Exploring Ireland: Part 3- Northern Ireland!

Last Thursday, we had an academic field trip to Northern Ireland, which, while geographically connected to the Republic of Ireland, is part of the United Kingdom.  We left fairly early in the morning (or early for me, at least.  I had to get up at like 7).  We got to Belfast, the capitol of NI, and went on a walking mural tour.  In Belfast, the Catholics and the Protestants work, eat, and drink at the same places, but live on opposite sides of the city, separated by a physical wall because they don't trust each other.

One of the murals in Shankill, a  Loyalist (Ulster) neighborhood of Belfast.

Northern Ireland is famous for their political murals, which are put up by both sides: the Loyalists (generally speaking, Protestants; they want to remain a part of the UK), and the Nationalists (generally speaking, Catholics; they want a united Ireland).  Some of the murals are tributes to famous Loyalist terrorists or Nationalist (IRA- Irish Republican Army) terrorists.

Dedicated to those on the Nationalist side who died- some civilians who died were only 4 years old.

This is supposedly one of the most famous murals in Belfast.

I knew about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, but I was unaware of how bad things still are there.
Bombings are not uncommon, and they have recently started crucifying again.  There are currently 14 terrorist groups between the two sides; our tour guide I believe is a former political prisoner (I think on the Loyalist side- he didn't give much personal info for obvious reasons).  We also went to and signed the Belfast peace wall, which physically separates the two groups.  Unlike the Berlin wall, the people of Belfast want their wall to remain standing.

Me signing the wall.

After the tour, we got lunch, and departed for Stormont, the Parliament building of NI.  We met some politicians and then toured the building.  It's interesting that NI has many political parties, while the US has only two main parties.  I will be going to the Dail tomorrow, which is the Republic of Ireland's Parliament.

The outside of Stormont- a very impressive building.

We then checked into our hotel, and then had the night free in Belfast.  I got a yummy pizza for dinner, and then we went to a bar and I had the most amazing drink: Kopparberg's, which is a really good cider.  I like the strawberry and lime flavor.  It's delicious, doesn't even taste like alcohol (which could be a not so good thing, I know).  We then went to another bar, and then to the basement of that bar, where they had karaoke.  Yes I did karaoke.  I was not very good.

The next day we went to the Giant's Causeway, which an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of a volcanic eruption.  It's really cool.  We had a little tour- there's one place where you stick a coin into the crevices of the rocks for good luck- some coins have been there for 300 years.  I wanted to stick a US coin into the rock, but I didn't have any so I used a 20 cent Euro.

Awesome.

Me on a cool rock.

The gold coin kind of towards the top is the one I stuck in.

We made a quick stop at Dunluce Castle, where some of Game of Thrones is filmed!

Dunluce Castle

We then traveled to the walled city of Derry (or Londonderry, if you're a Loyalist).  It used to be that only the Protestants could live inside the walls; Catholics were forced to live outside.  It is still fairly segregated today- the Peace Bridge crosses the river to where the Catholics live.

Some of the wall with cannons.

We toured the city a little, and saw some of its murals.  We also saw the "Free Derry" monument, where the Battle of the Bogside broke out in 1969 and Bloody Sunday occurred in 1972.

Free Derry- the quote on the bottom changes to reflect current political issues.

Some murals in Derry.

That night, we went out for dinner and cocktails at a yummy place (I had chicken carbonara), and then went to a bar.

On Saturday, we spent the morning in Derry.  We walked across the Peace Bridge and went into some churches and markets.  We then started the (fairly long) drive home, stopping at Monasterboice, a monastic settlement similar to Glendalough.  It is known for its Celtic crosses (it also has a round tower, but it's not as nice as the one in Glendalough), with Muiredach's High Cross regarded as the finest high cross in all of Ireland.

The Peace Bridge

Muiredach's High Cross.

Overall I really enjoyed my trip to Northern Ireland.  One of my professors said that you can't fully understand Ireland until you visit NI, and now I can see he was right.  It's a beautiful country, but it made me sad to see the violence and strife everywhere.  There are so many issues there, but clearly it's a lot better and safer than it used to be.  I do recommend going to NI: to Belfast to see the political divide, the Giant's Causeway because it's awesome, and Derry (which I liked better than Belfast) for another example of a physical political divide.