[mass55th]

I was on a lengthy bus tour in May of 2006, and we spent two nights in Belfast. I found it to be a very depressing place. There seemed to be a darkness about it. To me it seemed like the tensions were still there, simmering just beneath the surface, and that it wouldn't take much for the violence to start all over again.

On the tour of the city, various memorials to IRA members were pointed out to us. The guide briefly mentioned that Belfast had been bombed during WWII, and that approximately 28 people were killed, many others injured, and at least 400 families became homeless. After the tour, I asked the guide that since there were so many memorials to dead IRA members, if there was a memorial to those who died in the 1941 bombing. Her reply was that she thought they had planted some flowers on a small piece of ground near the site. There was no stone tablet, nothing to distinguish it from any other landscaped site in the city. I can't say I was surprised over that. In fact, my specific reason for asking her about it was because I had already known what her answer was going to be.

Below are photos of murals painted on the sides of buildings in Belfast. Murals like these are all over the place:

Phrase on the above photo: "The largest concentration camp in the world!! 33 million innocent people tortured, denied their freedom!!"

I really disliked Belfast, and couldn't wait to leave. I'd never go back, and wouldn't recommend it to anyone else either. The fact that I only took three photos while we were there attests to my dislike. The third photo was of the Crown Bar, which is an historic landmark. And the only reason I took a photo of it was because it sat across from our hotel, The Europa.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I love Ireland but would never visit Northern Ireland.

Give me Cork, Kilarney or Limerick any day.

[Palladin]

Those photos are very enlightening. It seems that N.Ireland has its share of terrorist sympathizers, too.

In fact, this recent attack may be the work of Jihadists.

[elc]

Wow you really had a bad tour of Belfast if you hate it that much.

I lived there for 2 years and I’d move back in a heartbeat.

The murals you saw are a tiny part of the city. Let me guess - off the Falls Road?

The city center is awesome. You still have the historic places like the Crown and City Hall. But it has also become very cosmopolitan in recent years despite it’s violent history.

But despite being a city, it still has a nice small town feel and quite safe to walk around.

Of course one of the things I like about it is that Americans are still afraid to go there and it hasn’t become overrun by tourists the way the southwest of Ireland has.

[Saoirise]

Ahhhh, the famous Europa Hotel, known as the most bombed hotel in all of Europe. Never been into Belfast city center but the surrounding areas and rest of N. Ireland have the best towns and scenery to rival the South - this coming from a Connaght native.

[batco-barry]

Thank you for posting these pictures. My late husband was a British soldier and served there in the early 90s. When he would come home he would talk about all the American money that paid for the arms of the IRA, and what Americans may feel if they ever saw the murals that were painted on the walls by the IRA and their sympathizers.