Shankill Road Mural

 Shankill Road Mural

 Shankill Road

 The Peace Wall

 Falls Road - Bombay Road

  Falls Road - Bombay Road

 Falls Road

 Joel our Taxi Driver on Falls Road

 Titanic Belfast Exhibition - Original Drawing for ship

  Titanic Belfast Exhibition - Ship leaving Queenstown

  Titanic Belfast Exhibition- Building

Monday, August 13, 2012

We had our final breakfast in Trim with Pam and Jimmy, who are heading back to Dublin for three days.

After a two hour drive to Northern Ireland, we took a tour of the sectarian neighborhoods in West Belfast.  Joel our taxi driver, who is a Protestant, gave us an excellent overview of both the Protestant area (Shankill Road) and Catholic section (Falls Road).  There were numerous murals.  The tall and long walls separating the two areas are referred to as the “Peace Wall” as the Catholics and the Protestants are more segregated today than 30 years ago.  The roads between the two sections are open during the day, but closed at 6 p.m. and every weekend.  The Catholics and Protestants do not mix at all.  Most of the fighting has stopped, but both sides are extreme emotional about this issue when they talk about the “struggle.”  The Catholics (Nationalist or Republicans) want to combine with Ireland into one country, while the Protestants (Loyalists or Unionist) want to remain part of the UK. 

The Titanic Exhibit, which opened recently, was outstanding.  It gave an excellent overview of the history of Belfast and the building of the Titanic.  It took over 2 hours to go through the exhibit. Kevin