Learning about Belfast's 'Troubles' firsthand

My last day in Belfast was amazing. I had really liked the city up to that point, but on my third day, I fell in love with it.

Belfast isn't really touristy, yet because people still think of the city as the place where the bombings and the violence between the IRA and the British Army took place. But there has been a cease-fire in effect since 1994, but the city still is pretty quiet after 10 p.m., which was the old curfew. Anyway, we had been talking to one of the owner of the hostel about the political history of Belfast, and he said that he still remembered the curfews and the violence. Well, he knew one of the guys who does tours through a Belfast company all about the history of Belfast and 'The Troubles.' It ended up being just Lindsey and I on the tour with him, which was amazing.

Our tour guide was a former IRA volunteer who was a political prisoner for 10 years for attempting bombings in the city center. He happened to be in the H prison when Bobby Sands ran the blanket protest and the hunger strike.

He led us around the nationalist and unionist sides and talked about the violence and the reasons behind it. We got to see the original parts of the peace wall that is still up to separate the two sides. We also got to see a couple of the memorial gardens for the IRA volunteers and the people who lost their lives. We got to drive past the prison, which is no longer used but once held the political prisoners.

Learning about the blanket protest was interesting; basically, the prisoners refused to wear their uniforms and only wore the standard issue blanket. I didn't really know why going in, so I was amazed when our guide explained. Apparently, as political prisoners, the IRA volunteers were allowed to wear their own clothing, but then the government decided to change their status to criminal prisoners, which requires them to wear prison garb. So it wasn't really about the clothes; it was about being changed from a political prisoner.

We also got to see some of the famous murals on the unionist side. The difference between the two sides was interesting. On the nationalist side, houses were built right up to the peace line, but on the other side, they were built pretty far off. The houses built right up against the line have the yards caged in. Our guide said it was to protect against homemade bombs that people would throw over the wall, which was heightened because of this.

Then we visited the cemetery where a lot of the IRA members are buried. So we got to see Bobby Sands grave and some of the other leaders of the movement. Our guide was so cavalier about telling us about the IRA and about what happened over the years. It was refreshing. But it was so sad hearing him point out people he knew in the cemetery, though. He would just say stuff like, "Oh, yeah. He was a friend of mine from when I was growing up." He also told stories about when the government would attack people attending funerals for IRA members or for nationalist families.

I have never learned more on a tour than I did on this one. I had previously thought the issue was strictly religious - Catholics versus Protestants. But our guide explained that it was more about deciding on being a part of Ireland or a part of the UK. For instance, he was a nationalist (usually thought to be Catholic), but he despised the Catholic church. And apparently when applying for a job people are still asked what their religious ideology is.

It made me think about all of the religious conflicts, or what have been considered religious conflicts, over the decades and what they were really about. I'm inclined to think a majority of the issues are something much deeper than what archaic religious laws.

And speaking of religion, the city of Belfast has over 365 churches. You could literally visit a different church every day of the year without visiting the same one twice. The photos from this post are from city hall and some of the churches around the city center.