Our first experience with a port tour rip-off was in Belfast, where we took a tour led by an elderly racist woman who reeked of stale whiskey and cigarettes.  Within five minutes, she managed to alienate almost every person on the bus.  To offend Americans she said “You are such a lovely people, I’m so sorry we lost you”, and she was even more offensive in her open hated from the Scottish people. 

Janet suspected that she was drunk.

Fake Indians invade Belfast!

Inside the Irish Republic

My mother was born in Dublin and I’ve always been fascinated with the Irish mindset.  The year my Mother was born (1920), Dublin was the scene of fierce fighting, and I remember my mother’s family having a picture of Jesus with a bullet hole in it, a reminder of the dangers of religious conflict. 

The British have traditionally felt superior to their colonies, and the 1800’s magazine “Punch” depicted the Irish as sub-human, monkey-like creatures:

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Even after all of the bombings that resulted from their mistreatment of the Irish, the British still feel compelled to belittle their neighbors, and I’ve heard more than a few Welsh jokes in the pubs of the UK.  Great Britain was very wealthy in the 1840’s, and many Irish allege that England deliberately chose not to intercede to save their colony from mass starvation, and it’s interesting to hear their take on the root cause of the “troubles” that have taken many lives:

• Henry VIII started the whole mess by starting the Church of England for the sole purpose of drilling more women in search of a male heir. (from an Irish Cabbie)
   

• Queen Victoria could have saved (thousands/millions) of lives during the Great Famine and Queen Vicky presided over the worst Holocaust in human history. (from an Irish computer programmer)
   

• God has punished the English for their oppression by making them as has-been empire, and divine intervention was responsible for the drop in the British pound (from a fellow in a pub)

Even though the cease fire of 1994 has made Ireland a safe place to visit, if you scratch beneath the surface you will still find a widespread popular resentment over the British 400 years of forced occupation.

If you want to understand the roots of the hatred between the Irish and the British, check out the great book "Paddy's Lament".  Once you understand how the British treated the Irish as a sub-human species and how Queen Victoria presided over one of the greatest holocausts in human history, you can start to appreciate the hatred that is seen in Belfast.

Belfast Black Taxi City tours - phone:  02890 642264 - also open bus tours

Belfast attractions:

• Giants Causeway

• Antrim Coast

• Cave Hill - Belfast Castle, built in 1879, stands on the summit of Cave Hill. From a vantage point near the castle, you will have a panorama of the city and its semicircle of green hills.

• Belfast Burns Federation - Telephone: +353 42 9379019

• St. George's Market - Flea & craft market