Black cab tour and Titanic exhibition

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Was able to sleep in a bit this morning, which was nice. I had booked a black cab tour and was being picked up at 10am. My driver, John, arrived on time and we set off in his black cab. The purpose of the tour today was to get a better understanding of what the people of Belfast call "The Troubles" and to visit some of the locations that have become synonymous with this period in their history.

Our first stop was on Falls Rd to see the International Wall and John explained where all the angst began. We are commonly told it was a fight between Catholics and Protestants but the conflict was primarily political and nationalistic, fuelled by historical events. The Unionists/loyalists, who were mostly Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists/republicans, who were mostly Catholics, wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland.

I never really new the full story and had mostly only heard about acts, performed mostly by the IRA, that had only given a one way view of this 'war'. As John said, there were certainly terrible acts performed by both sides however in understanding what the Nationalists were trying to achieve, you can't help but feel sorry for how the British treated them.

When we were standing out the front of the Sinn Fein headquarters and John was telling me the story of the hunger strike, one of the ladies came outside and handed me some pamphlets on what they believe is important.

On the tour we also visited the Peace Walls. The peace lines or peace walls are a series of separation barriers that separate predominantly Republican and Nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from predominantly Loyalist and Unionist Protestant neighbourhoods. Donald Trump would be jealous! These walls run for about 5km. We stopped on one side of the wall that was the Catholic area and you could tell that some of the homes still showed the signs of bombings. It was spookily quiet where we were - I only saw one school boy walking along in the while time we were there. From here we then drove through the gates on Shankill Rd. These gates and the ones near Falls Rd still get locked each night at 10pm.

Conflict between the two parties still exists but it is no longer violent. There are several topics that they cannot agree on, even now. For instance, the Nationalists want the Irish language (Gaelic) to be recognised as the national language as they believe it is part of their culture. There is also disagreement on legalising abortion and LGBTI marriage.

John then drive me back to my hotel. It cost me £40 for the two hour, one on one tour and it was the best money I have spent on one of these city tours so far. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Belfast.

I had a quick bite to eat for lunch and then walked to the Titanic Experience, as I had booked my ticket for a 1:30pm entry time. The exhibition was very well done. I had hired the Audio which I think added to the whole experience. You walk through 9 distinct sections, each one telling the story: Boomtown Belfast (why Belfast was selected to build the ship), The Shipyard (the process of building it, which includes a ride!), The Launch, The Fit-Out, The Maiden Voyage, The Sinking, The Aftermath, Myths & Reality and then the Titanic beneath. An excellent way to spend a couple of hours!

My tour guide from the Game of Thrones tour yesterday made a comment that stayed with me over the past day or so. She said "we're a funny lot as our tours in Belfast focus on:
1. The Troubles - the period in their history that no one is proud of;
2. The Titanic - a ship they built but that sank on its maiden voyage; and
3. Game of Thrones - one of the darkest TV shows ever, that was filmed in their country. "

It is kind of funny!

After walking back to my hotel my next mission was to find a laundromat as I wanted to wash my clothes before heading off to Sicily tomorrow. Luckily there was one only a 10 minute walk away so I headed off there to get that job done. I was able to work on my blog while I was waiting!

After finishing off this chore, I decided to walk to the bus station, just to confirm how long it would take me to walk there in the morning. Once back at the hotel I sorted all my clothes and packed up then headed downstairs to get something light to eat and to have a drink, while I worked some more in my blog. There was a lot to write so another drink was called for!

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