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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Post # 10 The Troubles In Belfast September 16, 2015

    No we did not have any trouble in Belfast but rather the title refers to the area that we chose to visit. We had a number of things that we would have liked to do including the botanical gardens and the new Titanic museum. This cruise replicates the Titanic voyage with the Belfast Cove and New York itinerary but we decided to visit the area that the locals call the “troubles”.
     This ship needs to dock in areas that large ships such as container ships use. As a result there are free shuttles available to get us to the centre of the city. That was very convenient because it gave us a change to eat in the dining room rather than going to the Horizon Court Buffet. At breakfast we had 4 countries represented. A real United Nations.
Ashore we chose to visit the area where the Catholics and Protestants were in such turmoil only a few years ago. Locally they call it the troubles. It took us about 3 hours to walk the whole circuit but that was at a very relaxed pace.
Catholic Sector
From City Hall Square where the shuttle dropped us off, we made our way towards Falls Road. We did have a local Belfast resident stop and help us get on the right track. What a friendly person. Away we went. We did stop a group of college girls a bit later and 3 out of 4 did not know anything. Fortunately one did and kept us on the right path.
     We walked up Falls Road which is the Catholic
Through A Gate
neighborhood, stopping at St Peter's Cathedral along the way. It was obviously the centre of life for this side of the wall. It was also the start of some of the barbed wire walls that we encountered. There were a few murals on the wall.
 
The Peace Wall
 A little farther up turned on Cuper Way which is the street to see the real “Peace Wall”. Through an iron gate separating the two sides brought us to the Wall. It was 3 to 4 blocks(?) long and filled with “drawings” and other such items. All the
murals were covered by “graffiti” left by people who had visited the place. However it was not graffiti in the normal

sense of the word; more like thought people had visiting the area and leaving their thoughts. No tagging here.
At The Murals
The wall itself looked like it was built on top of a 1 story building. Corrugated steel panels was topped by a high wire fence with barbed wire on it. I can't estimate the height. This side of the conflict (Protestant) was much more downtrodden. The Catholic sections that we saw looked relatively new. This side did not! 
       We walked all the way to Lanark Way and turned into the heart of the Protestant
A Protestant Mural
district and followed Shankill Road back to the centre of Belfast.
This section was in sharp contrast to the Catholic sector. There were murals on every open building wall depicting scenes and memorials from World War 1,II as well as from the “troubles”. There were poppy reefs on the wall with plaques stating when a bombing had taken place and the number of people killed along with their names. Many of the “terrorist” bombing took place in and around pubs. It was not just one or two, but it seemed like 1 every block. It was quite an eye opener. The Union Jack was everywhere. I think it was one of more amazing places that we have visited, certainly in a modern city like Belfast.
  We made our way back downtown, stopping at the Titanic memorial in city hall square and then back to the ship. For lunch we discovered Alfredo's Pizzeria. It is in the Atrium area and is
Titanic Memorial
a sit down restaurant. We had a wonderful antipasto and pizza lunch. Full waiter service. It is a much cozier venue than a dinning room and so much better than the buffet. It is a specialty restaurant but no charge as you might expect. We enjoyed some wine on our wine package that we purchased earlier in the cruise.
     The only downer to the entire day is that Judy is coming down with a sore throat and spend the afternoon in bed. I was up watching the sail away as she had an extended nap. We did attend a show called production show called Bravo that received a standing ovation. Mostly show hits, some opera, etc. No a lot of 'wild' singing and dancing that is the norm for Princess. Others that we talked to thought it was the best show they had ever seen on Princess and we agree.

    Cove tomorrow. It should be a leisurely day as we stopped there last year. 

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