Belfast by Bus
The news that an 18 day old baby boy was lucky to escape injury in a petrol bomb attack in North Belfast reminds us that for people living close to interfaces true peace and stability remains a hope not a reality. But for the tourists passing through our city the troubles are less an ever present threat and more a unique curiosity.
Over the weekend I found myself in the slightly bizarre situation of being sandwiched between tourists on an open top bus taking a ride around the peacelines - the children wanted to try novel forms of transport - a train on Sunday and an open top bus on Monday. It felt weird to find myself on a guided tour of the streets from which I've spent years reporting.
The guide assured the visitors they'd be perfectly safe getting off on the Shankill or the Falls "the worst that will probably happen to you is that some granny might take you home and feed you up for three weeks". We took in the murals, the remains of the Shankill Eleventh Night Bonfire, the new Victoria Square complex (guide - "they brought in a firm from England to blow up the old buildings when they could have found a bunch of lads in any pub here who would have done it for free in the middle of the night") and were told to make a wish whilst circling three times around Carson's statue at Stormont. The Albert Clock leans, apparently, because the ladies of the night used to lean against it (guide - "the red light district isn't here anymore - if you want to know where it is now, ask Tommy the driver").
Fleeting impressions. Even though we all know there's a lot of development going on, when you see it area after area the amount of construction under way throughout the city is staggering. The vandalised state of the Crumlin Road courthouse is parlous, and the sooner some real security and development of the court building and the jail across the road happens the better (one is due to be a hotel, the other might be a backpackers' hostel, although personally I've always thought it would be a great museum). Finally, the new extension to the Grand Opera House leaves something to be desired (guide - "it looks like a big urinal"). Presumably the new Fitzwilliam hotel will improve the look of that corner of Great Victoria Street.
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Have to agree with you Mark about the Opera House!! Who in their right minds designed that? A kid with some building blocks? If anyone else had put an extension on to their Grade 1 listed property like that they'd be in front of the courts!!! They seem determined to hide the architectural gem that is the Opera House. Shame they demolished the Hippodrome beside it (intact but hidden behind steel cladding) in 1996 - from archive photos if it had been uncovered it would have been a brilliant restoration to Great Victoria Street (which is what the Opera House originally wanted to do, I believe) EDIT
Agree with the carbuncle beside the opera house. A complete and utter disaster, who gave that planning permission ?