NORTHERN IRELAND, BELFAST: THE TITANIC MUSEUM

 July 10, 2024

After our two-part tour of Belfast, we decided to squeeze in a quick trip to the Titanic Museum. We only had an hour before it closed, but we had already been to the Titanic Museum and the Titanic Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so we thought it would be okay to zip through.

The recovery effort after the sinking of the Titanic was based in Halifax, and that is where 150 of the recovered bodies from the ship were buried. 

Belfast is where the ship was built, and the museum there focuses on the ship's construction as well as on the disaster.

The heart of the museum is this large room surrounded by and audio-visual extravaganza.

A pathway leads visitors through the museum displays, and our first stop was to learn about the building of the ship, especially about its enormous size and its surprising power.

The shipyard where the Titanic was built can be viewed from the upper windows of the museum. It would have filled this entire dock.

A scale model is on display.

NORTHERN IRELAND: BELFAST CITY TOUR - TWO SIDES

 July 10, 2024

Friends who visited Northern Ireland a year or two ago recommended a tour they took in Belfast that was split into two parts. Half was led by an Irish Nationalist on the Catholic side of Belfast, and the other half was led by a British Loyalist on the Protestant side of the city. There are several of these tours offered by different companies, and Bob reserved a spot in one that looked good.

We started on the Catholic/Nationalist side near this sign commemorating the 1969 riots that mark the beginning of the 30-year conflict known as "The Troubles."  The conflict began with the three-day Battle of the Bogside in Derry, and it wasn't long before riots and violence broke out in Belfast. The British Army intervened on August 14, and official Catholic and Protestant districts were subsequently outlined.

Our guide on the Catholic side had been part of the IRA and had spent many years in prison for his role in the fighting. It was crazy because he looked at sounded like a sweet grandpa. Note that he is wearing an Irish-green version of the keffiyeh, which has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.  We learned that the Irish Nationalists identify with the Palestinians as a repressed people and are very anti-Israel.

We walked down one of the main streets, passing this series of large murals that links the Irish and Palestinian struggles.

A script runs through the paintings that reads, "If I must die, you must live to tell my story, to sell my things, to buy a piece of cloth and some strings (make it white with a long tail) so that a child somewhere, while looking heaven in the eye . . .

. . . awaiting his dad who was left in a blaze--and bid no one farewell, not even to his flesh, not even to himself--sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above, and thinks for a moment an angel is there bringing back love. If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale."

This poem was written by Palestinian Refaat Alareer before he was killed in an airstrike by the Israeli military. 

NORTHERN IRELAND: BELFAST - C. S. LEWIS SQUARE AND CITY HALL

 July 10, 2024

I was quite excited to go to Belfast, which to me--prior to this trip--had been the center of all the conflict that occurred in Northern Ireland. I remembered the terrible fighting that defined the city during my teen years and well into my 30s. I remember when my mother, a first grade teacher, attended the International Reading Conference in Belfast when I was in my late 20s or early 30s, and how scary that was for me! I was sure she would be blown up!

But from everything we read, Belfast was now a lovely, peaceful city. That turned out to be mostly true, but not completely.

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland and has a population of about 350,000. As we drove into town, I was struck again by the artistry of the Irish (although here it would be the British).  Murals are everywhere.

This is one of my favorites: My City, My People, My Heart by Dee Crait. I think it honors the laborers, those who keep us fed and housed.

This one is also pretty awesome--the Luminaries and Legends of East Belfast mural, also by Dee Craig, including Van Morrison (musician, top left) and some sports figures, actresses, playwrights, and other musicians.

This mural commemorates 50 years since the formation of The Regimental Band of the Ulster Volunteer Force, and next to it is a World War I Memorial. I especially love the red poppies, which we saw frequently painted into memorials in Belfast.

 

NORTHERN IRELAND: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

 July 10, 2024

The Giant's Causeway is a geologic rock formation formed by an erupting volcano 50 or 60 million years ago. The molten basalt seeped through chalk beds to form a volcanic plateau, and as the lava cooled, it cracked, much as mud does when it dries, leaving about 40,000 mostly hexagonal interlocking stones.

According to legend, these columns are the remains of a land bridge, or causeway, built by the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhail and the Scottish giant Benandonner so that they could meet in the middle and fight it out.  The Scottish end, which supposedly looks like the Northern Irish end, is called Fingal's Cave.

This early-19th century poem presents a slightly different motive behind building the causeway:

THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

They met beside the stormy sea, those giant kings of old,
And on each awful brow was set, a crown of burning gold.
No ray the yet unrisen stars, or the wan moonbeams, gave,
But far and bright, the meteor light shone over cloud and wave.

"I have been over earth to-day," exclaimed one mighty king,
"The toil of half the human race, it is a foolish thing;
For I have seen on Egypt's land, an abject million slave,
To build a lofty pyramid above their monarch's grave.

"Now let us put their works to scorn, and in a single night
Rear what would take them centuries, and nations' banded might,"
Then up arose each giant king, and took a mighty stone,
They laid the quay; they piled the rocks—ere morn the work was done.

Vain fable this! yet not so vain as it may seem to be,
Methinks that now too much we live to cold reality;
The selfish and the trading world clips man so closely round,
No bold or fair imaginings within our hearts are found.

So vortex-like doth wealth now draw, all other feelings in,
Too much we calculate, and wealth, becomes almost a sin;
We look upon the lovely earth, and think what it may yield;
We only ask for crops, not flowers, from every summer field.

The mind grows coarse, the soul confined, while thus from day to day
We let the merely common-place eat phantasie away:
Aye, better to believe, I trow, the legends framed of old—
Aught—anything to snatch one thought, from selfishness and gold.

-Leticia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838)

The Giant's Causeway was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986. In 2005, a poll named the Giant's Causeway the fourth-greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom.

We arrived at the visitor center and left our car in the parking lot, for which we had prepaid about $40. That included access to the visitors center (and the bathroom, which made it worth every penny).