Dublin :: Ireland
On a long weekend?
Places: Belfast, Giant's Causeway & Derry
Coolest thing I did: A big long walk from a rope bridge to loads of octagonal rock things.
Coolest thing I didn´t know: The IRA have better PR than the UVF.
There's no visible difference when you cross from the Republic of Ireland to it's troubled step-child to the north. I don't know why I expected something like the war zones of Israel or Bosnia, but I guess those were different scale wars. The same green rolling hills lead into the outskirts of Belfast as those that lead into Dublin, only all the petrol prices are in Pound Sterling rather than in Euros. Central Belfast is alive with the same sense of optimism and reconstruction that the southern capital is and despite softer, possibly more English sounding accents, the people seem to be just as friendly to strangers.
It was only by accidentally taking the hire car into north western Belfast that the scars of the recent conflict can be seen. In the poorer areas the police still cruise the streets in boxy, armored Land Rovers and there are lots of buildings that look more like blast shelters than houses. The murals in the Catholic areas are starting to turn their attention to freedom struggles (or terrorist acts, take your pick) in the wider world, but the old militant signs are still there. You'd almost expect there to be problems if it wasn't for the omnipresent black cabs taking tourists around to gawk at one of Europe's most recent conflict zones. At least no one seems to mind.
The countryside outside Belfast is a beautiful and green as anything in the south. The first full day was an outdoor hike from a randomly placed rope bridge to nowhere to the Giant's Causeway. It took us somewhere in the order of 5 hours of pretty hefty walking to get between the two but you do go over some widely windswept bays, overbearing stone cliffs and endless rural scenes of sheep farming. The rope bridge itself is on a dramatic causeway, connecting the mainland to a small island out in the sea. Small being the operative word, as all there really is to do there is turn around and go back over the bridge. I'm usually pretty bad with that kind of thing, but I managed to look down the entire way to the jagged rocks and sliver of water below without freaking out. I was kind of proud of that.
The Giant's Causeway looks like nothing special from a distance, but the closer you get and the more detail you can make out, the more amazing it seems. A small strip of stone stretching out into the Atlantic is revealed to be made out of what must be hundreds of polygonal rocks, all at slightly different heights, reminding me of those computer-generated fractal pictures where the smaller details mirror the larger overall pattern as you zoom in. At least, that's what I got out of it. The kids seemed to think it was cool to be able to jump from stone to stone in what looks like some infinite game of hopscotch.
The home country of Northern Ireland isn't very big. After the big walk we were in Derry before the sun even went down. In the shape of things to come, we went out with the idea of seeing some of the world famous nightlife, but found the cool pub the hostel owner recommended was shutting at midnight and no one else was going to be open any later. The place was chock full of the signs and flags of every revolutionary movement except (pointedly) their own. Rather confusingly, there was a Eureka Southern Cross right next to the Palestinian flag (“free Ballarat”?). They seem to take Easter fairly seriously, but that shouldn't have come as a surprise in a country where choosing a sect of Christianity was a definition of which side of an armed conflict you're on. When you've seen people persecuted, bombed and knee-capped because of which sect they happen to live with, then you're going to have more respect for your religion than the Godless secularists in the rest of the Western world.
Looking at those famous murals around the site of Bloody Sunday and their mirror on the Protestant side of town, you get the feeling that the public relations arm of the Republican movement is far superior to the Unionists. The highly artistic visions of slain Republicans and the heavy handed tactics of the British military make you want to side more with that side of town when they are compared to the militaristic and nationalist murals on the other side. The Unionists still seem to think striking fear into the heart of your enemies with pictures of masked gunmen and a victorious King Billy (William of Orange) and the words “Never Surrender” are the way to win hearts and minds.
The drive back to Belfast, via Armagh to see the site of St Patrick's original church in Ireland was also quicker than you would have expected. We walked the streets of a rather quiet Easter Sunday Belfast, looking at old buildings but not being able to go into many of them. I did like their own leaning tower, a clock tower in memorial for Albert, Queen Victoria's husband. The slightly droopy tower no doubt gave the wags a thousand excuses to poke fun at the man's virility, probably incorporating Queen Vic's famous line of “we are not amused”. It has to be said that going to Belfast during Easter was kind of like being in Jordan during Ramadan, you probably aren't getting the full experience. I'd been told that the nightlife in Belfast was just as good as Dublin's, but when the pubs all close at 10pm, you're going to be left a little disappointed. I think a return, just to go to Belfast for the nightlife is in order at some time during the future.
I think my favorite thing in Belfast wasn't actually in Belfast. In the morning before having to drop the car off we drove up to Stormont to see the parliament and the castle. I think it's pretty cool that you're allowed to use the parkland around the place, even though it probably was a sign of something to be destroyed during the Troubles. When you can walk right up to the Parliament building, but the US embassy looks like a fortress you can see which country is opening up and which one is closing down. It's a pity you can't even see the castle because of the fences though. I'm not sure what the use it for now, but it's most definitely off limits to the public.
I wasn't quite sure what I expected Northern Ireland to look like. I guess there was never a war there in the conventional sense, like there was in the former Yugoslav countries so the effects aren't easy to see in buildings without windows and pock-marked with the results of small arms fire. The fact that the neighborhoods are becoming more, not less segregated doesn't bode well for the future. I read that people are happier with the so-called Peace Walls separating the different sects, keeping the violent elements apart. The experience of Berlin after the wall came down or of Cypress when the travel restrictions between the two halves were removed should show that the mixing of the two halves will make violent conflict harder to carry out with public support. While the moderates are out of power I can't see the power sharing government being able to do anything, but I'd expect the future of Northern Ireland to end up separate from either London or Dublin. Unification with either will only push the extremists from the other side back into armed conflict. Surely those looking at the Celtic Tiger to the south can't help but notice prosperity will only come with stability. An independent Northern Ireland isn't what either side wants, which is why it might be the perfect solution. Let demographics take it's course and allow the next generation decide what to do with the place. That's got to be better than living under the shadow of the gun.