59 "Peace Walls" separate communities across Belfast, Northern Island. These walls, up to 11 metres (40 feet) high and up to 5 kilometres long run through suburbs, along and across streets, and are designed to separate Catholic and Protestant residents of the city.
Think Jerusalem and the west bank wall (now), West and East Berlin (then), North and South Korea (then and now) - all this is happening within this city.
During the day all is calm and "normal" but at 7 P.M. the many gates in those walls are closed and do not open again until 7 A.M. Many will have seen Will Smith's movie "I am Legend" where all is calm during the day but the "animals" come out at night - Welcome to Belfast 2019.
Roberta and I took a tourist Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour of Belfast yesterday. In our ignorance we thought, like most cities, it would be all about historical buildings, monuments, new structures and points of interest. Shortly after joining the tour we hopped off at the amazing Titanic Exhibition and Museum - well worth the time, then joined the bus tour again, 2 hours later.
Shortly after the bus took off our on-board tour guide, who provides live commentary, began providing some history of Belfast. Some scant details of the shipbuilding, engineering and linen past soon developed into a broad overview of the Troubles. The Troubles were (are) the result of the mostly catholic Republic of Island (south) protagonists wanting to have protestant Northern Island (U.K.) back to be one Ireland, a fight dating back to the start of the 20th century. The loyalist North fought off the republican South in a bloody conflict - civil war, which lasted for over 30 years culminating in a peace declaration in 1998.
Our guide gave his "balanced" version of the history of the Troubles but the guide's catholic background could not be hidden. It was very obvious, even though he kept referring to peace, the passion and anger was still just under the surface. There are murals around the city celebrating leading personalities of the Troubles, the Union Jack flies in protestant areas and the Republic flag in catholic areas.
There are places in Belfast where Catholics nor Protestants do not dare go. There are clearly defined Catholic, Protestant and mixed-religion areas of the city. Those who believe the peace declaration of 1998 solved all the issues are sadly mistaken. The fuse is just waiting for a spark.
This was a surprisingly confronting, unnerving, astonishing tour which shook us up with brutal reality. We were sickened and saddened - we had been ignorant and innocent - now we just wanted to get out of the city, get back to our accommodation, go inside and pull the blankets over our head.
We have another day here in Belfast area but will not be going near the city choosing to try and forget something that has changed us forever. This may sound over dramatic but it is as it is.
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