Sunday, October 07, 2007

West Belfast

For anyone thinking of going to Ireland, you -must- take a tour of west Belfast. Most people go via "black taxi", but I walked it instead.

Along one strech of road about 3 miles long, you can see many of the most important figures and locations of "The Troubles" that supposedly came to and end a decade ago. The surprising part, though, is that it's still very current and relevant to what's happening in Belfast today.

For example, the first large building you come across is called the Divis tower. In the early 80s, the military took over the top two floors in order to spy on people passing between east and west Belfast-- and it's still in use.

Also along the path are dozens of murals about both current Irish affairs and things happening overseas. Belfastians are very politically minded, and they're die-hard activists.

In front of the city cemetery, I ran into a few dozen locals who were protesting conflicts in Africa that I'd never even heard of.

I also saw the Queen Victoria hospital, which according to my guidebook is the best in the world at treating gunshot wounds. The gates out front are quite cool- they are (intentionally) twisted like a DNA helix.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That brings back memories. Every day there were bombings and shootings. And now you never hear about the vilolence and terrorist acts that we just expected in that area. That was the reason Mike Hurst's parents relocated. (Funny- Sam began working for the SPD) Are there any risidual difficulties there now, or is it history? M.