Northern Ireland

We traveled to Belfast, Northern Ireland to get a feel for the tension that remained in the metropolitan city. Belfast, the capital city, experienced much sectarianism and political unrest that resulted in a lot of death and destruction; this period, now known as the “Troubles,” lasted from 1969 to 1998. This sectarianism formed from the political and religious beliefs of the Protestants and the Catholics, who were at odds with one another. The provisional IRA represented the Nationalist (Catholic) side while the Ulster Defense Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force represented the Unionist agenda of the Protestants. The phrase “Home rule is Rome rule” sums up the belief behind the possibility of a Protestant minority and the Unionist opposition towards the nationalist movement. The warfare was incredibly violent and ruthless in its discrimination against Protestants and Catholics. A number of bombings took the lives of many innocent citizens. The Troubles ended with the Good Friday Agreement between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998.

            When we arrived, we immediately took a tour through some of the streets with detailed and symbolic murals and graffiti on the Peace Walls. The Peace Walls are a result of the ideology that peace can be maintained by separating the warring sides. The most famous walls are made of three levels built in three stages since the walls needed to be built higher multiple times. Approximately two million people come every year to see these walls. The city has a network of smaller peace walls that run through the neighborhoods. While we were in Belfast, we had the privilege of listening to a gentleman named Noll, who aligned with the Unionist perspective, as well as the Nationalist perspective from our very own Brian King. Afterward, we listened to Doug Baker, an American missionary and expert on reconciliation, especially in Northern Ireland. We discussed prejudices, backgrounds, and the idea of walls. Walls are everywhere in the world; most do not deal with the heart of the issue, but instead, gradually increase our prejudices. The fact that the people in Belfast expected conflict to continue, evidenced by the walls, resonated with Erica. Our group was surprised by how divided the city was–a foreign concept for us. Emma noted that the discrimination isn’t based on skin color, but rather on beliefs. Otherwise normal friends grew up enemies.

            After a wonderful night at our hostel in Downhill, we left the beach for another view of the coast at Dunluce Castle in County Antrim. The castle was built by Richard Og De Burgh, the second Earl of Ulster. The McQuillan family owned the castle in 1513. The McQuillan family was allies and rivals among the other Ulster chieftains, such as the O’Neills and the O’Donnells. They would have held a great deal of power since their property controlled most of the coast. For this reason, they hired the large mercenary clan, MacDonnells, from Scotland. The MacDonnells soon overthrew the McQuilans in the mid 1500s and retained the land ever since. The castle progressed through time, but eventually was abandoned and given into the care of the state. The castle was the inspiration for castle of Cair Paravel in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series.

(The weather at Dunluce was very touch-and-go, but we managed to get some good pictures when the sun finally came out from behind the clouds.)

            We then made our way to Giant’s Causeway observe the natural wonder of the volcanic formation. The coast was patterned with a multitude of hexagonal rock pillars like stepping-stones. Irish folklore would have you believe that the causeway was created by two egotistical giants wanting to do battle. One giant was from Scotland and the other from Ireland. Everyone knows that giants don’t like to get their feet wet, so the Irish giant decided to construct a path to Scotland; he saw the size of the Scottish giant, got scared, and went back to Ireland. The Scottish giant wanted to come to Ireland, but he saw the Irish giant dressed as a baby, thought it was the giant’s son, and ran back to Scotland, thus destroying the path between the nations. Our group loved the natural formations and the hike up along the ridge. Ethan took several photos as usual, but he was most interested in the possibility of seeing a Basking shark. Northern Ireland was a fantastic get-away and learning experience as a group. 

(We looked for the giants at the Causeway, but we could not find them.)