Ramble
Quest - No Troubles In Belfast
Two buses are listed as leaving for Girona airport, one at 9:30 and one at 10:30. Either one should work for my flight. I arrive at 9:30 and find no bus. One winds up coming at 10:00, which is confusing but it works for me. Back to ugly Dublin airport where it's icy cold standing in the wind waiting for a late bus that fleeces me for 18 euro before arriving in Belfast.
Belfast looks shabby at first, but after hanging for awhile I discover that I like it. I stayed at the Arc, which, aside from bad showers, is pretty good for a city hostel. It's not far from the Botanic Gardens, which are small but provide a nice green break from the city. Its Palm House, designed by Charles Lanyon (who also did Queen's College and Belfast Castle) and started in 1839, is one of the earliest curvilinear greenhouses. Lanyon later went on to design glass houses for Kew Gardens and for the Dublin Botanic Gardens, and this design was extremely influential. The sweet smelling Tropical Ravine House fernery dates from the 1880's. I'm pleasantly surprised by the nearby Ulster Museum, an eclectic mix of natural, art, archaelogic, and historical collections. It's far bigger and better than expected and free to boot.
Also free is the excellent City Hall tour. The building may not be quite a grand as the one in Glascow, but it isn't far behind and it has certainly survived a lot. The 18th century Linen Hall Library is great for browsing. North of town, Cave Hill Country Park, home to the zoo and the castle, is another green spot, offering superior views over the town.
Perhaps unjustly, Belfast's most popular attraction is its troubled history, or more specifically, the propaganda murals from both sides of the conflict in the west part of town, ironic because they originally started in the east. Some of the better murals are gone and there are far too many whose subject has little to do with Ireland, but seeing them remains a disturbingly rewarding experience. However, I have to say that speaking strictly from a tourist perspective, I think the Derry murals (which I visited later) are better. They are far easier to see and many are more artistically accomplished.
I spent a great deal of time walking around the west side, ostensibly mural hunting, but really ghetto wandering, and unlike Adelaide, it is not at all difficult to find a bad looking neighborhood. In fact, some of the bad parts look terrifically frightening because of all the fences and barbed wire and graffiti, but most especially from the lack of people. A lot of these project blocks look deserted, but I can tell that they really aren't, and that makes the hair stand up on top of my neck when I walk through.
However, just when I thought I'd stumbled into a war zone and someone was about to open fire on me, I'd see something like a couple of kids running by, or pop out into a street that had some traffic, and it wouldn't feel dangerous any more. Just sad, and yet I came away from Belfast with a hopeful feeling. Not that I think that they're on the way towards solving their religious differences, but I do think there will be less violence. Few cities on the planet have demonstrated such resiliency.