Northern Ireland is best known by Americans for “the Troubles” – the once-violent clash between native Protestants and Catholics – chronicled recently in movies such as “The Boxer” and “Some Mother’s Son.” Both films take place in Belfast, a city that used to be notorious for its car bombs and hunger strikers. While still edgy, the city is no longer a powder keg. Travelers are returning to Belfast to explore its lively pedestrian zone, old-time pubs, open-air museum, waterfront and even its turbulent past.
This is the crux of the Troubles: Many Catholic residents want Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland, whereas most Protestant residents want to remain part of the United Kingdom. Extremists polarized issues, an increasingly violent Irish Republican Army emerged, and the British Army entered the fray. Belfast stood at the epicenter of the 25-year-long struggle.
Optimists hailed the breakthrough peace plan, signed in 1998, that signaled the dawning of a new morning in Northern Ireland. Today, although the Troubles still simmer, they’ve actually become a tourist attraction. Cabbies take tourists on informative, narrated driving tours through the most polarized neighborhoods with the most political murals; figure on $40 for a one-hour tour. Many of the drivers were originally former political prisoners in need of work. You can use the cabs merely as transportation, too. Many of Belfast’s black cabs run bus-type routes, a service that originated when city buses were hijacked for use as barricades in street fighting years ago.
Belfast’s 200-year-old Linen Hall Library, which welcomes guests of all political persuasions, takes pride in being a neutral place. Take a look at their “Troubled Images,” a historical collection of engrossing political posters (also viewable at www.linenhall.com/Troubled_Images/home.htm).
Belfast’s past has a lighter side, too. Across the street from the library is the museum-like Crown Liquor Saloon. Built in 1849, it’s now a part of the National Trust. A wander through its mahogany, glass, and marble interior is a trip back into the day of Queen Victoria (although the privacy provided by the curtained booths allows for un-Victorian behavior). It’s a good lunch stop after a day of sightseeing.
Belfast’s sights include its Botanic Gardens; the Ulster Museum, focusing on the city’s history; and the new Odyssey complex, which has a hands-on science museum for kids. The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, an open-air museum in nearby Cultra, covers the region’s traditional lifestyles and growth in transportation from ox carts to the Titanic to a DeLorean car (with accompanying info on the local adventures of John DeLorean).
Visiting Belfast, it’s hard to believe that the bright, bustling downtown once had checkpoints, security zones, and stores that offered “bomb damage clearance sales.” Partisan parades and the political murals are reminders that the island is still split – and some prefer it that way. But on my last visit, the children dancing in the street were both Catholic and Protestant, part of a summer-camp program giving kids from both communities reasons to live together without strife. It’s a fragile peace and a tenuous hope, but it’s a sign of how far Belfast has come.
Rick Steves of Edmonds (425-771-8303, www.ricksteves.com) is the author of 27 European travel guidebooks including “Europe Through the Back Door” and host of the public television series “Rick Steves’ Europe.”
The new season airs this week on KCTS, including the “Belfast and the Best of Northern Ireland” show. This week’s schedule:
Monday, 5 p.m.: Berlin
Tuesday, 5 p.m.: Germany’s Romantic Rhine
Wednesday, 5 p.m.: Munich
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.: Belfast and the Best of Northern Ireland
Thursday, 5 p.m.: Switzerland
Friday, 5 p.m.: Portugal’s Heartland
Saturday, 5 p.m.: Belfast and the Best of Northern Ireland
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
