Londonderry/Derry - Depending upon if you are Catholic or Protestant

 The centre of this city is walled.  It was built in the late 1500's.  It is the only walled City/Town that still remains intact today in all of Ireland.  We took a self guided tour on top of the wall.  You get a panoramic view of all of the city.  It is loaded with historical information.  It soon became apparent that this city has been in a constant state of upheaval since it was settled.  Most of this turmoil has been caused by religious disputes.  The Protestant/British against the Catholic/Irish.  That is generalizing but throughout history here definitely true. The British/Protestants have always held political power.  For years the Irish were not allowed to own land and when that was eventually changed most could not afford to own anyway.  This dislike for one another has been going on for 100's of years.

It became even more obvious to us this afternoon as we took a walking tour of 'Bogside".  Bogside is the area of the city that the Catholics were forced to settle in especially after the Great Famine of the 1840's.  Irish people flocked to the cities looking for work/food.  The British were having no part of them sharing the land with them.  This area then became the hotbed for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the time referred to as 'The Troubles'.  The Tour is called the 'Political Mural Tour'.  These are murals that have been painted on the ends of buildings throughout the area.  My interpretation and I admit this is only 'my interpretation' is that the murals are blatant political statements about how the British treated 'political prisoners'.  I have a difficult time with the rationalization used by the IRA and their supporters that indiscriminate bombing and killing was okay because the Local Police and the British Military carried out atrocities against innocent civilians.  Rest assured I am not siding with the British here either. For almost 30 years raids took place, innocent people were killed on both sides and a 'Peace Wall' was built.  Calling it a peace wall seems a bit strange to me.  It segregated a large Protestant area from the catholic enclave next to it.  Building a wall to segregate is not peace!  Again just my opinion! 

Most of the pictures today will be of the political murals.  Google their explanations if you so desire and you decide!


Walking the Old wall


Bastion with a Cannon from the 1600's


This was not part of the mural walk...but does this really help?
















The "Peace Wall"


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