Belfast (11,12/8)

Geoff guided us to the local station to catch a train into Belfast. After sorting out domestic issues and a quick visit to the impressive City Hall we decided to try and catch a hop-on-hop off bus. The one recommended was actually quite difficult to find. We managed to get tickets from a shop, but then were given different sets of directions from different people so we went round in circles while dodging the rain.

Belfast Castle and view over the Loch

Fortified Police Station

The tour was in a couple of parts. The first took us past Belfast Castle which is quite small, but has a great spot on the side of the hill overlooking the city. It then took us through the heart of the area which was affected by “The Troubles”. Antrim Road, Shankhill Road, Crumlin Road were names which were well known around the world for a while for the wrong reasons. Many of the police stations are still heavily fortified with high walls, razor wire and security cameras. There are murals throughout the area we drove through supporting both sides of the conflict, with the loyalist areas still decked out with Union Jacks everywhere. Since the peace process has begun there have been huge efforts to integrate Protestants and Catholics who live essentially side by side in many different ways but in particular by sending their children to multi-denominational schools, etc. We drove past the “Peace Wall” which was built to separate the two sides, the politicians reasoning that if they couldn't see each other, they wouldn't shoot each other!!  A sign that the peace process has worked is that some of the bombed out areas where housing was cheap are now being gentrified and money is moving into the area.

The provocation still exists

Our second tour missed out on going to the docks which were the lifeblood of Belfast for a long time. Belfast was famous for its shipbuilding (the Titanic was built here) and the two huge cranes are still there and are currently working to build and repair drilling rigs. We did however see the fine buildings at Queens University and the Queens Hospital where world leading cancer research is being carried out. One of its buildings was recently opened by Prince Charles who apparently commented afterwards that it was the ugliest building he ever had to open. Some wits have nicknamed this building “Camilla”.

"Camilla"

Our last stop in Belfast was the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. We gave the transport part a miss as well as the Irish Dancing display and headed into the reconstructed village. Reminiscent of Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, it is a site where old buildings depicting different aspects of life amongst normal people have been rescued and shifted to. Sandie and Jeff were amazed at how much has been added to it since last they were there. The oldest buildings were 16^th century fisherman's cottages, built of stone and wattle and daub. The “wattle” had ropes of straw woven between the wattle stakes before the daub was applied. There were several working exhibitions, one of weaving woollen fabric and another cooking soda cakes – very tasty. Jill got a copy of the soda cake recipe from the printer in the “village” so that she can try them at home.

Poteen anyone?

 Meanwhile, the police display had, amongst the usual uniforms and weapons, a “poteen” still which would have been highly prized. The policeman's life was not easy, and even his social life was controlled – he was not allowed to marry for five years after he joined the police force!

The drizzle curtailed our visit to the farm area so we had a quiet drink at one of Jeff's old watering holes, then headed for the airport to go back to Chester.