Wednesday May 13, 2026
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Weather: light rain in the morning and howling wind in the later morning and all through the afternoon. Sunny, for the most part..12 degrees.
We started the morning with coffee and granola in the hotel and then basically, at the last second, deciding we would do a walking tour of The Troubles, which is the name of the time when the people of Northern Ireland fought in a bitter civil war duuring the seventies and eighties. Our guide was an educated man (lawyer) with a perspective that didn't sugar coat the past but was hopeful for the future. He gave perspectives that reflected both sides of the conflict and acknowledged his views didn't sit well with everyone. Later in the evening we met someone whose viewpoint was quite in contrast and saw religion as the divinding line between her side and "their' side. It was sad, tragic and upsetting have two opposing points of view in the same day. I'm not going to get into it any more than this because it is complex. But it is far from over.
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| Parts of the city still close at night. |
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| UVF stands for "Ulster Volunteer Forces" |
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| The so called "Peace Wall". In the foreground, barriers prevent cars from using the space for passage. These are common in Belfast and are primarily to create bottlenecks. |
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| Tourists adding their own graffiti. |
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| King Charles is not highly regarded here, despite his overtures to Northern Ireland because he is the commander of British military forces. |
In the afternoon, we visited the Belfast Titanic museum, a wholly worthwhile venture. The museum is massive with a great amount of effort devoted to depicting life in Belfast around the time the ship was constructed, working conditions for the people who built the ship and sensitive displays around the tragedy. It would be possible to spend any amount of time in the museum, depending on your level of interest. We were there about three hours. At the end, there is an amazing display of the ship as it currently rests, a huge model of the ship and genuine articles from the ship, all currently on load from private collections. It was emotional.
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| The Titanic Belfast Museum |
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| The Nomadic, the only surviving White Star Line ship. |
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