People come from all over the world now to be treated here

People come from all over the world now to be treated here."The murals and slogans are here too, painted with as much colour and conviction, one a tribute to Bobby Sands and the other hunger-strikers. In windows you'll see the Pope instead of the Rev Ian Paisley, but everyone here is Christmas shopping too.We pass the Royal Victoria Hospital. Nicola, USA".We drive through the Peace Gates, which used to be locked at 6pm to keep the two sides apart. On the far side is the Falls Road, the Catholic area, which is a mirror-image of the Shankill Road except that the colours here are green, white and gold, rather than red, white and blue. It's a depressing sight in any city, a concrete and steel block topped by barbed wire, burnt by petrol bombs, the houses on either side with blackened window frames, like some Hollywood nightmare of a futuristic society blighted by violence.The hope is that here it is the past, and the Peace Wall will become a symbolic name, the wall itself torn down, like the Berlin Wall, by the people living on either side of it. Today it is covered by messages added by visitors from all over the world: "Peace for all in Northern Ireland", "Violence defeats the cause" and "One god, one people. A Japanese tourist is photographing a painting showing the Ulster Volunteer Force as heroes, and next to it the Ulster Freedom Fighters who are "Simply the Best".

"You can see where Catholics have come into the area and thrown paint bombs at it," says Michael.But we know it's more than paint bombs that get thrown, as Michael drives us down Lanark Way, known as Murder Mile, where tit-for-tat killings once took place. At the end we reach the sadly named Peace Wall, built to separate the two sides in an attempt to reduce the violence. The Shankill Road and the Falls Road both run out of the centre, parallel to one another, a few hundred yards apart. But people on both sides are now trying to educate the children out of this trap, they're building parks and playgrounds and football pitches to give the youngsters something else to do."We drive along the Shankill Road, looking like any other shopping street in any working-class area of any British city on a pre-Christmas Saturday. Plastic Santas stare out of shop windows, mums push prams, dads follow along pretending to show an interest in doing the Christmas shopping Then you see some graffiti: "All drug dealers will be shot". "You get that on both sides," Michael points out.You also get the bold and colourful murals, by the dozen, far more than I'd expected, and decorating the sides of shops on the main street as well as in the housing estates. It's no longer in use, but these are both listed buildings, and next year they are opening the jail as a public records office, where people can trace their family history."Martin McGuinness spent several months in that jail in 1976 after being charged with membership of the IRA, though the charges against him were eventually dropped.Everyone you speak to in Belfast seems optimistic about the future, expecting the peace process to succeed, and as the taxi takes us into the Shankill Road and later the Falls Road, you can begin to see what a monumental task the politicians have faced, and still face."In the Shankill Road," says Michael, "you'll see everything is red, white and blue Here we're only maybe 400 yards from the city centre People don't realise how close it all is.

There's a tunnel under the road so that when they were sent down, they went straight into the Crumlin Road Jail that you see on the other side. "On the left," says Michael, "is the Crumlin Road Courthouse, where they used to try the terrorists. People don't mind, they actually want you to see the murals." As we drive out of the compact city centre, Michael points out two huge yellow cranes over in the docks. "They are Samson and Goliath and they helped build the Titanic in 1911. In those days there were 25-30,000 people working in the shipyards, and though they're still busy, these days there's only 5,000 people working there, thanks to computerisation and mechanisation."We move on but within a minute or so we stop again and hear the first name that brings a chilling reminder of some of the things that have happened in Belfast. "Most people do want to see the areas they've seen on the television, and they want to know more about what's gone on, you know? You can ask anything you want to ask. Most people are a wee bit shy, but they want to know, so just ask And feel safe.

It's perfectly safe, and feel free to take photos if yous have cameras. Michael was a taxi driver at the height of the Troubles, which forced him out of his own city. "I'd lived here all my life, but the Troubles were too much for me. Fifteen innocent taxi drivers were shot dead, so I decided to leave.

I've lived in New Zealand, Canada, Dublin, the USA - but I missed Belfast so much that I had to come back, and I returned to driving the black cab when things seemed to have improved a wee bit." Michael got so many requests from visitors to take them round the Falls Road and Shankill Road areas that he decided to offer organised tours as well as doing his regular cab work. The Boxing Day Dip takes place in the even colder waters of the North Sea, where an unbelievable 900 people are expected to take part, many in fancy dress, gathering on Sunderland's Promenade to be doused by the hoses of the local fire brigade's "guard of honour" before running down the beach into the sea The event is organised by the local Lions Club for charity For more information (tel: 0191-5678221).. It's not your conventional tour But then Belfast is not your conventional city Nor is Michael Johnston a conventional tour leader. Those who wish to attend carols at King's are advised by the porters to get there early (before 10am) for tickets; people are known to start queuing at 6am.