Northern Ireland Renaissance

By Gerry McGuinness

Today, the ancient capital of Belfast in Northern Ireland, is again a bustling European city, and normality has meant the return of cultural and economic vitality, civic pride and an almost palpable optimism. Peace has made a lot of things possible, re-defining daily life and making the North once again an appealing vacation destination, particularly for those interested in how conflict is resolved or managed. A simple visit to the Opera House or the restored Europa hotel next door, underlines just how comprehensive Belfast’s comeback has been.

Magennis’s, which is still open, is part of a City Centre that also includes the Crown pub, the Waterfront and Odyssey concert halls, City Hall and plenty of good shopping, with an open air market running on Fridays and Saturdays. The Crown, built in 1826 but extensively refurbished in summer 2007, is a quintessentially English pub, and it is just across Great Victoria from the Europa and the opera house. With its colors and textures, the Crown is worth a visit even for non-drinkers.

Mother England is prominent around the corner at City Hall, as well. A statue of Queen Victoria (1839-1901) stands outside the renaissance-styled complex built in 1906. Free tours are offered, and some time appreciating the stone building from its lawns and walking its perimeter is very satisfying, as well.

Waterfront Hall, a performance venue, and the Odyssey Pavilion, where the Belfast Giants hockey team plays, are new additions to the harbor. Protestants and Catholics alike cheer on the Giants, one of the few sporting teams in Ireland that unites rather than divides. Across the city, passing along the way Queens University, you see the Lyric Theatre, which provides contemporary Irish productions. Even during the most turbulent times, the Lyric refused to close. Its board is now planning a new, $24 million, multi-stage theater complex to be built on the present site.

To appreciate The Troubles and the conflict they left behind, visitors to Belfast should tour the Catholic Falls Road and Protestant Shankill neighborhoods, replete as they are with propagandistic wall murals, which, as a collection, provide a sort of narrative or history of the conflict. Merely seeing video footage of Paisley and Ahern shaking hands, not coincidentally a stone’s throw from the scene of the Battle of the Boyne, and of Paisley and former Irish Republican Army leader and Sinn Fein member Martin McGuinness sitting at the same table to govern together at Stormont has residents hopeful. (Stormont is Northern Ireland’s parliament building in Belfast.)

Visitors to Ireland seeking to understand The Troubles, must also visit Derry. The coastal option, while longer than a direct route, offers quite a bit of the island’s history, as well. Highlights along the way include Giant’s Causeway, a mass of 40,000 hexagonal stone columns that form steps from the foot of the cliff into the sea, and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which is not for those afraid of heights. Also on this route is the Bushmills whiskey distillery, the breathtaking scenery of the Nine Glens of Antrim and the 14th century Dunluce Castle, which teeters on a cliff’s edge and is described by many as the most picturesque in Ireland.

The southern route would enable stops in Armagh City, the capital of Ireland and the burial place of legendary Irish clan king, Brian Boru. Following the A2, you would enter Derry from the north, traveling parallel with the river Foyle. In minutes visitors can walk to the Bogside Inn or the Free Derry Museum, both of which are essential stops on any tour of Derry or even of Northern Ireland.

Abutting Waterloo Place off the end of William Street is Derry’s most visually arresting site. The neo-gothic style Guildhall was built in 1887, destroyed by fire in 1908 and rebuilt over the next four years. The city hall offers visitors impressive interiors, including more than two dozen of Ireland’s finer stained glass windows that offer a sort of visual montage of the more important episodes in the city’s history going back four centuries.

TOP SITES TO VISIT IN NORTHERN IRELAND