The company that made the Titanic is a storied institution in Belfast, Harland & Wolff. For a time, they played a role in making Belfast the largest ship-building center in the world. They continued work long after the making of the Titanic and today is still functioning as an engineering firm. Two of the foundations of the ship-building, and now marine engineering business are the structures known as Samson and Goliath, which are essentially large cranes that assist in final assembly. One of these can be seen in the background of the photo of Jessica and me below.
There are not many famous structures in Belfast, but one of the more notable is a bell tower dedicated to the husband of Queen Victoria, which has begun to take on a noticeable lean.
No trip to Ireland can be complete without taking some time to see a bit outside the city. Jessica and I went on a day tour by bus, seeing some gorgeous scenery.
One of the last things we did in Belfast was to explore some of the recent history of Northern Ireland centered around the troubles, the period of conflict between the Catholic and Protestant communities. Many of the neighborhoods of Belfast have historically been either Catholic or Protestant, and working class neighborhoods so delineated became hotbeds of the militant groups. Murals became a significant form group proclamation and community identification. Jessica and I went on a taxi-cab tour that allowed us to see some of these murals, as well as a wall that separates the Catholic sections from the Protestant ones, providing a barrier to limit inter-communal conflict. Below is one of the murals from a Protestant neighborhood.
