A City Divided

How whiskey used to be served in pubs

Yesterday we took the train from Galway to Belfast, passing through Dublin once again. There is no indication on the train route when you pass from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland, but google maps tells all. It was strange to think of the checkpoints that existed along there not so many years ago.

We arrived in Belfast on a Sunday and the city was buttoned up pretty tight, but we did manage to find a grocery store that was still open. It was a nice change to stay in and have a good meal in our spacious Airbnb apartment.

Settling in at the apartment

And getting some laundry done

Today we did some exploring around Belfast, including lunch at the Crown Liquor Saloon, a Victorian era gin palace. It is remarkably ornate and features several snugs that even have doors to enclose them. It was a fun place to have lunch and a local brew.

Sights while wandering around Belfast

This seems to be a city of murals. Everywhere we turn, there are walls covered with art. We even went down one alley to find a dead end, sort of an outdoor room, that was covered with art on all sides, as well as the short alley leading into it.

Smaller pictures together forming a larger mural

Alley into the outdoor room of murals

We learned that Bushmills seems to be the Northern Ireland whiskey. We hardly ever saw it in the south, but it is by far the predominant brand up here. Mike, however, spotted a small shop with their own series of bottling. The whiskey comes from Bushmills, but specific barrels are purchased for this special label called “The Friend At Hand”. The shop itself was something else. It is actually partly a whiskey mini museum. They claim to have over 600 different Irish whiskey’s. There is a whole section labeled “never, never, never for sale”. Mike went in and purchased a bottle of their special label Irish that had been sherry casked. Now we have our Irish and it is time to go look for some Scotch!

Tami claims Mike had his nose pressed against the window

Inside the shop

In the afternoon we took a black taxi tour of Belfast. Our driver gave us a comprehensive history of the conflicts in Northern Ireland as he drove us to many of the most significant sites. He shared photographs of these sites from the peak of the troubles that illustrated just how much of a war zone it really was just a couple of decades ago. We also saw many murals put up by the two sides in their respective neighborhoods, some quite recent, showing that the conflict is still real and raw. Our driver was a Republican (those favoring separation from the UK, generally Catholic) and the emotion was palpable as he described the Troubles. We drove through both the Republican and Unionist neighborhoods and could still feel the tension. Over the course of two and a half hours we all learned a tremendous amount about the complexity and brutality of the conflict in this region.