Scarred by decades of conflict, the Catholic Falls Road is a compelling place, as are all political hotbeds. It is quite safe -- the residents are used to sightseers wandering through to photograph the political murals, and most people are welcoming. It's an ordinary enough looking neighborhood -- houses have flowers in the windows and kids play in the streets. The big skyscraper you can see down the road is the Divis Tower -- it's all residential save for the top two floors, which were taken over by the British military in the 1970s, and are still used as a watchtower. Just past the tower begins the long, tall, imposing wall of wood, concrete, and metal that has become known as the "Peace Line." It has divided the Catholics of Falls Road from the Protestants of Shankill Road for 30 years. Its huge metal gates are open during the day, but some are still closed at night. In some sections, the fence is more than 6m (20 ft.) tall. It has become a sort of Berlin Wall of Ireland, and locals and visitors draw pictures and write messages of peace on it. On the corner of Falls and Sevastopol Street is the surprisingly small Sinn Fein headquarters -- at one end of the building is a mural of the late hunger striker Bobby Sands, arguably the most famous political mural in Belfast. The theme of the murals on the Falls Road can be quite wide-ranging these days; there are some protesting against causes such as the Iraq war and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, in addition to matters closer to home.
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