Derry Londonderry has two names. The Unionists call it Londonderry and the Nationalists call it Derry. When I asked my new Belfastian friend Kevin (Joanna’s husband) which it was, he answered that it depends on who you ask. This city has a history of conflict that you can still feel the strains of today. I appreciatively let Rick Steves take me around and tell me all about it.
First, I stopped and dropped my things off at my hostel where I found triple decker bunk beds. I have to admit, I paused to consider my options before snagging the last bottom bunk.
If you’ve seen my posts on Facebook, you already know that bunkbeds have become a hot topic for me. My first year in New York I had a top bunk over a desk and cringed as my swollen-from-so-much-walking feet touched down on those cursed metal bars of the ladder. Plus, just as it is inevitable that every time I secure my padlock, I think of something I need inside my locker, every time I climb up and settle in, I think of something I wish I had below. If you are assigned a top bunk you have to sit on someone else’s bed to put your shoes on. If you have a top bunk, you can’t really lay your stuff out on the bed as you pack it all back into your suitcase (or free it from the suitcase). You’re often far from the power socket so you can’t have your phone nearby and charge at the same time overnight. After two assignments in a row of top bunks I posed the question to top bunk lovers- please! Tell me why you love it! I need to make peace with the top bunk! I mostly got silly answers like being less likely to drown in a flood or not being squished or feeling like you’re in a tree house in a space more secluded (that one I guess I could understand). But now there was a middle bunk! What’s up with that?! These bunks were claustrophobic no matter where you slept, so I snagged the last bottom bunk, looking forward to having my feet touch the floor without needing to climb down a ladder. I noticed the next morning that all of the middle bunks were empty. No takers, I guess.
I ran into my friend Sarah’s last name on my way to the center.
This church-looking building is City Hall, and it had an exhibition inside explaining the history of the city. I breezed through quickly before it closed.
It has fountains in the sidewalk and you never know when they’re going to dance!
Here is the gate to the city wall that has never been breached. Fun fact: breeched and breached have different meanings and different spellings but sound the same. I may have looked it up to make sure I was using the correct one.
This is what it looked like up on the wall.
I came down to check out the Craft Market. The name of the place led me to imagine miniature, I don’t know, little crafty things, but it was just cute little shops.
This was also in there
Back up on the wall, the camera again squished together all the good stuff. There was an incredible view.
This chapel was built where the original monastery (that started the city in the sixth century) supposedly was built.
This cannon is named Roaring Meg.
I hadn’t read the story yet, but that art work down there sure looks like there’s some drama in this town.
And a view of the peace bridge
As I circled back around to where I started (past these cannons), I came across a couple huddled over a Rick Steves guidebook of Ireland. I told them I was just finishing the same walk that they were starting.
I walked down into the center of the old town. Here’s a view of a gate I walked over
And this cool statue
That looks even better from this angle
Back in the craft market the shops were still really cute
Looking down the hill
And where they make the worst pies in Londonderry. When I’m in regular London I like to get a meat pie on Fleet Street cause I’m a nerd like that.
I was very excited to see my name. And it was even cooler to have Spider in front of it.
This is not one of ‘the’ murals, but I do love Spaghetti
I liked this little porch too
The artists are two brothers who’s last name was Kelly. This mural is a dove (the sign for peace) and an oak leaf (the symbol of Derry) both created from a single ribbon. The dove is flying from the dark blue to the yellow sun.
Can you feel the tension?
The guy on the upper left is the Nationalist leader John Hume with some famous peaceful leaders you may recognize.
The H is to honor some women who died in a hunger strike.
This famous sign imitates a slogan from West Berlin.
This 14-year-old was killed in crossfire in 1971. She was the 100th fatality of the troubles (which took thousands of lives). The broken gun signifies that it’s no longer being wielded. The butterfly wasn’t colored in until the artists felt that the peace process had succeeded in 2006.
After the murals I took a walk over the peace bridge that opened in 2011 linking the two parties that are mostly geographically devided by the river.
From the bridge
So… Coors products are very popular over here.
For dinner I ordered veggie tacos and was surprised when they arrived looking like this!
The waitress said they were spicy and asked if that was a problem. I laughed and said no! But its been so long since I had spicy food that this spice made my face water in every way possible, and by the end my face looked and felt like I had been crying! So I had to order some cheesecake to ease my wailing taste buds.
By then it was 9:30 and I was so full and so tired! The live music started at 10:30 but I couldn’t even imagine having a beer while I waited, much less being able to stay awake! So I went back to sandwich myself into my strange bunk and sleep as much as I could on the shortest night of the year.
Ron got his hair cut at Sweeney Todd’s there.
Didn’t see the Kelly stuff before.
Love he murals.