On July 19th we left the Scottish Highlands and traveled to Glasgow. Unfortunately by the time we arrived in the city there was very little time in the city to do anything other than have dinner and explore the nightlife. The following morning we left Scotland and traveled to Ireland by ferry. It took us the majority of the day to travel from Glasgow to Dublin, and again we had little time to explore Dublin by day – I felt ok about that though since I will be returning to Dublin in about 5 or so days before I go back to London.
On July 21st we went back to regular touring, and we traveled to Belfast – in Northern Ireland, and the home of many struggles and conflict that continue today. It was a very sobering visit and I was able to see first hand many of the struggles that the people of Belfast are still going through. Without going into too much detail about the history I will try to give a brief synopsis. The main issue that caused the decades of conflict and violence in Belfast has to do with different opinions between two distinct groups: The Unionists (or loyalists, or Protestants) and the Nationalists (or republicans or Catholics). The Unionists were mostly Protestant and they wanted Northern Ireland to stay within the United Kingdom, while the Nationalists, who were mostly Catholic, did not want to be part of the United Kingdom and wanted a free and united Ireland.
Today the Unionists and Nationalists groups still exist and the conflict is still very present in the city (although now the conflict is not violent). The city is divided into two halves, one for the Unionists and one for the Nationalists, and between the two halves is a large wall. During the day there are gates open in the wall to cross over from one side to the other, but at night the gates are locked and everyone retreats to their separate side. People on one side of the wall do not associate much with people on the other side of the wall. Unionist children go to school with other Unionist children, and Nationalist children go to school with other Nationalist children.
We took a tour of the city (by bus) and were able to drive through the two sides. Below is a photo of the wall that separates the two sides, most of which is covered in graffiti.
One of the gates to cross from one side to the other:
Throughout the city, on both sides of the wall, you can see murals depicting the viewpoints of either side.
The city does not feel “warm”, welcoming or safe. Many fences (for regular property) have barbed wires or sharp tops so that people will not climb the fence.
I found my visit to Belfast really sad, I had heard about the conflict in Northern Ireland, but I did not realize to what extent it was currently impacting the people of the city. I was so surprised to see the wall, and to learn that the people of the city do not want to remove the wall. They are estimating it may take another 10 years for the wall to come down.
Belfast is also known for being the location of where the famous ship Titanic was built, and because of this they have an enormous Titanic museum. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to visit inside the museum, but we visited outside the building. The building was designed at a height to demonstrate how tall the ship was if you were standing at the bottom and looking up at the ship.
Later that day we visited Derry (also known as Londonderry). This is a city in Northern Ireland where many of the conflicts are also still taking place. The city is divided in two parts, just as it was in Belfast. We had a very interesting tour guide who took us on a walking tour through the city and explained many of the conflicts and how they are currently impacting people. Our tour guide was a Buddhist Irish, which gave him an interesting viewpoint (since he was neither protestant nor catholic). We learned the difference between calling the city Derry and Londonderry – if someone calls the city Derry it means that they are Nationalists (or Catholics), and if they call the city Londonderry then it means they are Unionists (or Protestant). Our guide explained that when someone meets a new person, in order to determine which side they are on they will ask some sort of question or turn the topic to the city name in order to find out whether they call the city Londonderry or Derry.
Our tour manager told us to be careful when talking to locals, and not to take any side, or to discuss politics with anyone! We were also told not to dress wearing a Union Jack flag or have anything that would indicate which side we preferred.
Our tour guide explained how separated the city still is (like Belfast), and that people live parallel lives on either side of the wall – where children grow up on their side of the wall, only going to school with other children on their own side. He explained that the people of the city also do not want the wall to come down and, as in Belfast, it could take another 10 years for the wall to be removed. In order for this to happen, he explained that children of both sides need to start growing up together and attending the same schools. Teaching children under one curriculum poses it’s own set of problems – how do you teach children the history of their city when one side believes strongly in their freedom fighters while the other side believes these freedom fighters are terrorists?
Below is a photo of the wall separating the two sides in Derry/Londonderry
As we walked into the Catholics/Nationalists area of the city we could see large murals welcoming us to “Free Derry”.
As in Belfast, there were many murals on the walls throughout the city.
Visiting Derry/Londonderry was an interesting experience and I was glad I had the chance to hear more perspectives on the conflict from our local tour guide.
To break up the mood of the day we left these cities and visited an incredible site: the Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. This incredible site has hundreds of hexagonal interlocking columns at different heights, leading from the cliffs into the sea.
We had to hike about 15 minutes in order to reach the causeway, and along the route we had a very picturesque view of the sea.
We finally reached the causeway and it was amazing to see the columns. I found it incredible that they were formed naturally!
There is a legend associated with the how the causeway was formed, and the story goes that the columns are the remains of a causeway built by an Irish giant (Finn MacCool) in order to cross the North Channel to get to Scotland to fight a Scottish giant Benandonner. There are different versions of the legend, but the common theme is that Benandonner crosses the causeway and finds Finn’s wife who introduces Finn as her baby son. Benandonner recons that if Finn’s baby was so large then Finn must be an enormous giant, and he flees back to Scotland in fright and destroys the causeway behind him so Finn could not follow him back to Scotland. Whether or not you believe in legends, the causeway is an incredible sight, and photos do not do it justice!
My stay in Northern Ireland was really good. I learned a lot about the conflicts the Irish have gone through, and I also saw the most incredible natural wonder in the UK. I’m not sure I would visit Belfast or Derry again, but I am happy I was able to see first-hand the impacts of the conflict on the people of Northern Ireland.
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