Recently I went to Belfast to visit with a good colleague and friend from graduate school. He is an accomplished political scientist on his second Fulbright studying ethnic conflict. His studies took him to Belfast.
The city looks as though it has and continues to be a 'conflict area'. There were dangerous places to go - even during the day - and suspicious glances and a generally gruff style of interaction with the locals. We surveyed the most active parts of Belfast, visiting Shankill and New Lodge. The murals depicting the costs of continued conflict between the Republicans and the Loyalists are not hard to miss.
Dr. Brent Never was an excellent guide, filling in the seemingly innocuous walks with terrifying information about the places we were. Of course, we also had a lot to catch up on which made the visit more than worth it.
Anyway, the 'edge' that this city had was easily dispelled by authentic Guinness and Bushmills.
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