On our walk back from the Ulster Museum to the centre of Belfast, we took a quick diversion to Sandy Row to check out some of the murals. I did want to go on an advertised murals tour, but the black cab company were a bit abrupt/rude when I tried to arrange something on the phone. It was not the same, but we ended up having our own tour of the murals. However, it would have been great to know the background of some of these and to hear some of Belfast's history.
I do know that Belfast had some problems in the past; political groups who wanted to split from (or stay with) the United Kingdom, violence as a result of the political views, and religious differences. I am probably not doing this justice and it probably goes a lot deeper than that. However, the images below are ones I gathered in Sandy Row. Apparently a lot of the working class areas of Belfast have a lot of these murals. Not all of them are 'controversial'. Some of them are simply dedications to famous people, such as George Best (a footballer), the Titanic, or flowers.
Other murals were dedicated to sports, such as the one below dedicated to Irish Football Association.
At the corner of Sandy Row and a major road is the below mural.
There were also murals located in the Cathedral Quarter. I saw a lot of street art around too, but I will be including this in another post. (Though the murals are also street art.)
The Duke of York pub had two whole walls and a ceiling covered in mural as well as some of the walls in their pub garden/parking area behind the pub. I am not sure who the people are in the murals, but I think they are based on real/famous people. Also note that this bar was extremely busy as was the alleyway outside it. Had it not been so busy, I think I would have convinced the others with me to pop in for a quick drink. The pub seems to have a lot of fame around it. Apparently the band Snow Patrol ('Chasing Cars') first gigged here.
On the way to the airport in east Belfast, we happened to discover more murals. Again, they were for a number of causes.
The two giant cranes, Samson and Goliath, can be seen in the background. There were also a couple of murals dedicated to the Titanic's fate.
There is also a "peace wall" somewhere in Belfast, but we did not discover where that was or drive past it. It would have been good to see it, though. Maybe if I ever go back to Belfast again I can find out where it is and also understand a little more about these walls.
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