The Titanic and The Troubles

Wednesday 4^th September

Today’s pedometer reading 4.97 k’s

Our 170 k drive from Dublin to Belfast on the motorway didn’t take us as long as expected. It began with a trip through a 4 kilometre tunnel with a speed limit of 80 k’s! The motorway had a 120k per hour speed limit.

Even though we were early we were able to check into our hotel. We set off to the docks to explore the Titanic Quarter and were drawn to Titanic Belfast…such an imposing building.

We had lunch in the Café and then set off through the exhibition. It extends over nine galleries, drawing together special effects, dark rides, full-scale reconstructions and innovative interactive features to explore the Titanic story in a fresh and insightful way; from her conception in Belfast in the early 1900's, through her construction and launch, to her infamous maiden voyage and catastrophic demise. The journey goes beyond the aftermath of the sinking, to the discovery of the wreck and continues into the present day with alive undersea exploration centre. 

The life size replicas of the cabins in first, second and third class plus the lifeboats made it all very easy to relate to.

Can you see me in the ‘T’?

I loved it but Andrew thought there was way too much reading involved! He did however buy a Titanic polo shirt in the gift shop!

We then drove to West Belfast to visit the Peace Walls…since the onset of The Troubles in 1971, Nationalist and Loyalist communities throughout Northern Ireland have been divided by Peace Walls. These large stone and steel constructions were designed to protect neighbourhoods from sporadic attacks and retain a sense of peace and protection. They are more than 10 metres high in parts; an imposing structure of concrete and steel fencing.

There are 17 city walls, West Belfast's sections are the most visited. On the Shankill side of the divide red, white and blue gutters, Protestant, Loyalist murals and Union Jack bunting and flags.

On the Falls side the guide books said that the gutters are green, white and gold, the flag is Irish and the murals have Republican/Catholic themes. We found that this WAS NOT the case on this side of the walls. Yes there were murals on this side of the walls but none of the flags, memorial sites etc.

We crossed from one side to the other via access roads at Lanark Way and Northumberland Street. There are heavy-duty gates along these roads…

These roads close in times of heightened tension but we were told that during September we’d be safe. July, the marching season is a time when the Troubles can become a problem.

We’ve heard several references to The Troubles on the radio and are very pleased we’re not here in July.

After a little rest we headed off to The Queen’s Quarter for dinner where there was a tempting array of cafes, restaurants and pubs to choose from. We decided on a restaurant and really enjoyed our meal. Andrew went up to pay for the meal and soon struck up a conversation with the owner…I went and joined the conversation…t was wonderful…he gave us tips on ‘off the tourist trail’ places to visit on the leg of our journey from Derry to Sligo. I then asked some questions about The Troubles, he asked if we are religious and when we said no... he really opened up…he’s in his 50’s & a Catholic and had been actively involved in The Troubles…he gave us his version of the what the problem is and we could relate to what he was saying. Fascinating thoughts and now we’d like to hear a Protestant viewpoint too…perhaps in the next few days we will. We feel lucky to live in a country where tensions are not heightened in the way they are here in Northern Ireland.

One more little observation to finish off today’s blog…in the UK and here we’ve noticed that it’s quite OK to park on either side of the road…doesn’t matter which side you’re driving on...if there’s a parking spot…you can just swing across the road and take it!