Political Murals of Falls Road
Belfast

Some of the murals on the Republican side of town, Falls Road

Our black taxi tour started with a stop in front of a series of murals painted along the outside of a factory wall. The last still-functional linen factory on this stretch, it still operates with two locked gates -- one is locked by those on the Loyalist side of the city, the other by those on the Republican side.

The murals here, which seem to be painted over and updated regularly, reflect some political sentiment in the city at the time. Looking at the picture at the top, the left-most mural was apparently finished just that afternoon. The one in the middle is dedicated to Fredrick Douglass and his time in Ireland. The right-most mural is the first painted jointly by people from the Loyalist and Republican sides of the city. It's a recreation of Guernica.

Dubya drinks oil as bubbles of money come out his ears.

Immediately across the street stood the unassuming apartment buildings shown below. Until very recently, British troops occupied the top floor of this building. A residence on the Republican side of town, the building was home to Catholic families on the lower floors. Knowing the IRA would never blow up the Catholic homes, the British were able to garrison there for years.

Home to Catholic families and British troops.

Click here to see more political murals, as well as other pics of Belfast.


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Crown Saloon and Restaurant
Belfast

The oldest bar in Belfast, the Crown's Italian marble construction is still in excellent shape.

After our black taxi tour, we headed to Belfast's oldest pub. The Crown is situated in the heart of City Centre, and right across from the Europa Hotel.


The Europa is a large, four star hotel made famous as the most bombed hotel in Europe. In the 60s, the IRA was having trouble getting much media attention around their cause. Since all visiting British journalists would stay at the Europa, the IRA felt it would just be easier to bring the action to them.

The upstairs restaurant in the Crown was cozy, inexpensive, and focused on local favorites. Beef and Guinness pie was recommended by someone at another table. I had the fish and chips.

Fish and chips at the Crown. Nom. Nom.

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Clanard Martyrs Memorial Garden
Belfast

A poster by the Clonard memorial near Clonard Monastery, Bombay St.

Once settling into our hostel in Belfast, we hired a black taxi tour. These tours feature the Loyalist and Republican murals of Belfast, and give an up-close view into the history of this divided city.

In August, 1969, Loyalist extremists burned Catholic apartments on Bombay Street. Listen to Bobby, our black taxi driver, tell us more of the background here: .

Bobby then took us to Shankill Rd, on the Loyalist part of town. This city is divided by a 20ft-high peace wall, running for miles in western Belfast. Here's a close-up of a Loyalist mural on Shankill, commemorating Oliver Cromwell's legacy in Ireland:

Click here for more pics of the murals of Belfast.

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