Belfast: Part 3



Mural in a Protestant neigh

The longest time I spent in Belfast was on a weekend trip, organized by my study abroad program. This trip was designed mostly with students studying in the Republic of Ireland in mind, so one of our days was spent exploring Northern Ireland through a bus drive along the coastal route and a visit to some of the main attractions on the coast.  

The time we did spend in Belfast, was great, my favorite part being the black taxi tour. The tour, guided by Northern Irish drivers, took us to some sights that illuminated the conflicts of The Troubles and its impact on Belfast. We saw both Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods and different murals and memorials pertaining to the conflicts. We also stopped at the Peace Wall, which was a wall constructed to separate Protestant and Catholic areas. It’s been signed by people all over the world, including celebrities and political figures such as Beyonce and Bill Clinton. Though I was aware of some of Northern Ireland’s tense history, it was still  sobering to hear about it from guides who lived in Belfast during the peak of violence there. Something I noticed that weekend in Belfast, from our black taxi tour guides and the guide who took us along the Northern Ireland coast, was a sense of pride in just how far Belfast has come. It’s now one of the top tourist destination cities in the world.



Memorial in a Catholic neighborhood

Later that same day, the director of IFSA Butler’s Ireland program led us on a bus tour around Belfast. One of the best parts of this tour was getting to stop outside of the Parliament building. It was not in the center of the city, so I doubt it was something I would have seen on my own.

During one of the evenings in Belfast, I went to the Belfast Christmas Market. This market was outside of Belfast City Hall and featured many international vendors. There were a lot of different foods and drinks from around the world. I treated myself to a delicious French baguette and a Belgian waffle and bought a wallet from London for my mom. The night we were there was also the night of the Christmas tree light-up. We weren’t sure what time the tree was being lit, and to our surprise, the lights went on just as we were leaving the market, which was nice to see.



Protestant neighborhood

I also got a bit of experience with Belfast night life that weekend. We went to one pub that I really liked. It was very crowded, but it had a great atmosphere anyway, mostly because of the live music. The singers performed  some songs that I didn’t know that I assume were from Northern Ireland or Ireland, as well as some folksy covers of current hits. There was also such a variety of people there in terms of ages. It felt very much like an authentic Irish pub.

 

Though I had a few other brief Belfast experiences (such as staying in a Belfast hostel before an early morning flight to Edinburgh), these blog entries have covered the main ones. I’ll be honest—Belfast, by appearance and atmosphere, did not capture my fancy with the immediacy that Dublin or Edinburg did, but I still think the city’s going to hold a warm place in my heart. It was my first European city, after all, and the capital of a country that I’ll always remember for being the first place--and a great place, at that--I ventured outside U.S. borders.