Belfast: Familiar Faces

When I was planning this trip, I realised that my friend James was going to be traveling in the UK around the same time as me. James and I studied history together during undergrad at McMaster and did our first backpacking trip back in #eurotrip2009 (along with our friends Jesse and Alon). James was travelling with his friend Kurt who he teaches with in Alberta and we all had one solid day in Belfast together.

James and I reunited!

The day started out with brunch at Maggie Mays. The boys opted for lunch while I partook in a veggie Fry. When I had asked my friend Kevin who is from Ireland, what I should eat whilst here, he said: "breakfast". And while I think of that as a time rather than a specific meal, I followed his advice and had a big fry up. It was massive and filling and while I did try everything, I definitely did not finish it. It had 2 eggs, a veggie sausage, soda bread, potato bread, pancake, hash browns, mushrooms , tomato, and beans. I'm full just remembering it.

We then took a black cab tour. Everyone whose been to Belfast recommended it to us and we had a fantastic guide who told us the history of the murals and an insider view of the troubles. While not religious, he had a Catholic cultural upbringing and delivered his tour with a slight slant towards that bias. He even had a cousin, Charlie, who was killed and memorialized on one of the murals. One of my favourite nuggets from him was: "When the protestants were building the Titanic. The Catholics were building the iceberg". I tended to agree with him and it did provide some interesting point of view conversations.

Our awesome guide whose clearly "Seen some shite"

We saw a tower block where until 2005, the top two floors were used for British intelligence gathering. It was also an area of high turmoil during 70s as it was the area where the first child was killed during the troubles. We saw the Peace Line -- a wall that separates the protestant and Catholic areas of the city and still closes it's gates at night. It's eerily reminiscent of the Berlin Wall and a strong indication of how things are far from resolved in this conflict.

He took us to the top of the falls to see the political mural there depicting the struggles and sucesses of the Republicans. We saw the painted portrait of hunger striker Bobby Sands. All in All, most of the murals here were celebratory and reflective.

Republican murals

However, the contrasting ones on the loyalist side were strikingly different. They were much more militaristic, with guns pointing at you and tons of union jacks. There was a giant portrait of Stephen McKeag, a member of the UDA who despite his clean cut image on the picture, was more or less a murderer who died of a heroin overdose. The juxapostion is jarring. Having known very little about the troubles and ongoing conflicts/issues, I am keen to educate myself even more.

Example of a Loyalist mural

After the fascinating tour, we walked down to Botanical gardens and Ulster Museum. The gardens were gorgeous and I took quite possibly the best picture of a rose ever. We got caught in a downpour heading to the museum and had a quick tea break to warm up.

Beauty and the Beast would have been jealous.

We unfortunately only had an hour to explore before it closed and I only made it to two exhibits. I read more about the troubles and saw some artifacts, helping to frame my knowledge a bit more. The second one was the coolest (because #tripofthenerds) as it was a giant long tapestry depicting the entire past 6 seasons of Game of Thrones. :D

Spoiler: The Red Wedding

I took a video (will post when I'm home) but it took 6 minutes of film time to walk through it. It captured memorial moments and quotes and was beautifully embroidered. Colour me impressed.

After the Ulster, we walked to the city centre to begin our pub tour. We tried to go into the touristy but well praised, Crown Liquor Saloon, but it was rammed. So we started off next door at Robinson's.  We got a round and caught Kurt up with our former adventures around Europe and memorable history profs we had. We got caught in another shower but it proved to be helpful as a Belfast native told us which bar to go to next.

Luckily as we were leaving, we were able to get into the Crown and had another pint. We met two wonderful old ladies who showed us what kind of linen we needed to buy as a souvenir. We went to Muriels next which is well regarded for their gin drinks. As James is a big gin fan, we indulged him. The atmosphere was fun with Motown music and random underwear hanging from the rafters.

Wait here, I've gone for help.

We ended our evening with some fish and chips and headed back to fall asleep after all that walking and an early rise the next day. It was absolutely fantastic to meet up with James and to meet Kurt. I hope they have a fantastic end of their trip. Next up for me, a day trip to Game of Thrones filming locations and the Giants Causeway!