First of all, I'd like ot explain why I keep writing "Derry / Londondery". As You maybe know, Northern Ireland has been in conflict for many years. The general problem was whether Northern Ireland should belong to Republic of Ireland (idea supported by Catholics) or to United Kingdon (idea supported by Protestants). So... Protestants call it Londonderry and Catholics Derry.
So... taking the ocassion of my favourite airline Ryanair 2p flights I decided to go to Northern Ireland. The flight to Derry form Prestwick took about 25 minutes :) At the airport I was the only person checked by Police. Where are You going? What are You going to do? What do You do in Glasgow? Address? University? etc. Felt a bit like entering a war zone... Indeed Derry is not very popular travel destination. But I was positively surprised.
The city is quite small. There is city centre surrounded by city-walls. The main attraction are murals. There are few streets where You cans find most of them. They are maked on free city map from TI.
I stayed in Derry City Independent Hostel. Seriously, one of the best hostels I stayed in! Close to city centre, clean and very nice and helphul staff.
What else can I say... Just look at those pictures. (sorry my uni server refused adding here pictures.. I'll add them later)

The Cross of Saint George waved from the lampposts leading into Derry.  The name of the town was actually changed to Londonderry back in 1613 during the Plantation of Ulster, but the Irish and most Northern Irish, particularly nationalists who resent the insertion of the “London” prefix and what it represents, will strictly use the original name of “Derry” when speaking of the town.  Maps, however, use the long form.

The Tower Hotel Derry is the only hotel located within the historic city walls and it enjoys a unique central location just off the Diamond at the top of Shipquay Street, the city’s main thoroughfare. I’ve stayed there a few times on business and really liked it. Tower Hotel is a contemporary four-star hotel, and although only open since May 2002, it has won a number of awards including an AA Rosette and RAC dining award for the restaurant, making it the most popular hotel in Derry. Derry is one of Ireland’s oldest cities. It was the last city in Ireland to be encircled by walls and the only city where the original walls still survive intact. Visitors can walk the one-mile route along the City’s walls. Today, Derry is a vibrant city bustling with shops, bars and restaurants, and Tower Hotel Derry is the great and relaxing place to stay. It can be a little pricey, so use the on-line booking facility and the further in advance the better. The last time I stayed cost £65 for a double room (per room rate) including breakfast. Their restaurant and bistro is particularly good, and maybe a product of growing competition and choice in the greater Derry area. Good selection of fish and seafood. On my last trip a large party of Japanese visitors said it was the best food they had eaten in their one week stay touring Ireland! When I stayed there I really enjoyed that it is within walking distance of all amenities; shopping and entertainment, theatres and museums, arts and crafts. It is a short taxi ride from Derry airport. The Tower Hotel has 90 bedrooms, 3 Suites, a café style bar, an award winning Mediterranean bistro, 5 designated conference suites, a fitness suite and private and secure on-site car park.

Today the guide had a short tour scheduled for us.  The bus took us into town where the inner part of the city is completely surrounded by a wall.  We walked around the wall and a local guide gave us some of the history.  He pointed out some of the murals from their famous "Bloody Sunday" and showed us the lower bog side.  He left us in the center of the city in the craft village.  It is a cute area, but many of the stores are shut now. 

Our walk through the city took us through a shopping center, into a small museum, and a stop for lunch.  We ate at a place called Ice House, which was good for a quick bite.  After lunch we did some more shopping and explored the wall around the city.  Outside the wall we took some pictures and looked at the murals painted on the buildings.  The city is very pretty and different, but it leaves an unsettling feeling.. since it has so much history.  Right inside the wall, Kara and I got coffee at a cute little cafe called Cafe Nervosa.  We searched for a pub to hang out in later, but we were out during a time when most people go home for a few hours.  No one was around, so we decided to get some dinner and go back.  We ended up at a pub called The Quiet Man, which has the theme from the John Wayne movie.  It was very cute. 

We took a cab back to the hotel in time to see a children's dance group Irish dancing for the guests.  We watched for a few min and relaxed the rest of the night at the hotel bar.  I would have prefered to go out, but everyone was tired.  Being college students at the time..  we always ordered pizza late night, so we attempted in Ireland.  We found a place that delivered, but it was smallest pizza I've ever seen...   it satisfied the craving though..

Recorrido por la ciudad antigua y sus murallas. Vistas de los famosos murales en Free Derry´s Corner y monumento del Bloody Sunday

After leaving Drogheda, we headed north toward Derry, our destination for the day.  On the way, we made a stop at a rather random cemetary.  This, however, turned out to be a really neat place!  The graves were hundreds of years old and there were celtic crosses that dated back over 1000 years.  There were also monk towers designed to keep the monks safe from invaders.  The particular tower in the pictures was never conquered!

After the cemetary we took a drive along the strait that separates Ireland and Scotland.  The scenery was breathtaking!  We actually pulled into Derry at about 4PM, and the streets were completely empty.  No cars, no people...like a ghost town.  It was explained to us that, because of the animosity between the Catholics and the Prodestants in the area, people went straight home after work and stayed indoors...until it was time to go to the pub!  We discovered just how severe the situation was a little later that evening.

We checked into our hostel and then went for a walking tour around the city with our guide.  Derry is one of the few completely walled in cities remaining in the world, although the town has outgrown it's old shell and now spills down the hillside.  Our tour took us past some murals on the side of buildings telling of some of the bloodshed that had happened here in years past.  We could see in the distance a rather large cemetary where some of those people now lie.  We then took a walk on the wall itself, offering great views of the city.  We then saw the Catholic section of the city...it was a completely walled in community, with incredibly high fences and an aura that screamed "Keep Out".  Again, we didn't see a single soul or a single light on in that community.

After the tour ended, a group of us got some British Pounds and went to the supermarket to buy dinner (budget minded, remember?).  We all took whatever we bought back to the hostel and cooked it up learning about each other and sharing experiences and stories.  When dinner was over, we headed out into the town to find a place to hang out for the evening.  Once we had found a popular local pub, we settled in for the evening and chatted amongst ourselves.  It was the perfect way to end the day!

In the morning we set out for the Giant's Causeway and Belfast.  Along the way to Giant's Causeway we passed the ruins of Dunluce Castle, right on the coast.  It must have been amazing in it's prime, but it still looks neat!  Check out the pics!

My last day in Derry was a rainy day, so I checked out the Tower Museum, which chronicles the history of the City and also the discovery of one of the sunken ships of the Spanish Armada, which was a failed attempt to invade England in 1588.  After that I grabbed groceries and headed back to the dry hostel.  I had picked out a new book, so I pretty much spent the afternoon reading.  Now the hostel I was in was the second building, and everyone but me checked out the day before, so I had the entire thing to myself, all four floors.  A little too quiet for me, although I'll be longing for it later I'm sure.  But after a while it got to me, so I went next door to the main part and took advantage of the free internet and checked email.  While there I managed to make a new friend to head to the pub with, so I finally checked out some of the nightlife here - lots of Guinness and a shot of Jameson for good measure.  I must say I do like Derry, so if ever you ponder a trip here, Doolin, Inis Mor and Derry must be on the list!

Now to Belfast...

I was not nervous at all going to Northern Ireland just anxious. Back home, people said we should be extra careful, stay on the bus with all the troubles going on with the political conflict, but I figured what happens, happens and is beyond our control. Our director said we could possibly be stopped at the border but we were not. There wasn't any, at least where we went through. Bill said it was just as safe as any place in America and had one area (street) where there could be a problem area just like cities in America have their areas to stay away from. Our first stop was in LONDONDERRY or DERRY, a walled city, where we had a local guide, Ronan, give us a city walking tour. It is also known as the "Maiden City" because it's walls were never breached during the Siege of Derry from 1688-1689. We saw the GUILDHALL and the old city walls and then went inside ST. COLUMB'S CATHEDRAL. St. Columb's is the mother church of the Church of Ireland built in 1633. From the walls, we had views of the city; seeing the main road, housing projects and mountains in the distance. Then back on the bus to sights that would quickly become 2 of my favorite places in all of Ireland!

I am officially in the UK now.  I’m in Derry, a city in Northern Ireland that is right on the border with the Republic of Ireland.  After checking into my hostel, I had to get new currency (I now have three currencies on me).  I thought the exchange rate with the Euro was bad, but the pound is even worse.  While my hostel is ONLY 11 pounds a night, that’s really 22 US dollars.  Not so good.

Derry is a walled city, about a mile all around, and it is the only remaining walled city in Ireland.  You can walk the entire circle.  Today I chose to check out the Museum of Free Derry, which just opened four months ago and chronicles the Civil Rights Movement here leading up to Bloody Sunday on January 30, 1972, in which 14 unarmed individuals were killed by British troops, many shot in the back.  The museum contains pictures and audio from the Battle of Bogside, to the internments, and eventually the 15,000 person march in protest and Bloody Sunday. 

The gentleman who welcomed and introduced me to the exhibit was the brother of one of the victims.  My hair stood on end when he told me this, and I had to hold back tears many times throughout the exhibit.  I wondered how he could stand to be there, but he reiterated that the museum was about educating and remembering.  The museum itself stands on the site of where the massacre occurred.  Standing outside was eery as everyone was busy about their day, sweeping, walking and doing other household chores.  I suppose you must move on.  A monument sits nearby so that no one will forget and many murals in the area depict the struggles.

It is amazing that the events around Bloody Sunday are still unsettled.  The initial inquiry came back that the British did no wrong.  However, a second inquiry was called and lasted from 1998 until 2004, including 921 witnesses.  A report is due out next year. 

Derry was an unplanned stop on the way to Belfast/Giants Causeway.  It is very pretty, sits on a river and has many places to explore.  I'm glad I made it and will explore some more of its history tomorrow.

PART II

Last night I headed out in search of groceries and spotted a group of obvious travelers (large group of about 20) heading down the street from my hostel.  I decided to follow them to see where they were going.  It turned out they were meeting up for a guided walking tour of the city, which I had thought about doing earlier in the day but didn't due to the cost.  Well, I just slid in there with them.  We walked around the wall and over to the Free Derry area where I was earlier.  Our guide talked about the struggles between the Catholics and the Protestants , even showing us the different neighborhoods they lived in and an existing wall that divided them.  He also talked about how the name of the town to this day is contested - Derry or Londonderry, depends on where you side.  To avoid conflicts, they call the bus that heads here from Belfast the Maiden so as not to offend anyone.  However, the guide indicated that due to the recent peace process, this city has seen the most calm that he's seen in his lifetime, and he is about 55 I would say.  I had read some about this before I came.  Apparently the two men in peace talks are the same two men that were around 25 years ago.  He expressed frustration at their unwillingness to sit down back then and how it would have prevented a lot of the sadness and death here.  I'd say I'm lucky to be here at this time.  In fact, one mural he pointed out depicted a girl who had been gunned down on the street.  Originally it had a black gun and black butterfly on it, but it was changed a few weeks ago, showing a broken orange gun and colored butterfly, reflecting the recent peace process. 

It was a great tour, very informative.  I truly lucked out with the timing of leaving my hostel for sure.  I was chatting with the guide and even he thought I was quite smart to join in ;)

Leaving Belfast we headed northbound up the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It was a three hour drive to the Giant’s Causeway. The giant’s causeway is a geological phenomenon in which thousands of hexagonal shaped stones have formed on the eastern coast of Northern Ireland and the western coast of Scotland. Legend has it that the path was actually created by Fionn Maccumhail, a great Irish hero of the time after he’d challenged his rival giant in Scotland to a battle. He constructed the pathway to allow his rival to come to Ireland, but when he saw his rival coming and saw how terribly large his opponent was, he disguised himself as a baby to avoid having to fight. The rival giant, seeing this large baby and mistaking it for the son of MacCumhail, decided he did not want to meet the father of such a child and ran back to Scotland, destroying the path along the way.

The award winning Tower Museum is located within Derry city’s historic walls at Union Hall Place. Permanent exhibitions at the museum include The Story of Derry exhibition and An Armada Shipwreck – La Trinidad Valencera. However throughout the year the museum also plays host to a range of other temporary exhibitions. All the exhibitions use display and interactive techniques to present their stories to the public. The Story of Derry exhibition has just re-opened following refurbishment. It has been fitted with new display cases, enhanced visitor facilities and a range of updated audiovisual displays and films. Alongside these improvements there are new displays dealing with the 20th century city and taking the Story of Derry up to the 21st century. Derry city is one of the oldest inhabited settlements in Ireland and has a fascinating history. The Story of Derry exhibition at the Tower Museum uses a wide range of techniques and artefacts to narrate the story from monastic times, Plantation, Siege of Derry, through to the growth of Derry during the 18th and 19th centuries. The city played its own part in the dramatic events of the early 20th century. Life during the 20th century is also outlined, in particular the build up to the Civil Rights Movement and the impact of the Troubles on the people living here. The exhibition ends with a glimpse of where the city is today. A great wealth of ‘stuff’ and context that offers a chance to ‘locate’ yourself if visiting the north west. Admission is €4 per person but there are group rate discounts.