For our final day in Belfast, we arranged for a taxi tour of the city’s sectarian neighborhoods, with dual-purpose goals in mind: (a) the opportunity to learn more about the city’s history and the period known as The Troubles; and (b) a stress-free ride to the airport, without requiring multiple Uber rides or lugging our collection of bags through public transportation.
Noah posed with our collection of bags (and car seats) as we were checking out in Belfast.
Our taxi driver Eugene was 64 years old and had experienced The Troubles in Belfast firsthand. The Troubles are difficult to encapsulate into a single paragraph, but the term generally refers to the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland between loyalists, who were mostly Protestant, and wanted to remain a part of the United Kingdom, and republicans, who were largely Catholics, and wanted Northern Ireland to be a part of the independent republic of Ireland to form a unified country.
The car seats we purchased for our rental van also worked well in the taxi.
Eugene drove us through the key Belfast neighborhoods for each of these sects, starting with loyalists who lived around Shankill Road. We spent time looking at two contrasting murals during this stop: one honoring Stephen McKeag, a loyalist thought to have shot the most republicans during the troubles; the other, painted by youth, represents the optimism for the future, with unifying instead of dividing messages.
Eugene explained to Emmie and Noah that the eyes of Stephen McKeag appear to be looking at you, despite which angle you are viewing the mural.
Created by Belfast women, this mural – designed in the style of a quilt – replaced a contentious paramilitary mural which depicted burning republican homes.
While Belfast is generally a safe city, tourists are discouraged from visiting loyalist neighborhoods around July 11, when piles of wooden pallets are decorated with the tri-color Ireland flags and then burned as part of Eleventh Night celebrations. Eugene, albeit of republican persuasion, believes these bonfires have grown bigger in recent years as loyalists look to create more commotion as their numbers and sentiments are dwindling within Northern Ireland.
Behind the fence, assembly of pallets for this neighborhood’s bonfire has already begun.
Our tour continued to the peace wall, which divides Shankill and Falls Roads. Originally constructed in 1969 as a temporary structure, the wall grew taller, wider, and more permanent in ensuing years. The three-mile-long wall contains five gates allowing drivers and pedestrians to go between neighborhoods; however, these are closed each evening and reopened each morning as a way to curtail potential overnight violence.
We found Belfast’s city center to have little graffiti, especially when compared to other European capitals we’ve visited during our travel. Eugene noted that graffiti is legal along the town’s peace walls, giving artists an outlet for their work. We even were able to sign our names along the wall to commemorate our visit.
Amanda was pointing to her name on the mural; I did not notice that, nor get it in the photo.
Gates along the peace wall dividing the neighborhoods.
Belfast city leaders have had regular discussions about potential dates to remove the peace walls, though it sounds likely to be a decade or more before they are potentially removed.
We finished our formal neighborhood tour around Falls Road, where Eugene highlighted the mural of Bobby Sands, who was the leader of a 1981 hunger strike to protest the treatment of republicans arrested during The Troubles. He also showed the office of the Sinn Féin political party, which promotes the unification of Ireland.
As the tour concluded, Eugene drove us to the airport, keeping the conversation going throughout the ride. We made it to the airport rougly three hours before our flight, before we were even able to check-in for our flight to Spain.
Pre-security dining options were limited, but it was nearly 2:00 p.m., and we hadn’t eaten anything for lunch. Our best option was the £3.99 meal deal at the airport convenience store, which included a pre-packaged sandwich, chips, and a drink. The sandwiches were better than expected, and by the time we were finished eating, the check-in line had opened, and we were able to drop off our checked bags for the flight.
Noah was happy his ham sandwich was made without mayo.
Eilidh was a fan of the chips!
We were carrying a number of medicines, plus Eilidh’s Nourish foods, requiring extra time at airport security. Frustratingly, one of the food pouches failed two security checks, and we were forced to leave it. The others made it through, though we had to show the note we’d had written by Eilidh’s nephrologist, Dr. Lee Son, saying the food was required because of her condition.
Eilidh really wanted to ride the kids mini-train ride at the airport.
The flight to Málaga, Spain, was our first on Ryanair, Europe’s most famous low-cost carrier. The three-hour flight was mostly uneventful: Eilidh fussed a bit at the beginning and end, I wrote a piece of our Northern Ireland blog, and the bigger kids took turns playing Minecraft.
Customs in Spain was much quicker than in Belfast, and it only took a few more minutes before we had our bags. That said, the rental car experience was not particularly quick, as the line was long (relative to the number of workers) and it took some time for us to install Eilidh’s car seats and figure out the best way to load the van.
We were staying at the AC Hotel in La Línea de la Concepción, Spain, our only hotel during our overseas portion of the trip. European hotel rooms are generally small, so we divided among two rooms; my Marriott status came in handy for the stay, as we not only were upgraded to larger rooms but provided with welcome snacks, which were much-needed given we had not eaten supper.
We rounded out our nutritious meal with cans of Pringles and candy bars; after food and baths, we were in bed a shade after midnight. On tap for tomorrow: A visit to the UK territory of Gibraltar, which is just across the border from La Linea.