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.
No comments:
Post a Comment