Good Friday in Belfast

 Reminders of 'The Troubles' were everywhere. The top-right image shows the wall the still divides the city, with the protectives cages fitted to adjacent houses. 

Clockwise from top left: The dry-dock where the Titanic was fitted out, with the original blocks that the ship sat on; The pump room that drained the dry-dock; workers doing some maintenance on the original retaining wall.

A comparison of the room in which the Titanic was designed.  

 Details of the Pump Room 

The docks today. 

One of the most enduring memories from our Europe trip was the time we spent in Ireland. We absolutely loved the place and the people. We thought that a great way of experiencing something similar (while also ticking off another country) was to head up to Northern Ireland for the Easter long weekend.

We were not disappointed.

Along with our friend Al, we arrived in Belfast and were immediately greeted with a friendly handshake and an enthusiastic welcome from the guy at the car hire desk. Ahhh the Irish!

We spent one day in Belfast before heading out into the countryside. Our three highlights were....

> Kicking things off with a tour where we learnt about 'The Troubles'. It really was quite saddening to learn about Northern Ireland's incredibly violent and tragic recent history. We were also quite shocked to see that there is still a wall dividing the Catholic and Protestant sides of the city, with the gates continuing to be locked at 10pm every night. Houses that are along the wall have cages enclosing their backyards. It’s quite full on. Apparently a recent survey revealed that 70% of residents were in favour of keeping the gates locked at night because they still don't trust each other enough to open them up, despite a ceasefire agreement that was reached in 1997. 

> Visiting the docks where the Titanic was built and set off from. It really was quite amazing to see the original dry dock that it was built in, the original room where the draftsman designed the ship, and the actual supports that it sat on when it was being fitted out. While somewhat unexpected, it really was quite a highlight.

> Catching a taxi. Surely Ireland is the only country in the world where taxi drivers will give you a tour and run down on the major sights of the city while driving you around, and then not only refuse to accept a tip, but round the fare down. Amazing.