BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UK--Friday, June 13, 2014

---

Belfast, Northern Ireland--Friday, June 13^th



After having a two-day rest, we were somewhat eager to leave the ship and explore this city. As we walked down the ramp, and while we were waiting for the shuttle bus, we watched fellow shipmates get into a line of London style taxis. They had signed up to take the “Black Taxi” tour. It looked like fun.

We had hoped to take a tour to the Giant’s Causeway, but because of the interest in this place, generated by TV and games, everything was booked solid. We boarded the shuttle bus and it drove us from the pier to the heart of the city and let us all off right in front of the tourist office. Here, we again, inquired about a tour to the Causeway, but they too were booked and any option that was left, for example, a train ride and then a hiring taxi, would be back too late and we would miss our sailing time. Since that wasn’t a good idea, we looked around the very nice tourist office for an alternative.

We decided to fall back on our tried and true, Hop-on-Hop-Off bus tour. Cheap, can usually see most of the important sights, usually travel slowly enough for Valerie to take pictures, and if we can get a seat on top, no windows to block the view, saves our energy as we just ride around.

Valerie found the gentleman manning a company kiosk and bought tickets. We then walked around the corner for a long block, and over on a side street a block to the bus stop. There was a bus waiting and so we “hopped on”—yeah right! and off we went.

This city has really neat Victorian and Edwardian architecture. Because of the shipyards and industrialization, Belfast was heavily bombed during WWII. Many of the buildings were destroyed by the Blitz of 1941 and some have since been restored.Many of the restored buildings have become department stores, groceries, and other stores; preserved by the companies involved to retain their history. In one raid, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz.

As we crossed the River Lagan, we looked down on the art works along the promenade fronting the river. We then drove into the docks area, where the world’s largest dry dock is located. The imposing set of bright yellow giant cranes (Samson and Goliath) of the Harland and Wolff (H & W) shipyard, builders of the Titanic, can be seen for miles. Here the White Star Line built her sister ships also. Many of the passengers got off to visit the Titanic Museum in this area. We next circled around through the port buildings and then drove out to view Northern Ireland’s Parliament Building and Stormont Estate set in a vast parkland.

We noted wall art pictures of children and the St. Georges Old Market as we entered the downtown area again. If we had had the energy, the market looked like a neat place to explore. It was built between 1890 and 1896, and is Belfast's last surviving Victorian covered market. It was restored at a cost of £4.5 million in 1997.

We left the city center and moved into an area that shocked the two of us. We of course knew about the hostilities between the Protestants (British) and Catholics (Irish) in Northern Ireland since we lived through that time, but we didn’t have a clue it was still ongoing after this many years. We did not know that a high concrete & steel fencing wall with concertina wire along the top, between the two communities, was even built, let alone, still up. Ironically, this wall that is 25 feet high in some places is referred to as the “Peace” lines, used to keep peace between the two neighborhoods. The gate across the main road into the 2 distinct residential communities along Shankill and Falls Roads is still locked and police guarded every night at 6:30.

We learned from the tour guide, that this period was referred to as the “Troubles” and that the City of Belfast saw some of the worst of the conflict. This happened particularly in the 1960s & 1970s, when rival paramilitary groups formed on both sides and bombings, assassinations, and street violence erupted throughout. The Provisional IRA detonated 22 bombs within the city centre in 1972, on what is known as "Bloody Friday", killing eleven people. Loyalist paramilitaries retaliated for the IRA campaign although; most of their victims were Catholics with no links to the Provisional IRA. A particularly notorious group, based on the Shankill Road in the mid-1970s, became known as the Shankill Butchers.

In all, over 1,600 people were killed in this political violence between 1969 and 2001. Due to the violence, even continuing today, Belfast is often referred to as the "European Capital of Terrorism". The four-star Europa Hotel, located in the City Centre, where many journalists stayed, was bombed twenty-seven times during The Troubles and is one of the most bombed hotels in Europe.

Today the walls stretch over 21 miles and terminates on one end at a police station surrounded by extremely high fencing. Sadly, though some want the walls removed, a 2012 study indicated that 69%!o(MISSING)f residents believe they are a necessary deterrent to potential violence.

We drove along a lot of the wall that has since been embellished with murals, political slogans, and some graffiti rendered in both clay and paint. We then toured both communities with their memorials/gardens to various slain individuals and their political murals and affiliation slogans painted on the sides of the buildings.

Moving out of this area, with somber thoughts, we were driven by Queens University where the main building was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1849 and, is quite lovely. Other Victorian landmarks in the city were also designed by him. Around this area, are interesting (some famous and infamous) pubs and red brick office buildings. We also passed by the red brick, neatly trimmed in white, Opera House, and the Albert Clock which stands at the end of High Street, in memory of Queen Victoria's Prince Consort, Prince Albert. The clock stands 35m high and was built on land reclaimed from the river so it leans a bit off vertical. Time to “Hop-off” (not quite, if you watch us maneuver the steps down and then off) as we returned back to the bus stop we started from.

Hungry for lunch by this time, we went looking for a restaurant to eat at along the way back to the shuttle bus stop. We both had spotted an Asian looking hole-in-the-wall and went in to check it out as we were hungry for some Chinese food. Nope, not eating here! Guess we will have to wait until we are home or possibly in London before our flight to DC.

Valerie spotted a Tesco grocery store right inside the entrance to the subway/metro/underground and we went in and picked out some sandwiches and drinks for lunch. We also bought black current and ginger jams as our souvenirs for ourselves. Would have bought more than just one, but didn’t want to carry them back to the ship and then home as they are NOT light. As usual, we also bought Valerie some diet Coke and this time we found it in plastic bottles that had people’s names on them. We found and bought one with my son Christopher’s name (Chris) on it and sat it on a trash can with the City of Belfast seal on it while we sat on a nearby bench and had our lunch. It made a great picture at an angle with the cityscape behind it. We posted it on Facebook to say we had lunch with Chris in Belfast.

Finished our lunch and then window shopped our way back toward the visitor’s center. We crossed the street at the intersection and walked into the park surrounding the City Hall. The ornate City Hall, was finished in 1906 and was built to reflect Belfast’s City status, granted by Queen Victoria in 1888. The central dome is 173 feet high. While I sat on a bench people watching, Valerie walked inside the building and took pictures of the pictorial display of the history of Belfast highlighting the linen and glassblowing industry as well as the ship building, and the notable people of Belfast. Outside again, she took pictures of the many statues in the park, most notably one of Queen Victoria that stands front and center at the entrance to the Hall.

We walked back across the street and caught the shuttle bus back to the ship. Even though we didn’t see what we thought we wanted to see, we were glad to have the experiences that we had today in Belfast. Valerie took a number of photos as we sailed out of Belfast that evening.

---