As a kid, I remember the evening news often talked of civil unrest and outright urban war in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I really didn’t give it much thought because at the time I was more concerned about football and girls than the political situation in a very distant place.

But something must have stuck, because the city and its struggles have always intrigued me. That’s why I couldn’t miss the opportunity to travel to Belfast as a day trip from Dublin when we visited the Irish capital.

In our travels, my lovely wife and I have been in a location or two where we felt uncomfortable and maybe even a bit unsafe, and that’s exactly what I expected from Belfast. While my rational mind told me this was not the Belfast of the 1980s, my irrational mind did its part to create concern.

We were most interested in exploring the city’s famous murals which are painted to express both political and religious views. The murals are spread out, so we decided to hire a cabby to show us the city. We hired our driver through Belfast Attractions. A 1.5-hour tour guide cost about $45, a decent travel deal. He picked us up at the train station and our Belfast travel trip began there.

Our tour included the murals on Falls Road and Shankill Road as well as Milltown Cemetery. We also visited a few gardens of remembrance which were built to honor the lives lost during “The Troubles.”

I was captivated by what our driver called the Peace Wall. Built to divide the Falls Road and Shankill Road neighborhoods, our driver told us the wall’s gates are still locked at 6 p.m. to prevent cars from passing between neighborhoods at night. He also showed us that the homes which are built close to the wall have defensive fences to protect the windows from objects hurled over from the other side. Our driver was Catholic so we only spent a little time in the Protestant areas, especially Shankill, because he said he was “not comfortable” there.

The Peace Wall

Defensive fencing on homes near the Peace Wall

In spite of what my irrational mind was trying to tell me, I never felt unsafe in Belfast. While many of the murals espoused violence and revenge, the people with whom we dealt were friendly and nobody really gave us a second look.

After our tour we walked to Sandy Row which greets visitors with a chilling reminder that the violence may have subsided, but the scars of the city’s sectarian divide are far from faded.