Christmas 2022- Belfast, Northern Ireland
Trip to Belfast, December 25-31, 2022
Why Belfast? Why Northern Ireland?
In 2009 I visited the Republic of Ireland…or just Ireland. I spent time in Dublin, but I also was able to venture out into the country and see many amazing sites such as Newgrange, the Cliff of Moher, Limerick, Lahinch, Wicklow, etc.
But Ireland is a complicated place, with a very complicated and controversial history and even though it’s one island, it’s two separate countries. There are a surprising number of Americans who, believe it or not, don’t know this.
I loved visiting Ireland and Dublin and I’ve always wanted to go back, but in gaining a richer sense of “Ireland” and the tumultuous events of the 20th Century which include Irish Independence, the creation of Northern Ireland, the Civil War, and of course, The Troubles, it made sense for me to visit Northern Ireland and spend time in Belfast to have a better understanding of the Island, Irish history, and simply to enjoy the countryside and the uniqueness of the place.
I was not disappointed.
My First views of Belfast were from my hotel room window. This is looking roughly Northwest. On the right is the Great Victoria Train and Bus Station. It was nice to see Christmas decorations around the hotel, and even trees inside people’s homes.
Christmas Morning. A run along the quiet city streets.
I had no real sense of the city despite looking at maps. It’s hard to gauge distances abstractly by looking at a map on the internet, so I got my cold weather running gear on and headed out the front of the hotel and just started jogging.
I had the streets completely to myself. It was pretty amazing to just sort of meander and have no real idea where I was headed, just crossing streets and intersections with no traffic. I could see the decorations and evidence of the Christmas season such as the “Christmas Market” that had been set up around Belfast City Hall.
My only goal for my run was to get as close as I could to the massive shipping cranes known as Samson and Goliath. These are the unmistakable landmarks of Belfast with “H&W” emblazoned on them. “H&W” stands for Harland and Wolf, the ship building company whose historical importance apart from building two massive yellow cranes was building the Titanic. Samson and Goliath are in the area that is called Titanic Quarter. I had no idea how close I could get to the cranes because they are on private property, but I was able to get pretty close as the photos demonstrate.
After checking out the cranes I ran to the unique and distinctly designed Titanic Museum that houses the “Titanic Experience”. I ran to the museum for a few Go Pro photos, then I ran around the back. There was a large flat concrete area with distinct rows of steel pillars. It was beautiful and eerie and it wasn’t until a few days later that I would discover the significance of that area.
Trip to Derry.
On Boxing Day, things were still pretty quiet in Belfast so I took a bus to Derry/Londonderry.
Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland
The trains in Northern Ireland were all suspended for the holiday weekend so bus was the only way for folks to travel. Needless to say the bus was packed. It was a two hour bus trip to Derry. I sat next to a very friendly guy named Jim who was Irish-Australian and was going to Derry to spend Christmas with his girlfriend and her family. Once we arrived in Derry he and his girlfriend generously gave me a ride to my B&B that was on the other side of the Foyle River.
It was actually quite nice to get to walk across the river and into town for my excursions. The first thing I wanted to visit was Free Derry Corner with the Gable wall with defiant words “You are now entering Free Derry” on them.
Derry was the site of quite a bit of turmoil during the Troubles especially in the early days with “Bloody Sunday” where a peaceful protest turned into a clash that left 13 people dead and 15 others injured.
But going much further back in 1689 Derry was the scene of a 100 day siege that had Protestants within the city walls defending themselves from the Catholic army that was following King James II. James II had been deposed as King of England and was looking to regain the thrown by capitalizing on Catholic support in Ireland.
To this day Derry has an impressive fortress wall surrounding the city that successfully kept James’ army at bay until help arrived from King William of Orange.
After spending some moments at Free Derry Corner, just by crossing the street I was stepping back in time by walking up a grassy hill and directly toward the medieval citadel walls that surround the city complete with bastions, canon, gates, ramparts and dry moats.
Despite this history of conflict going back hundreds of years the town was beautiful and peaceful during my visit, again, very quiet due to the holiday closures, but I did manage to find a very nice pub named Granny Annies where I was able to have a coffee, some fish and chips and get out of a short burst of rain.
Back to Belfast.
After a day in Derry I bussed back to Belfast arriving at the station only a block away from the hotel.
I did a lot more walking around and taking photos of the city.
I saw the Opera House and the Europa Hotel which has the distinction of being the most bombed hotel in the world, 33 times during the 70s-90s. But it’s a beautiful hotel and no trace of past incidence.
The Peace Wall
I did a tour of the city on a double decker bus. The bus went to a lot of places that I’d already explored but it was nice to hear the audio presentation and get some history.
The bus then turned west and headed into the working class area of Belfast and specifically past murals and then we drove through the long street divided on both sides by walls known as the Peace Line or Peace Wall. There were many of these wall put up during the 1970s to separate neighborhoods between Catholics and Protestants as a means to control the and subdue the violence.
After the bus tour I went back to the hotel and mapped out the path from my hotel. Then the next day I put on my running shoes, and rainy weather jogging gear and headed out to retrace the route.
It was very eerie passing through the entrance points that used to be high security gates.
It was cold and rainy and that probably added to the foreboding feeling I was having as I was running. I did feel a bit vulnerable but in truth I was totally safe, and If anything a jogger panting down the path is probably the least threatening image. Especially if they look like a lost tourist.
I ran past the Bobby Sands Mural. Bobby Sands was the first of the Hunger Strikers to die from the Hunger Strike in 1981. Again I felt this weird sense of history knowing that I was alive at the time but oblivious of these momentous events.
As I was jogging I saw cabs stopped and letting people, most likely tourists, signing the wall or writing some statement.
Beyond the walls were simply neighborhoods where people lived and carried out their lives, They looked like nice neighborhoods, and arguably nicer and more well-maintained that similar working class neighborhoods that exist in major cities in the US.
Ulster Museum and Belfast City Hall.
In my last days in Belfast I visited Belfast City Hall and the Ulster Museum, as well as doing a few more runs heading south from my hotel. I ran past Queens University Belfast, the Ulster Museum and the Botanical Gardens.
A highlight of my visit to the Ulster Museum was a tiny little shirt that was made by a young girl in 1880. It was so detailed, and delicate. Making a tiny sample shirt like this was a way that girls could demonstrate their sewing abilities to qualify and find work. The stitching is so refined that it is hard to tell if is machined stitched or done by hand….but I’m assuming it’s all done by hand. Really breathtaking work. As a career fabricator of puppets and costumes I felt deeply humbled.
