A black taxi ride

Planning our free time in Ireland had come down to a must-do list. This list was complied from tourist guides and most importantly word of mouth. We had booked our three-day weekend tour to Galway and decided to take our short two-day weekend to explore Belfast in Northern Ireland.

To relieve the stress of planning the trip, a group of seven of us, booked the one day trip to Belfast with the PaddyWagon Tours.

The bus left Dublin at 8 a.m. and the suns beams warmed the atmosphere with a promise of good weather. Our driver and guide, Jerry, was a petite old man with round blue eyes. He looked up from his rearview mirror to ask us why we wanted to travel to Belfast. 

Loyalist mural seen upon entering
the city of Belfast. 

We let him know that it had been recommended and he repeated the warnings of the political nature of the city. In fact, we had been forewarned of the political unrest in recent times of Northern Ireland, known as the troubles, yet it had not deterred us from wanted to visit.

Arriving to Belfast we were greeted by a mural that read “ You are now entering Loyalist Sandy Row Heartland of South Belfast Ulster-Freedom Fighters,” and a masked man with an AK47 in hand painted in the corner. I was definitely surprised and looking at my fellow travelers bulging eyes confirmed that they too felt the same.

My signature and quote
on the Peace Wall that separates
the protestant and catholic
neighborhoods in Belfast.

Arriving into the city, our previously scheduled Black Taxi Tour was soon to arrive. The infamous Black Taxi Tour in Belfast is a political tour showcasing the Murals of the Shankill and Falls roads and a view of the peace walls that separate the streets of Belfast.

Ken Harper, our tour guide and driver, had white peppered hair and a thick Irish accent that matched his pale blue eyes. Although he had the gift of gab, as the Irish do, his tone was somber. This soon was explained by the stories he told and sad troubles of Belfast.

 Ken Harper, Black Taxi Tour guide explaining the murals in Shankill Road in the protestant area of Belfast, Ireland. 

The history of the Catholic and Protestant conflict, was hard for me to truly grasp. As an American our history is filled with civil unrest of race, gender and ideals. It  was hard to understand how Catholics and Protestants can even know who is on what side, and Ken admitted that based on appearance alone they couldn’t. The recent dates that were painted on the murals made the crisis loom in the air.

After the tour, there was a staleness in the air. We walked around the city locating Mourne Seafood Bar, which Jerry had recommended to us. As I walked around taking in my surrounding I recognized that the locals in Belfast looked different than Dubliners. They had English features and style in a way that is hard to describe. Ken’s words rung in my ear, and I recalled his statement that loyalist, or the Protestants, did not wish to hold their Irish roots.

Although we enjoyed a pleasant seafood meal, it did not settle in a way we had become accustomed to. The troubles of Northern Ireland are not yet resolved and although this was not the usual tourist visit, it was thought-provoking  and a taste of reality. As a foreigner in a country and as a tourist in Ireland, it is easy to get lost in the scenic beauty and bustling city centers filled with music and pints, but I feel the trip was crucial to get an all encompassing look at the country of Ireland.