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One surprising aspect of Ireland is the richness of its history. While the island is not particularly well-
endowed with historic monuments, it is soaked in history. I've woven more in-depth accounts of its past
into the sightseeing descriptions in my Ireland guidebook. But here's a thumbnail overview:
The story of Ireland can be broken into four sections: 500 BC-500 AD (Iron Age), 500-900 (age of "Saints
and Scholars"), 900-1900 (age of invasions and colonization), and the 20th century (independence and
the question of one Ireland).
Through the Iron Age, the Celtic people left the countryside peppered with thousands of ancient sights .
While most of what you'll see are little more than rock piles and take a vigorous imagination to
reconstruct (ring forts, wedge tombs, monumental stones, and so on), just standing next to a megalith
that pre-dates the pharaohs while surrounded by lush Ireland is evocative. The finest gold, bronze, and
iron work of this period is in the National Museum in Dublin.
The Romans called Ireland Hibernia, "Land of Winter" — apparently too cold and bleak to merit an
attempt to take over and colonize. The biggest non-event in Irish history was the Romans never invading.
While the mix of Celtic and Roman contributes to what makes the French French and the English English,
the Irish are purely Celtic. If France is embodied by its favourite game of boules and England is
cricket...Ireland is hurling. This wild Irish national pastime (like airborne hockey with no injury timeouts)
goes back to Celtic days, 2,000 years ago.
Celts worshipped the sun. Perhaps St. Patrick had an easy time converting the locals because they had so
little sun to worship. Whatever the case, a Roman boy enslaved by the Irish, Patrick, helped Christianize
Ireland in the 5th century. From this period on, monks established monastic centres of learning which
produced great Christian teachers and community-builders. They travelled, establishing monastic
communities all over Ireland, Britain and Europe. One of them, St. Brendan, may have even sailed to
America.
While the collapse of Rome left Europe a mess, it meant nothing to Ireland. Ireland was and remained a
relatively cohesive society based on monastic settlements rather than cities. While Europe was rutting in
the Dark Age mud, the light of civilization shined brightly in Ireland through a golden age lasting from the
5th through the 9th centuries. Irish monks — such as those imported by Charlemagne to help run his
Frankish kingdom in 800 A.D. — actually carried the torch of civilization back to Europe. Perhaps the
greatest art of "Dark Age" Europe are the manuscripts (such as the 8th-century Book of Kells, which you'll
see in Dublin) "illuminated" — or richly illustrated — by Irish monks. Impressive round towers dot the
Irish landscape...silent reminders of this impressive age.
The Viking invasions of the 9th century wreaked repeated havoc on the monasteries and shook Irish
civilization. Vikings established trading towns (such as Dublin) where, before, there had been only Celtic
settlements and monasteries.
The Normans, who invaded and conquered England after the Battle of Hastings (1066), were Ireland's
next uninvited guests. In 1169, the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland. These invaders, big-time organizers,
ushered in a new age where society (government, cities, and religious organizations) was organized on a
grander scale. Individual monastic settlements (the basis of Irish society in the "Age of Saints and
Scholars") were eclipsed by monastic orders just in from the Continent such as the Franciscans,
Augustinians, and Cistercians.
The English made a concentrated effort to colonize Ireland in the 17th century. Settlers were planted and
Irish society was split between an English-speaking landed gentry and the local Irish-speaking, landless or
nearly landless peasantry. During the 18th century, English Ireland thrived. Dublin was Britain's second
city.
Over time, greed on the top and dissent on the bottom require colonial policies to become more
repressive. The Enlightenment provided ideas of freedom and the Revolutionary age emboldened the Irish
masses. (Even the non-Catholic Dubliner, Jonathan Swift, dean of St. Patrick's cathedral in the early 18th
century, declared "burn all that's British, except its coal.") To counter this Irish feistiness, English
legislation became an out-and-out attack on the indigenous Irish culture. The harp was outlawed. Written
and unwritten laws made life for Catholics and speakers of Irish very difficult.
The potato famine of 1845 to 1849 was a pivotal event in Irish history. The stature of Ireland and its
language never recovered. In a few years, Ireland's population dropped from 8 million to 5 million (3
million either starved or emigrated). Ireland's population today is closer to 6 million. Britain's population,
on the other hand, has grown from 12 million in 1845 to around 60 million today. (During this period,
Ireland's population, as a percent of England's, dropped from 65 percent to 8 percent.)
While the English are likely to blame the famine on overpopulation (Ireland's population doubled in the 40
years leading up to the famine) many Irish say there actually was no famine — just a calculated attempt
to starve down the local population. In fact, there was plenty of food grown on the island for export. It
was only the potato crop which failed...and that happened to be what the Irish subsisted on.
The average farmer grew fancier export products for his landlord and was paid in potatoes which, in good
years, he grew on the side. (If this makes you mad at the English landlords, consider American ownership
of land in Central America, where the landlord takes things one step further by not growing the local
staple at all. He devotes all the land to more profitable cash crops for export and leaves the landless
farmer no alternative but to buy his food — imported from the US— at plantation wages, in the landlord's
grocery store.)
The famine was a turning point in Irish history. Before the famine, land was subdivided — all the boys got
a piece of the family estate (which grew smaller and smaller with each generation). After the famine the
oldest son got the estate and the younger siblings, with no way to stay in Ireland, emigrated to the US,
Canada, Australia and Britain. Today, there are 40 million Irish-Americans.
After the famine, Irish became the language of the peasant. English was for the upwardly mobile.
Because of the huge emigration to the US, Ireland faced west and American influence increased.
(American involvement in brokering the 1998 "Good Friday" Peace Accord was welcomed and considered
essential by nearly all parties.)
The tragedy of the famine inflamed the nationalist movement. Uprising after uprising made it clear that
Ireland was ready to close this thousand-year chapter of invasions and colonialism. Finally, in 1919,
Ireland declared its independence. While the northern six counties (the only ones without a Catholic
majority) voted to stay with Britain, the independent Republic of Ireland was born.
What About Northern Ireland?
Smaller and prettier than Belfast, and with a richer history, the pivotal city of Derry offers a compelling
glimpse at Northern Ireland, past and present.
When most of Ireland became the Republic of Ireland in 1921, the Foyle River was the logical border
between Northern Ireland and the Republic. But, for sentimental and economic reasons, the North kept
the flourishing Derry, even though it sprawled over onto the Republic side of the river. Consequently, this
predominately Catholic city has been much contested throughout the Troubles. But the conflict is only one
dimension of underappreciated Derry (called Londonderry by Unionists who want to maintain their union
with Britain).
Most of the sights of this compact city can be covered easily on foot. Clamber up on the squat old city
walls for a walk through Derry's history. The English, who brought English settlers to Derry in the early
17th century, built the walls to protect their settlers and keep out the native Irish. The Irish ended up
with the less desirable rocky or boggy land (sowing the seeds of the modern-day Troubles).
The walls, almost 20 feet high and at least as thick, form a mile-long oval loop covering Derry's
highlights. Start at the Tower Museum Derry, built inside the walls near Magazine Gate. The museum is
divided into two sections: The Story of Derry (on the ground floor) and the Spanish Armada (on the four
floors of the tower). Start with the Story of Derry, which explains the city's monastic origins 1,500 years
ago. It moves through pivotal events, such as the 1688–1689 siege, as well as unexpected blips,
including Amelia Earhart's emergency landing. Catch the thought-provoking 14-minute film in the small
theatre, which gives an even-handed local perspective on the tragic events of the modern sectarian
conflict, giving you a better handle on what makes this unique city tick.
As you exit the small theatre, scan the displays of paramilitary paraphernalia in the hallway lined with
coloured curb stones — red, white, and blue Union Jack colors for Loyalists; and green, white, and orange
Irish tricolour for Republicans. There, you'll also find tiny notes written by IRA hunger striker Bobby
Sands, which were smuggled out of the Maze prison.
The recently opened tower section holds the Spanish Armada exhibits, filled with items taken from the
wreck of the La Trinidad Valencera, which sunk offshore in 1588 (£4 for all exhibits, July–Aug Mon–Sat
10:00–17:00, Sun 11:00–15:00; Sept–June Tue–Sat 10:00–17:00, closed Sun–Mon; Union Hall Place,
tel. 028/7137-2411).
From Magazine Gate, walk the wall as it heads uphill, snaking along the earth's contours like a mini–Great
Wall of China. In the row of buildings on the left (just before crossing over Castle Gate), you'll see an arch
entry into the Craft Village, an alley lined with a cluster of cute shops that showcase the recent
economic rejuvenation of Derry (Mon–Sat 9:30–17:30, closed Sun).
As you walk ahead, you'll see (on the left) the site of a British Army surveillance tower that stood here
until 2006. It was situated here for the bird's-eye view of the once-turbulent Catholic Bog side district
below. Its recent dismantlement — as well as the removal of the British Army from Northern Ireland — is
another positive sign in cautiously optimistic Derry.
Farther along, it's hard to miss the British army surveillance tower with a bird's-eye view of the once-
turbulent Catholic Bog side district below. Derry was once an island, but as the river gradually changed
its course, the bog area formed. Over time, and especially after the Potato Famine (1845-1849), Catholic
peasants from rural Donegal began to move into Derry to find work and settled on this least desirable
land… on the bog side of the city.
The Catholic Bog side area was the tinderbox of the modern Troubles in Northern Ireland. A terrible
confrontation 35 years ago sparked a sectarian inferno, and the ashes have not yet fully cooled. Inspired
by civil rights marches in America in the mid-1960s and the 1968 Prague Spring uprising, civil rights
groups began to protest in Northern Ireland. Initially their goals were to gain better housing, secure fair
voting rights, and end employment discrimination for Catholics in the North. Tensions mounted, and
clashes with the predominantly Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary police force became frequent.
Eventually, the British Army was called in to keep the peace.
On January 30, 1972, a group protesting internment without trial held an illegal march through the Bog
side neighbourhood. They were fired upon by members of a British regiment, who claimed that snipers
had fired on them first. The tragic result of the clash, now remembered as Bloody Sunday, caused the
death of 14 civilians and led to a flood of fresh IRA volunteers.
The events are memorialized in 10 murals painted on the ends of residential flats along a 300-yard
stretch of Rossville Street and Lecky Road, where the march took place. You can reach them from
Waterloo Place via William Street, from the old city walls at Butcher's Gate via the long set of stairs
extending below Fahan Street on the grassy hillside, or by the stairs leading down from the Long Tower
Church. These days, this neighbourhood is quiet and safe.
Today, life has stabilized in Derry, and the population has increased by 25 percent in the last 30 years, to
about 73,000. The modern Foyleside Shopping Centre, bankrolled by investors from Boston, was
completed in 1995. The 1998 Good Friday Peace Accord has provided two-steps-forward, one-step-back
progress toward peace, and the British Army withdrew in mid-2007. With a population that is 70 percent
Catholic, the city has agreed to alternate Nationalist and Unionist mayors. There is a feeling of cautious
optimism as Derry — -the epicentre of bombs and bloody conflicts in the 1960s and 1970s — now boasts
a history museum that airs all viewpoints.
Nationalist leader John Hume, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 with Unionist leader David
Trimble, still has a house in the Bog side. He once borrowed an old quote to explain his non-violent
approach to the peace process when he said: "An eye for an eye just ends up leaving everyone blind."
Antrim Coast
Portrush
The town is busy with students during the school year. July and August are beach-resort boom time. June
and September are laid-back and lazy. Families pack Portrush on Saturdays, and revellers from Belfast
crowd its hotels on Saturday nights.
Dunluce Castle
These romantic ruins, perched dramatically on the edge of a rocky headland, are testimony to this
region's turbulent past. During the Middle Ages, the castle resisted several sieges. But on a stormy night
in 1639, dinner was interrupted as half of the kitchen fell into the sea, taking the servants with it. That
was the last straw for the lady of the castle. The countess of Antrim packed up and moved inland, and the
castle "began its slow submission to the forces of nature." While it's one of the largest castles in Northern
Ireland and is beautifully situated, there's precious little left to see among its broken walls.
The 16th-century expansion of the castle was financed by the salvaging of a shipwreck. In 1588 the
Spanish Armada's Girona sank on her way home after an aborted mission against England, laden with
sailors and the valuables of three abandoned sister ships. More than 1,300 drowned, and only five washed
ashore. (The shipwreck was excavated in 1967, and a bounty of golden odds and silver ends wound up in
Belfast's Ulster Museum— closed for renovation through spring 2009.)
Castle admission includes an impromptu guided tour of the ruins that's interesting for its effort to defend
the notion of "Ulster, a place apart — facing Scotland, cut off from the rest of Ireland by dense forests
and mountains..."
Seventeenth-century Belfast was only a village. With the influx, or "plantation," of English and (more
often) Scottish settlers, the character of the place changed. After the Scots and English were brought in
— and the native Irish were subjugated — Belfast boomed, spurred by the success of the local linen,
rope-making, and shipbuilding industries. The Industrial Revolution took root with a vengeance. While the
rest of Ireland remained rural and agricultural, Belfast earned its nickname ("Old Smoke") during the time
when many of the brick buildings you'll see today were built. The year 1888 marked the birth of modern
Belfast. After Queen Victoria granted city status to this boomtown of 300,000, its citizens built the city's
centrepiece, City Hall.
Belfast is the birthplace of the Titanic (and many ships that didn't sink). The two huge, mustard-coloured
cranes (the biggest in the world, nicknamed Samson and Goliath) rise like skyscrapers above the harbour.
They stand idle now, but serve as a reminder of this town's former shipbuilding might.
Today, big investments from south of the border--the Republic of Ireland--are injecting quiet optimism
into the dejected shipyards where the Titanic was built, developing the historic Titanic Quarter. Cranes are
building condos along the rejuvenated Lagan riverfront.
It feels like a new morning in Belfast. It's hard to believe that the bright and bustling pedestrian zone was
once a subdued, traffic-free security zone. Now there's no hint of security checks, once a tiresome daily
routine. These days both Catholics and Protestants are rooting for the new Belfast Giants ice-hockey
team, one of many reasons to live together peacefully.
Still, it's a fragile peace and a tenuous hope. Mean-spirited murals, hateful bonfires built a month before
they're actually burned, and pubs with security gates are reminders that the island is split — and 800,000
Protestant Unionists prefer it that way.
Sightseeing Highlights
Tours
Walking Tour: The Historic Belfast Walk takes you through the historic core of town (£6, 90 min;
departs from TI at 14:00 on Wed, Fri, and Sat; June-Sept also on Sun; confirm tour times with TI, book
in advance, tel. 028/9024-6609).
Big Bus Tours: City Sightseeing offers the Living History Tour, the best introduction to the city's recent
and complicated political and social history. You'll cruise the Catholic and Protestant working-class
neighbourhoods, with a commentary explaining the political murals and places of interest — mostly
dealing with the Troubles of the last 35 years. You see things from the bus and get out for photos only
(£11, 90 min, daily on the hour 10:00-16:30, fewer tours in winter — call first, depart from corner of
Royal Avenue and Castle Place across from McDonald's, 2 blocks north of Donegall Square; pay cash at
kiosk or on bus, or book by phone with credit card; tel. 028/9062-6888, www.city-sightseeing.com).
Minibus Tours: Mini-Coach Travel's Antrim Coast Tour visits the Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle
(photo-op only), the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and Old Bushmills Distillery (£20, doesn't include £5
admission to distillery, daily 9:30–17:45 depending on demand, book through and depart from Belfast
International City Hostel, listed on page 308). They also have private guides (book in advance, tel.
028/9031-5333, www.minicoachni.co.uk).
Boat Tours: The Lagan Boat Company shows you shipyards on a 75-minute Titanic Tour cruise,
narrated by a member of the Belfast Titanic Society. The tour shows off the fruits of the city's £800
million investment in its harbor, including a weir built to control the tides and stabilize the depth of the
harbour (it doubles as a free pedestrian bridge over the River Lagan). The heart of the tour is a lazy
harbour cruise past rusty dry-dock gates, brought alive by the guide's proud commentary and passed-
around historical photos (£8; daily sailings at 12:30, 14:00, and 15:30; fewer off-season, tel. 028/9033-
0844, mobile 077-1891-0423, www.laganboatcompany.com). Tours depart from the Lagan Pedestrian
Bridge and Weir on Donegall Quay. The quay is located just past the leaning Albert Clock Tower, a five-
minute walk from the TI.
City Hall
It will be a happy day when the sectarian neighbourhoods of Belfast have nothing to be sectarian about.
For a look at a couple of the original home bases of the Troubles, explore the working-class
neighbourhoods of the Catholic Falls Road and the Protestant Shankill Road or Sandy Row.
You can get tours of Falls Road or Shankill Road (see listings below), but rarely are both combined in one
tour. Ken Harper is part of a new breed of Belfast taxi drivers who will give you an insightful private tour
of both (£25 minimum or £6-8 per person for a 75-min tour, tel. 028/9074-2711, mobile 0771-175-7178,
www.harperstaxitours.co.nr).
Falls Road: At the intersection of Castle and King Streets, you'll find the Castle Junction Car Park. This
nine-story parking garage's basement (entrance on King Street) is filled with old black cabs — and the
only Irish-language signs in downtown Belfast. These shared black cabs efficiently shuttle residents from
outlying neighbourhoods up and down the Falls Road and to the city center. This service originated more
than 30 years ago at the beginning of the Troubles, when locals would hijack city buses and use them as
barricades in the street fighting. When bus service was discontinued, local paramilitary groups established
the shared taxi service. Any cab goes up the Falls Road, past Sinn Fein headquarters and lots of murals,
to the Milltown Cemetery (£2, sit in front and talk to the cabbie). Hop in and out. Easy-to-flag-down cabs
run every minute or so in each direction on the Falls Road. Twenty trained cabbies do one-hour tours
(£8/person for 90 min, £10 per additional hour, cheap for a small group of up to 7 riders, tel. 028/9031-
5777, www.wbta.net).
The Sinn Fein office and bookstore are near the bottom of Falls Road. The bookstore is worth a look. Page
through books featuring colour photos of the political murals that decorate the buildings. Money raised
here supports families of imprisoned IRA members.
A sad, corrugated structure called the Peace Wall runs a block or so north of Falls Road (along Cupar
Way), separating the Catholics from the Protestants in the Shankill Road area.
At the Milltown Cemetery, walk past all the Gaelic crosses down to the far right-hand corner (closest to
the highway), where the IRA Roll of Honor is set apart from the thousands of other graves by little green
railings. They are treated like fallen soldiers. Notice the memorial to Bobby Sands and nine other hunger
strikers. They starved themselves to death in the nearby Maze prison in 1981, protesting for political
prisoner status as opposed to terrorist criminal treatment. The prison closed in the fall of 2000.
Shankill Road and Sandy Row: You can ride a shared black cab through the Protestant Shankill Road
area (£20 for 1–2 people, £30 for 3–6 people, 60 min, tel. 028/9032-8775). Depart from North Street
near the intersection with Millfield Road; it's not well marked, but watch where the cabs circle and pick up
locals on the south side of the street.
An easier (and cheaper) way to get a dose of the Unionist side is to walk Sandy Row. From Hotel Europa,
walk a block down Glengall Street, then turn left for a 10-minute walk along a working-class Protestant
street. A stop in the Unionist memorabilia shop, a pub, or one of the many cheap eateries here may give
you an opportunity to talk to a local. You'll see murals filled with Unionist symbolism. The mural of William
of Orange's victory over the Catholic King James II (Battle of the Boyne, 1690) thrills Unionist hearts.
This 180-acre, two-museum complex straddles the road and rail at Cultra, midway between Bangor and
Belfast (8 miles east of town). The Folk Museum, an open-air collection of 34 reconstructed buildings
from all over the nine counties of Ulster, showcases the region's traditional lifestyles. After wandering
through the old-town site (church, print shop, schoolhouse, humble Belfast row house, and so on), you'll
head off into the country to nip into cottages, farmhouses, and mills. Most houses are warmed by a
wonderful peat fire and a friendly attendant. It can be dull or vibrant, depending upon when you visit and
your ability to chat with the attendants. Drop a peat brick on the fire.
The Transport Museum (downhill, over the road from the folk section) consists of three buildings. Start
at the bottom and trace the evolution of transportation from 7,500 years ago — when people first decided
to load an ox — to modern times. The lowest building holds an intriguing section on the sinking of the
Belfast-made Titanic. In the next two buildings, you roll through the history of bikes, cars, and trains. The
car section rumbles from the first car in Ireland (an 1898 Benz) through the "Cortina Culture" of the
1960s to the local adventures of John DeLorean and a 1981 model of his car.
Cost, Hours, Location: £5.50 for Folk Museum, £5.50 for Transport Museum, £7 combo-ticket for both,
£19 for families; July–Sept Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 11:00–18:00; March–June Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00,
Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 11:00–18:00; Oct–Feb closes daily at 16:00. Check the schedule for the day's
special events (tel. 028/9042-8428, www.uftm.org.uk). Allow three hours for your visit. Expect lots of
walking. Those with a car can drive from one section to the next.
From Belfast, reach Cultra by taxi (£10), bus #502 (2/hr, 30 min from Laganside Bus Centre), or train (£4
round-trip, 2/hr, 15 min, from any Belfast train station or from Bangor). Trains and buses stop right in the
park, but train service is more dependable. Public transport schedules are skimpy on Saturday and
Sunday.