Ireland - Day 12 - June 16, 2013

Needless to say no one had trouble getting up and getting out of the hostel to begin the trip to our next city - (London)Derry!  Generally, although not always, nationalists favour using the name Derry, and unionists using Londonderry. 

We arrived at our quaint little B&B (Abbey Street B&B) around lunch, stored our luggage, and took off for our two hour walking tour of the city with Adrian Cullen.  He was very knowledgable and had many personal connections to the events and people of Bloody Sunday.  What was supposed to be only a two hour tour became a four hour tour, and we didn't even notice.  The tour started with us receiving a bus tour of the city and after a lunch break we finished with a two hour walking tour.

Looking back into the City of Derry from the Protestant Side

Looking down from the City Wall (Catholic Side) to Free Derry (Protestant Side)

It is really mind blowing to think that the civil rights issues continue to be a daily struggle for those in Ireland.  Each night there are gates around some of the communities that are closed at 9:00 p.m.  This is to keep the youth and others from making trouble between the Protestant and Catholics.  Can you imagine living behind the walls and gates?  The picture below was taken from inside a Protestant community.  The city wall on the right is 400 years old and the wall in front is 40 years old.  Imagine.  The strife continues!

The Foyle River divides the city with the city centre mostly being Protestant, whereas the Catholics live on the other side of the Foyle River.  Our guide said it would be a hard feat to find a Catholics living within the city centre (within the walls of the city).  Not only is there the religious division, but there is also the division between the nationalist (those who wish to remain with the United Kingdom) and the unionist (those who wish to remain with Ireland).  80% of the citizens of Derry are Catholic nationalists. There are many political graffiti points around the city, such as the one below painted onto the city wall.  The one below states that the IRA does not want to be part of the United Kingdom.

The murals can speak for themselves...

Derry, despite all the trouble is has had and is still having is most known for Bloody Sunday.  Bloody Sunday was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which 26 unarmed civil-rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to the injuries he received on that day.  This is a video of the song U2 wrote about the event. 

On 15 June 2010, British Prime Minister, David Cameron, officially apologized for Britain's role.  I'm not one much for political apologize because they often are not sincere, but I believe this one is.  You can watch the video here.