When His Holiness arrived on Belfast's famous Peace Line yesterday, there wasn't a Popemobile in sight. And while His Holiness the Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, is not in the habit of kissing the ground when he arrives on foreign shores, he had a whole host of other idiosyncrasies that endeared him to the crowds.
On a symbolic walk through the normally locked Workman Avenue gates off the Springfield Road, the Dalai Lama affectionately tugged the facial hair of a vicar and a priest. Later he burst into infectious giggles as he shook the hands of well-wishers.
Earlier in the week, the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Sammy Wilson, expressed cynicism at the visit of the Nobel Peace Prize winner to Belfast but the Dalai Lama (65) charmed everyone yesterday as he preached his message of peace. Even Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams appeared deeply impressed after meeting him, talking about the Buddhist's "quiet strength".
The Dalai Lama was in Belfast for a conference which over the next two days will explore how religious harmony can contribute to peacemaking. He will meet the leaders of the main religious denominations, the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, and the President, Mrs McAleese.
But yesterday was more about pressing and blessing the flesh. Lanark Way, the scene of violent unrest during the marching season last July, took on a bohemian air as a crowd of Catholics and Protestants waited patiently for the small bespectacled man.
Surrounded by often heavy-handed security, he got down on his knees and used his hands to shovel soil on to two newly planted saplings - one each on the Protestant and Catholic side of the peaceline.
Wheelchair-bound Marie Humphries from Workman Avenue said he had asked after her health: "I have never met anyone like him in my life, I hope his visit can do some good here after all these years of trouble," she said.
At the end of a press conference in Clonard Monastery, the Dalai Lama himself was asked what he thought his presence could do for peace. "You should judge after I have left," he said. " You watch the situation and see whether it has been of benefit or not. If no benefit, no problem. Thank you," he said. He was applauded loudly by journalists, most of whom hung around afterwards to shake his hand.