Wow, what a day! We woke to overcast conditions and 13 degrees! Went to the gym early as we have to present for immigration check by 9.30. The check was very efficient, but no stamp in the passport. We headed off to breakfast and then off the ship. Belfast is another huge port and we have a 15 minute free shuttle, in a double decker electric bus, to the city centre.
Our first stop is the information office which is right where we are dropped off. We were able to get a cab tour of where the “troubles” occurred. We had to wait about an hour for the tour booked for 12 noon. We would be picked up at the Town Hall which was just across the road. We wandered around the city area for a while and then went to the town hall area to wait. About 11.45 a cab pulled up and Ann said that is our cab, I was doubtful as it was early, but Ann approached the driver and she was right (again).
Our driver was Patrick, but known as Pat the Hat. Guess he usually wears a hat but today he was not. He told us he was catholic, but not practicing. He was 12 when the atrocities started, he said he would try to give us an unbiased history of the events. While he acknowledged the sectarianism of Northern Ireland, he claimed it was not religion but politics that has caused the animosity and hatred that developed between the Catholics and the protestants. He said he has mates that are Protestant and when they meet up they do not talk about religion nor politics.
Simply put, the Catholics see themselves as Irish and want Ireland to be as one as it was in the past, whereas the protestants see them selves as British and want to retain their connection to Britain. The British certainly manipulated the situation over many years to ensure they and the protestants had control over Northern Ireland, politically and by force, even to the extent of encouraging British and Scottish citizens to move to NI to ensure they would outnumber the Catholics. The split during the troubles was 70% Protestants and 30% Catholics. One of the main reasons Britain wanted to hold on to NI was economics. They were leaders in ship building, heavy industry and the production of linen, all this was valuable revenue to Britain.
Pat told us of how the troubles started with the killing of a nine year old boy and a British soldier aged 20 who was in the area visiting his family and who tried to stop the attack but was shot dead! He told us some harrowing stories including how his cousin was killed by one of the ulster groups and how he wanted to join the IRA to avenge his cousin’s death, but his parents locked him in the house for three weeks and eventually convinced him not to join. He acknowledges that had he joined he would have probably been killed. He also told us about the Top Gun award which was awarded to the top killer among the ulster groups, and it was this man who killed his cousin and has admitted to over 37 murders but has never been prosecuted! While he supported the IRA for their opposition to the British and the brutality he did not support the killing of innocent people on both sides. There is so much he told us I could go on and on. He did takes us into the Ulster area and it was such a stark contrast to the catholic area. There were British flags everywhere as well as red, white and blue colours everywhere.
Just 50 weeks ago there was an attempt by Protestants to attack catholic, but the peace wall gate held and they were unable to enter the catholic area. Pat is hopeful that they will become one nation. Apparently NI was not happy with brexit and voted against leaving the European Union. His hope is the future generations will not have the animosity between the Catholics and Protestants. He does acknowledge the older generation will not be able to change, as there is too much history involved.
He dropped us back at the town hall after two hours of a very informative and rewarding tour. I asked him how we managed to get him and not a Protestant driver, and he said it was the luck of the draw. We are thankful that we did.
We then decided we would go to the Titanic memorial. It was about a 30 minute walk but a very interesting area along the river. When we got there we would have had to wait 75 minutes before we could go on the tour, so we decided against this and headed back to the city where we found a supermarket to stock up on some Jubes and mars bars! We then went to an Irish pub for a pint of Guinness and a gin and tonic. We finally get back to the ship about 4.30. The weather was not too bad, max temp was 16 degrees, but it did not feel cold, but it did start to drizzle around 3pm. Belfast has some lovely old buildings and is easy to get around. It was a great day. Over 22,000 steps today!
Photos separately
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