If you want to try to understand the former Irish Troubles, if you wish to see the expression of the division between Protestants and Catholics, you have a choice. You can visit the museums. They can look at it from a historical perspective. You can also visit cultural centers for their own interpretation. Yet, for a people’s perspective and a gut reaction, you must visit two areas in Belfast: Falls Road and Skankill Road.
Shankill Road is the Protestant section of town. Falls Road is the Catholic neighborhood. You can come to view the housing conditions or visit the bookstores. The major reason to visit either section of the city is to see the murals. Between them stretches the corrugated, grim, grey Peace Wall. It allows you easy access between the two neighborhoods during the day, but it is closed at night. On Falls Road, you can view the political murals such as “The Great Hunger” and see the IRA Roll of honor in Milltown Cemetery. In Shankill, there is the Unionist Memorabilia shop and murals of James Buchanan, Cromwell and the 1741 Rebellion as well as a memorial to the UVF.