We had scheduled a morning historical taxi tour with Ken Harper, a guide recommended by Rick Steves' Ireland expert whom we consulted as part of the planning process for the trip. Ken took us through the West Belfast neighborhoods surrounding Falls Road (Catholic) and Shankill Road (Protestant) as representative neighborhoods where the history before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was filled with conflict and bloodshed.
LP: Belfast's tradition of political murals is a century old, dating from 1908 when images of King William III, (the Protestant victor over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690) were painted by Unionists protesting against home rule for Ireland. The tradition was revived in the late 1970's as the Troubles wore on, with murals used to mark out sectarian territory, make political points, commemorate historical events and glorify terrorist groups.
Since 1970, the 'Peace Line' (above) has separated the Loyalist and Protestant Shankill district from the Republican and Catholic Falls district, as well as other areas in the city. There are several sets of gates, most open only during normal business hours during the week, while a few remain open until midnight and on weekends. When we asked Ken if the gates were still necessary, he said yes; clearly tensions remain and with an educational system that is mostly segregated by religion, it is unlikely to change soon.
Ken did an excellent job giving a balanced presentation - clearly he feels that extremists on both sides continue to keep things stirred up. He feels there is a lot of corruption, where leaders of both groups are paid by the government as 'community workers' during the day, but are responsible for terrorist acts at night. He did feel the Catholics do a better job at taking care of their community; he sees a lot of economic distress in the Protestant areas that the leaders are doing nothing to alleviate.
We visited the Titantic Museum, finished in 2012 and located at the head of the slipway where the Titantic was built. Cool design and interesting to stand and look out over the slip where the ship was built; those were the high points of an otherwise mediocre museum in this person's opinion.
Harland and Wolff (H&W), the designers and builders of the Titantic and many other ships, is still a going concern, now involved in oil drilling platforms and the like.
Finally, we got to use public transit as we took light rail back to our lodgings in the Queen's Quarter.
Queen's University founded in 1845 by Queen Victoria is Northern Ireland's most prestigious university; and was just a short walk away from our B&B. The campus and buildings are quite lovely, with a stunning Botanic Garden adjacent,to the campus.
Above, our B&B; below, Belfast City Hall, the Europa Hotel (which once claimed the title of the world's most frequently bombed hotel), and the Opera House.
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