Northern Ireland Trip Part 1- Belfast Political Tour

Having married an Irishman from the South who has always been intrigued with Northern Ireland's "Troubles", a trip to some of the famous areas are a must see.

After perusing Tripadvisor, we decided to go on a Paddy Campbell's Black Cab Tour after seeing the great ratings.  

We were picked up from our hotel by Ciaran who revealed that he was born and bred near the Shankills and the Falls Road - areas known for their sectarian violence.   We were shown first some of the murals that decorate the end houses of rows.  These works are against the law but huge in scale and sheer volume.

One of the murals celebrating William of Orange - who won the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, leading to the annual 12 of July celebrations.

I forgot to take a photo of this one- so I am using one found here by Wes Cowley.  Apparently this guy was called Top Gun for a very obvious reason.   

It is amazing that these well kept murals exist while there is a peace process- people feel the division between Catholics and Protestants keenly.  

There are some movements towards peace however.  At the end of the same street, you will find a sculpture commemorating a mural that has been removed.   A black and white image of the mural is pictured next to the sculpture.

The other thing that was amazing was the existence of these 'Peace Gates' .  Each night these gates are closed and locked to keep the two communities separate.   

Beside the Peace Gates is the Peace wall - a mammoth structure designed to keep molotov cocktails and pipe bombs out.  The base is covered with murals apparently tagged by graffiti artists from all over the world.   It's the only place in Belfast that it is legal to graffiti.   On the tags you will find messages written by visitors- mostly messages of peace and names of course.

This is what you find on the Catholic side- houses protected by this wall still need cages for that errant bottles that get flung across the divide.