Monday, August 18th                  DERRY

Robyn writes: We started our day with an excellent hotel breakfast (included in our room rate). They had a huge range of hot and cold dishes including Irish potato bread, soda bread and the black and white puddings. I tried the potato bread - a bit like the boxty but tougher. Possibly it had sat there for too long! They also had fresh fruit salad and yoghurts and a lovely range of pastries, so a huge feed if you wanted it. The sun was shining when we first woke up but of course by breakfast time it was raining again.

Following breakfast, we quickly got ourselves organised to head out to make the 10am walking tour around Derry's city centre. We got there easily in time and there were a crowd of about 15 of us. The sun was shining when John, our tour guide, began talking, but by the time he'd finished his introductory bit, it was raining and blowing a gale! I was bitterly regretting having seriously underdressed for the occasion. (Only three layers including a woollen jumper and lined waterproof jacket; what was I thinking?!) My toes were so cold even in woollen socks and joggers. I kept looking at John's shorts and sandals and wondering if he'd get frostbite. Anyway, it stopped raining after a few minutes and pretty much held off for the rest of the tour, so we were quite lucky.

This is the only remaining solidly Protestant area of Derry. You can tell by the red, white and blue gutters, Union Jacks and murals!

John our tour guide has perfected the art of walking backwards along the top of the wall while talking to his audience!

The building on the right with the British Lion on top is the Court House. It has the unenviable distinction of being the most frequently bombed building in Derry during the Troubles. This photo was taken from the top of the wall.

Looking down at Bogside, the Catholic quarter, scene of the Bloody Sunday massacre

"Hands Across the Divide" statue symbolizing peace process in Derry

Church of Ireland church on the site of the original St Columba's monastery

The tour was excellent - an overview of the history of Derry from the first settlement by St Columba in the 500s to the English takeover and "Plantation" of the 1600s right through to the 'Troubles' of the 1960s and 70s. It brought it all back, how Londonderry was a name you just associated with violence and death when we were growing up. Thank heavens sanity finally prevailed and the city has rebuilt and repaired and is now a wonderful place to visit. John was a wonderful storyteller and for 4 pounds each it was excellent value (plus we got a free cuppa at the end of the tour!) We walked around most of the wall and into 'The Diamond' in the centre of the CBD - fantastic to do, and if you ever visit Derry it's a 'must-do' activity.

After the tour we had our free cuppas and a scone each, then Lex went off to walk over the "Peace Bridge" (new pedestrian bridge) and I wanted to see the famous murals, so I went back to the hotel and put on several more layers then ventured down the hill to "Bogside", which is the Catholic stronghold and the site of most of the violence. The murals are wonderful - there are 12 of them by local artists on different themes of the Troubles. Very striking and some very sad. I also visited the Bloody Sunday memorial - erected in memory of the 13 Derrymen who died in January 1972 when British soldiers opened fire on them. (When I got back to the hotel I just had to go onto Youtube and find the U2 song "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Found an excellent clip which has footage in it and I recognised quite a bit of the area I'd just been in. They were terrifying times.) If you're not familiar with the song, I heavily recommend a viewing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrsuRI9UEWc

This is one of the most famous murals, called "Death of Innocence" - it shows a 14 year old schoolgirl who was killed in the crossfire when she was going to the grocery store.

This mural shows the 13 who died in the Bloody Sunday massacre

"The Petrol Bomber" shows a schoolboy wearing a gas mask about to throw a petrol bomb

This mural is dedicated to the women of Derry. The female MP who is talking got 6 months in jail for inciting a riot.

The Free Derry sign has been hijacked for a message about the Arab/Israeli conflict

This is the Bloody Sunday memorial. You can see our hotel in the background.

We met up back at the hotel then went for lunch at Nando's; always a nice meal there. Then we went down the hill to the Tower Museum, which again was excellent value at 4 pounds each. It's in a castle rebuilt like the original from the middle ages built by the O'Donoghues. It has two displays - one which shows the history of Derry right from St Columba to the present time, with lots of excellent videos and artefacts, and the other which is a display of objects rescued from one of the Spanish Armada boats which sank nearby after Sir Francis Drake had routed them and they were trying to return home. Shades of the Mary Rose, except most of the sailors from this one didn't drown (not that it did them any good; the vast majority of them were massacred by the British soldiers...there's really very few happy endings in Irish history, I've discovered.)

After the museum, Lex headed home for a nap while I went off to the Peace Bridge and to visit the Guildhall. This is an amazing building which has been wrecked twice, by fire in the early 1900s and by IRA bombs in 1972, but repaired and rebuilt both times. It has some glorious stained glass that shows the history of the city but it's also a stunning building in its own right. We'd assumed it was a church when we saw it yesterday! I also had a nice wander around the shops and when it had stopped raining again, another walk around the walls before heading back to the hotel to have a cuppa and put my feet up. Feeling refreshed, Lex went for a walk along the river.

The Guildhall

Peace bridge

Queen Victoria lost her arms in the IRA bombing

Magnificent stained glass

This one is for Sandy, who has Doherty ancestors in Derry!

When he came back at about 7, we went across the road to the Wetherspoons, "The Diamond", which is (not surprisingly) in the Diamond. These are excellent pubs with very cheap, quite nice meals. I had the roast beef with a glass of Pinot Gringio and Lex had the chicken and capsicum kebab meal for under 13 pounds. Very good value and a nice meal. I'm now sitting in the foyer of the hotel to finish this as the expensive internet access I paid 5 pounds for yesterday has expired - it was useless, as it seemed to block social media, such as our blog site! So I'm much better off with the free access in the hotel's main areas. Tomorrow we are off to Portrush, a little seaside town very near the famous Giant's Causeway.