I can hardly believe I was in Belfast two weeks ago, it feels like forever ago, and today I’m watching the news following the rescue mission of the Thai boys trapped in a cave for over 2 weeks, and their rescue, well at least 4 of them are out as I write, and thinking how surreal our trip down the Falls Road and Shankill Road was. But amazing in its own way. I have mentioned before that whilst I was growing up, Belfast was a war zone, so we didn’t go there. So we took the opportunity to go on a guided tour of the murals (which have become very famous) on both the Falls Road and Shankill Road in Belfast. Pat our guide was great, very unbiased in his account of both sides of the history that is Northern Ireland. So we set off on the tour and reached the Falls Road (Republican) and Pat pointed out the very famous Divis flats which I remember well from the news. And we got out to look at the murals on the Falls Road. I have included photos below of the murals on both the streets. And then we crossed through the wall and gates that divide the Falls Road and the Shankhill Road (Unionist) to keep the peace… the gates between the two communities get locked around 6/7pm at night, so ne’er the twain shall meet. I have to confess (and I’m hugely embarrassed to admit this) but I had no idea the two streets were SO close! One runs into the other. And they epitomise the huge divide between the two communities, which I thought was overwhelmingly sad, but it was what it took to bring peace. I have a photo of us signing the peace wall, which was amazing, huge and SO many signatures and messages. It’s the thing to do it seems, as we were on our tour, so were a heck of other people, doing the same thing, it has become a major tourist attraction, that along with the Titanic exhibition… No more comment on that suffice to say that Belfast has changed hugely, and it’s well worth a visit, it’s very cosmopolitan, you hear every language on the globe and the face of the city has changed for the better. But the underlying differences are lain bare on those streets. On a more positive note, Northern Ireland is very beautiful and the north coast which includes the Giants Causeway is stunning. And a visit to the Bushmills distillery is a must.