraled with messages of peace, hope, and community. However, they also have the occasional sentiment along the lines of "Die, IRA scum!" so the name "peace walls" can definitely come across as ironic.
Here are a few photos from the ride, in no particular order.
This is the Parliament Building on the Stormont Estate (often just called "Stormont"). The Northern Ireland Assembly collapsed in January of 2017. Matthew-the-tour-guide had a few choice words to say for the politicians who refuse to govern but are still being paid. Everyone was quite excited about six months ago when the UK government agreed to cut the Assembly politicians' pay, but that cut was only 2.5%, so it has had no effect on getting the politicians back to work.
When we woke up on Wednesday morning, the news was covered with photos very much like this one, because Boris Johnson (the new UK Prime Minister) was in town to meet with various Important People, including each of the political parties.
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| Post card photo |
The lampposts lining the road to and from Stormont were a gift from Canada. It's kind of hard to tell in this photo, but there is a moose head on the crossbar under the light:
Belfast City Hall:
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| Post card photo |
There are many lovely (and/or political) murals in Belfast. Here is one:
This is RISE, a sculpture by Wolfgang Buttress. It is supposed to "...represent Belfast's positive outlook for a peaceful future." Matthew-the-tour-guide's opinion is that it has done a lot of good, and that in general, Belfast is changing from "terrorism to tourism." He thanked us all for coming to Belfast and spending our tourism currencies here 😉
An Orange Hall that is rarely used except on July 12 ("The Twelth") an important Ulster Protestant holiday celebrating the Battle of the Boyne:
The Spire of Hope at St. Anne's Cathedral, which is 40 meters tall and was installed in 2007. From this angle, we thought it looked like the building had been skewered:
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