Travel Stories: The Murals of Belfast

This article is about the Northern Ireland capital Belfast, its narrow streets and colorful murals. This port city will amaze you!

During the Easter holidays, I made a five-day trip across Ireland. I visited Dublin, Belfast, and Galway, all beautiful cities. I brought my very reliable Olympus 35 RC for black and white photos, the compact Olympus XA2 for color shots, and the Lomo LCA+RL for night photography. In this article, I will show you my color photos of Belfast, a wonderful place adorned with murals.

I took a morning train from Dublin to Belfast. After a couple of hours, I arrived at the central station, where I rode a shuttle bus to Donegall Square, the city center. People were having lunch at a park to take advantage of the sun. That April day it was 20°C, unusually high for Ireland.

Despite a turbulent political and religious past, Belfast is now a completely pacified city. Passports are no longer required upon entry to Ireland from Northern Ireland, and vice versa. In recent years, Belfast has also hosted many important cultural events. Only some murals bear traces of this past conflict.

The City Hall and St. Anne Cathedral are some of Belfast’s most important monuments. Albert Memorial Clock also stands proud. It was built between 1865 and 1969 as a memorial to Prince Albert, the Queen Victoria’s late consort.

A few steps from the cathedral is the narrow and colorful Commercial Street, where you can find many traditional pubs and whiskey distilleries. The first image above is of a restaurant with an interesting wooden architecture.

In the same district, by the small squares or in the public courtyards, I discovered many beautiful murals.

In these paintings you can find everything from the great football player George Best to a duel of union representatives. I also spotted a most welcome invitation: “Youth against racism!”

When in Dublin, make sure to visit Belfast. You will not regret it!

written by sirio174 on 2015-05-20 #places #cathedral #northern-ireland #belfast #city-hall #location #ireland #united-kingdom #murals