Belfast: Political Walking Tour with Ex-Prisoners & Murals

4.62

(443 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I noticed was the smell of spray paint — not fresh, but lingering in the cracks of the Peace Wall as we stood there listening to Joe. He’d been on the inside, he said, for years I can’t even imagine. His voice was low but steady, telling us about nights when the city felt like it might split in two. There were kids kicking a ball nearby, their laughter echoing off the concrete. It’s strange how normal life just keeps happening right up against all this history.

We crossed over from Falls Road to Shankill with our guides — one Republican, one Loyalist. That part felt tense at first (maybe just me?), but then Mary, our Loyalist guide, pointed out a mural she helped paint herself. She told us what each symbol meant while a bus rumbled past and everyone had to shuffle closer to hear her. I tried to repeat one Irish phrase she used and completely mangled it; she laughed and said my accent was “grand enough.”

I didn’t expect to feel so much just looking at walls and painted faces — especially outside Frizzell’s Fish Shop where you could still see scorch marks if you looked close enough. At Bombay Street, Joe got quiet for a minute before explaining how his own family lost their home during the Troubles. There was a chill in the air even though it wasn’t that cold out, or maybe that was just me thinking about everything people here have lived through.

The whole day trip around West Belfast went fast — too fast honestly — but I keep thinking about those stories and how both guides shook hands at the end. If you want a political tour in Belfast that doesn’t shy away from hard truths (and includes both sides), this is it.