Category: Belfast

Here we go. This will be the highlight of this part of the trip. That later.

We first visited the Irish Republican History Museum. As you can imagine, it was definitely very interesting and very sad.  They say the situation really is not religiously motivated.  I agree.  It’s discrimination and lack of economic opportunities for one group vs. another.  That’s what they did in Northern Ireland – protestants were given the better jobs, better housing, better everything.  The Irish basically wanted to self govern.  as our bus driver said, it was also sad for all the English people who lost their lives.  All we can blame is the government for enacting these policies that split people and families.  We see this now too and the people of Northern Ireland identify with the Palestinians, the Apartheid movement, etc.  You can see this on the murals all over Belfast.

Well, the best part of our travels was here, not because of the Titanic but because of a Black Taxi tour that we added on. The Black Taxi tours are conducted by cabbies in Belfast who had been involved in the “troubles.” Our cabbie Jerry was definitely very informative. We wonder how he was involved. 😉

We stopped by the Peace Wall, which was first signed by Bill Clinton, then a couple of days later by the Dalai Lama. Since then, everyone that visits the wall can sign it. And we did! OMG, they LOVE Bill Clinton there.  His name came up about 100 times.

The Wall is due to come down by 2024.

The most photographed mural is that of Bobby Sands. He was a provisional Irish Republican Army member who died in a hunger strike while held in jail.  He lasted 66 days and there have been films made about him.  Michael Fassbender, an Irishman, played Sands and even lost something like 16 kg to play him. Sands was also voted into Parliament when he was in jail.  He, obviously, never stepped into parliament chambers.  He wrote many songs, books, and poems while in Jail.

We then visited the Clonard Monastery, or Church of the Most Holy Redeemer.  You can read more about the church here: https://www.clonard.com/our-church/

Everyone is anxiously awaiting the Pope’s visit this Saturday and Sunday.

Next stop, the HMS Caroline, the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the only major naval action of WWI.  Honestly, I think it was one of those places that probably doesn’t get a lot of visitors on its own so it’s added to some tours like that of the Titanic. It was interesting but I would have rather had more time at the Titanic.

Last but not least, we visited the Titanic Exhibition.  It was really more of an interpretive center – there were exhibits, 3-D experiences, films, and even a ride.  I thought it was done really well.  Just wished we could have had more time.

Coming back into town, we went by the Google building, the performing arts center.

We ended the night by watching Titanic.  We watched Braveheart the other night after we visited some of the castles. We will be off on another tour tomorrow to more castles and where they filmed some more of Braveheart and Game of Thrones.  See you then!!!