Merry Derry (not very scary)

After we left Giant's Causeway, we took a quick stop at Dunluce Castle to take pictures. It is one of the most picturesque castles in Ireland. The wife of the man who lived there refused to stay in the castle because it was so close to the water and she was terrified of falling into the sea. He built her a separate house that was much further inland.


Again, unfortunately these pictures are not mine. Next time I do this, I'll take more than one set of spare batteries on the bus. I had more batteries back at the hostel, so most of the ones after Derry will be from my own camera, but in the meantime, I'm glad my friends take good pictures.


From Dunluce, we continued on to Derry. There is still tension between the British loyalists (Protestants) and the Irish nationalists (Catholics) that live there, though it has not been very violent since 1998. The loyalists actually refer to the city as "Londonderry" and this is on the street signs on the loyalist side. The picture above is Derry Town Hall.

The River Foyle separates loyalist Derry from nationalist Derry. There are definite differences between the sides in terms of decorating and the murals.


As in Belfast, there are lots of murals in Derry. This is one from the Irish side. Our tour guide, Rory, is Irish and he grew up in Derry so he had a lot of personal history with the place. The background of the mural shows people gassing victims in a violent outbreak. There is also a woman pounding on the ground, which was a warning to the IRA (Irish Republican Army) that the British were coming into the city.

This is another view of the Irish side. Notice the green, white, and orange on the light pole? There's also an Irish flag flying in another mural.


I also have a picture of the British loyalist side. The colors are a little more clear here. A lot of the curbs I saw on that side were painted red, white, and blue. The colors are faded but they are definitely still there.

Our walking tour of Derry was very informative. We saw a memorial to those who died in the Bloody Sunday massacre and we learned about the IRA and the divided sides of the city. I'm really glad we got to do this in addition to the lighthearted fun of the rope bridge and Giant's Causeway. We also took a tour of Belfast and learned about the struggles there, but that is a story for a different time...like the next post.