Nature's full palette of colors springs off the hilltops surrounding Belfast on this sunny morning. The verdant slopes are splashed with shades of green, and white clouds drift across a brilliant blue sky. Suddenly, we are jolted from the bucolic scene as our taxi pulls in front of another work of art, this one painted on the side of a row house. A paramilitary figure, in camouflage and black mask, has us in the crosshairs of his weapon and in the sightline of his steely glare. It's impossible to tell which is more menacing.
Bullet holes, yes, but no Troubles
This chilling mural is one of dozens of huge displays that adorn the gabled ends of otherwise drab, nondescript terraced houses and shops in the working-class neighborhoods of Belfast. While some Protestant loyalists and Roman Catholic republicans took up arms for their causes, others wielded paintbrushes. Underneath their graphic images and searing political commentary, many of these murals are incredible artworks, filled with colors as vivid as Mother Nature's.
This dichotomy of brutality and beauty befits Northern Ireland, where for nearly 30 years terrible acts of violence unfolded amid the gorgeous landscape. Today, nearly a decade after the historic Good Friday Agreement brought peace, the capital has emerged as a cosmopolitan city bursting with energy. In a true sign of progress, the Crumlin Road Courthouse, where thousands of loyalists and republicans stood trial during the Troubles, is being redeveloped into a 160-room luxury hotel.
While Belfast's boutique hotels, trendy restaurants, and thriving arts scene are drawing visitors from around the globe, so are the city's political murals. Amazingly, the sectarian neighborhoods, which were the epicenter of bombings and bloodshed, are now tourist destinations. Double-decker tour buses drive past some of the murals on their routes around Belfast, but a black taxi tour offers a much more personalized and in-depth experience. (Not all taxis are allowed to travel through both Protestant and Catholic areas, so confirm beforehand that your tour will include both sides.)
Our driver, Jimmy, picked us up at our hotel, and within minutes we were in the heart of the Catholic Falls Road area of West Belfast. Many of the murals in this blue-collar neighborhood honor the 10 Irish Republican Army hunger strikers who died in prison in 1981. The youthful face of Bobby Sands, 27, the first of them to die, gazes out from the side of the Sinn Fein office on Falls Road. Alongside his smiling visage, framed by his long brown locks, are the words: "Our revenge will be the laughter of our children."
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