The Northern Ireland capital does remain scarred by scores of high walls of brick, corrugated iron and barbed wire that separate the most militant Irish Catholic and British Protestant districts — barriers called "peace lines" because they deter street fighting. [...] visitors to Belfast can be pleasantly surprised to find gleaming glass-fronted shopping malls, trendy cafes, clusters of high-tech industries — and lots of fellow tourists. Long gone are the British Army helicopters that once maintained a round-the-clock surveillance watch over the city.