Day 15 - Belfast and the Titanic

Closed Peace Wall

It was Sunday morning in Belfast and we started with a driving tour of the neighborhood that saw all the sectarian violence in the 70s, 80s and 90s that they call “the troubles” here. Since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, violence has stopped and Belfast has rebuilt itself into a vibrant, beautiful city and a tourist destination again. From what I understand, the younger generation has pretty much moved on from the root causes of the problems but you have to wonder about the older generation and what they still hold in their hearts. Unfortunately the issue of an impending Brexit is bringing some of this to the surface again. Right now there is an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but some of that has to change when the UK (including Northern Ireland) leaves the EU.

Bobby Sands Mural

There are still visible signs of the past problems. The peace wall, which was built as part of the accords, is still there separating the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. You can normally drive it but for some reason the gates were closed. Maybe this was because of Orange Day which was only two days ago. In the Catholic neighborhoods, there are memorials to the IRA and leaders of “the troubles” – a huge mural of Bobby Sands, an IRA museum and a Garden of Remembrance for the fallen. The Protestants have their own mural to William of Orange and a few signs along the lines of “we will never surrender” but no direct reference to the times of troubles. Of course they are still the majority and still in power.

Titanic Museum

There is one piece of Belfast history that is still very much celebrated and that is the fact that the Titanic was built at the H&M Shipyards in Belfast. At the time it was built Titanic was the largest ship in the world and took an army of men and a lot of manual labor to complete it. The Titanic Museum is a fantastic museum and it takes you from planning to construction to sinking as you pass through the museum.  They have reconstructions of the state rooms and you can almost feel that you are on the ship. It isn’t just a museum where you look at artifacts, but one where you almost experience the Titanic in many different ways. There is a ride through the construction of the ship ala Disney, a very good wraparound video that takes you through the decks of the Titanic and finally and underwater segment when you can look at the wreck on the bottom of the sea. Well worth the time to visit.

Downpatrick and County Down Railroad

We headed out of Belfast toward Dublin with one more stop in Downpatrick. The have an old steam train still running on Sundays and we took a ride. It is very short, about 10 minutes to cover maybe one mile, but it takes you back in time. The railroad is run completely by volunteers and the old guys are more than willing to tell you about it. They obvious have a great passion for the old days of railroading. I thought it was fun and we both thought that our two year old grandson, Finn, would have really like a ride. There was another two year old on the ride and he was dressed in his Thomas the Tank shirt to take the ride.

"Grave" of Saint Patrick

The last stop of the entire tour was at Down Cathedral to visit the grave of Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick was a fifth-century Christian missionary and is the primary patron saint of Ireland. He is credited with bringing christianity to Ireland and of course for driving all the snakes out. Of course as one tour guide pointed out, Ireland is a cold country and no snakes could live here anyway. He said that the snakes were a metaphor for the druids, whom Patrick is said to have driven out of Ireland when he established Christianity there.

Of course no one really knows where he is buried but this is the site according to legend and there is an old rock with his name engraved on it so it must be right? Or maybe not. Doesn’t matter. I’m fine with legends.