The backpackers were the first to arrive. Shortly after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement ushered in a new era of peace for Northern Ireland, places like Belfast and Derry started to appear on the itineraries of this intrepid group of travellers. War-like images of the nationalistic and political struggle, simply referred to as The Troubles, had been broadcast around the world for decades and now this authentic, gritty and untouched region was open to those eager to explore and learn about the origins of the conflict.
I hadn’t given much thought to visiting Northern Ireland until my cousin and her husband returned from a trip last summer raving about a tour that they had signed up for after a local in a Belfast pub recommended it. The official Belfast Black Cab Tour aims to cover the origins, mechanisms and resolution of conflict. It’s a tour that addresses the history of Northern Ireland, warts and all.
My guide, Billy Scott, was a Belfast cab driver back in the late 1990s when the peace accords were signed. He and other taxi drivers in the city centre saw an opportunity to share the story of Belfast by touring groups of curious backpackers around the city. They used the murals and wall paintings that were prevalent in some of the Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods to tell the political history of the conflict.
Belfast Black Cab Tour, Gaeltacht Quarter, Co. Antrim – Embrace a Giant Spirit. Photo: Rob Durston/Tourism Northern Ireland
Fast forward almost 30 years and the wall art still plays a large role in Scott’s storytelling, but the original murals designed with strident political messaging have been mostly replaced with images depicting the heroes, leaders and victims on various sides of the conflict.
During the tour Scott recounted the stories behind the personalities, occasionally slipping into a more sing-songy. He quotes snippets of poems or song lyrics by famous Northern Irish artists like Seamus Heaney, Feargal Sharkey or Van Morrison, a delightfully light-hearted way to weave the dark and light pieces of history and culture into the storied fabric of Northern Ireland.
One of the many murals in West Belfast that celebrate heroes and personalties of The Troubles. Photo: Courtesy of Loren Christie
“Visitors have always had notions that this was a religious conflict and that either the Catholic or Protestant side was to blame,” Scott explained. “We make sure to share the different points of view.”
He pointed out various pubs, hotels and nightclubs that have been the scenes of violence over the years; the Hotel Europa, opened in 1971 and frequented by media covering The Troubles, was often targeted by the Irish Republican Army. The Sunflower Public House still has a metal cage around its front door. It was an important line of defence between the patrons and potential outside violence – now it has craft beers and live music.
Front entrance to The Sunflower Public House, Belfast, Co. Antrim. Photo: Brian Morrison/Tourism Northern Ireland
Falls Road and Shankill Road, adjacent Nationalist and Loyalist working-class neighbourhoods separated with barbed wire and one of the city’s most notorious peace walls, Cupar Way, were highlights of the tour, providing a snapshot of what life was like in a divided city. The Cupar wall was erected in 1969 by the British government after intense sectarian violence between the two communities.
The Cupar Way Peace Wall seperates the Shankill Road and Falls Road communities in West Belfast. Photo: Courtesy of Loren Christie
We stopped briefly at the wall, one of 60 remaining in Belfast, where I was encouraged to sign my name with a Sharpie among the tens of thousands of scribes who had come before me. I found a spot, neatly tucked between what seemed like two very positive messages: “Find the good in everything” and “Yor Ma likes Irish spuds and teabags”. The wall, which at 45-feet-tall is three times higher than the Berlin Wall, still cleaves the two communities, and has gates that can be closed should trouble erupt. But happily there isn’t much call for that anymore.
Visitors can write messages of support, their name or whatever they like to the Peace Wall at Cupar Way. Photo: Courtesy of Loren Christie
Another option for visitors who want to hear personal stories from those who lived through The Troubles is Coiste Irish Political Tours. Coiste director Michael Culbert is a former IRA prisoner who served 16 years of a life sentence for his role in the killing of a British soldier. He works alongside his former enemies with the Loyalist-founded and run organization EPIC (Ex-Prisoners Interpretive Centre), to teach visitors (and locals) about the past. Their Falls/Shankill Tour is a three-hour walk that includes former political prisoners, from both the Loyalist and Nationalist sides, acting as co-guides and sharing their different perspectives. Culbert also works with Lee Lavis, a former combatant who served in the British Army in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, to ensure that the perspective of the military is also included in the history they share. Lavis echoes Scott’s sentiments on the perception that this was a religious conflict: “There were 150,000 British soldiers recruited from Scotland, England and Wales to participate…. Religion was a symptom of the conflict, yes, but it’s a 700-year-old anti-colonial struggle between Ireland and Britain that is the source,” says Lavis.
Michael Culbert, Loren Christie, Lee Lavis, outside The Crum, where Michael had been incarcerated for two of 16 years spent behind bars. Photo: Courtesy of Loren Christie
Culbert and Lavis both believe that it is only by accepting their shared and dissonant history that the people of Belfast and Northern Ireland can continue to live peacefully – a lesson they happily pass on to the 40,000-odd visitors a year who take one of Coiste’s tours.
According to Scott, tourism has flourished since he first started taking those curious backpackers around Belfast some three decades ago. The Titanic Belfast Museum is another huge draw, as are the many local filming locations for the TV series Game of Thrones.
The Titanic Belfast Museum, Ireland. Photo: Chris Hill/Tourism Ireland
A new generation of Northern Irish have brought a young, vibrant energy onto the streets of Belfast. To them, The Troubles was a short period in time for a city surrounded by hundreds of years of history. However, the older generations of Belfast residents continue to carry memories that are painful and raw. Their willingness to share their stories with visitors still fascinated by the conflict is appreciated, as is the overwhelming and collective desire for continued peace.
