Belfast

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I traveled up to Northern Ireland and Belfast with a group of friends this weekend. Belfast was an incredibly interesting city. We took a taxi tour of the city and the sights of the conflict. I never realized how the conflict in Northern Ireland was really about civil rights. The English had divided the city and Catholics had to pass through stop points and checks in order to enter their section. The English restricted their right to vote, jobs and housing. Many people went on hunger strikes to try and call on the government to bring about change. However, as the English government now admits they hired people to kill the Catholic leaders. There is still a wall dividing the two sections and the gate is closed every night but thankfully things have calmed and improved in Belfast. Now the city is covered with hundreds of murals remembering the conflict. Besides for a few, they are all beautiful and call for further peace.

We also took a bus up the coast of Northern Ireland to the Giant's Causeway. The area has these interesting rock formations and mountains caused by volcanic activity hundreds of thousands of years ago. There actually use to be a strip of land that connected Northern Ireland and Scotland. On clear days you can see Scotland which is only 17 miles away. We saw Dunlace Castle which partly fell into the ocean when it was still in use. Rumor has it Michael Jackson was looking to buy it when he was looking for his new home in Ireland. Finally, we ended up at Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery, the oldest whiskey distillery in the world.

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