On the Friday of our trip to Northern Ireland we went to Derry. As I said, I had planned a lot of things for us to do, so I had booked for us to go to the Museum of Free Derry first thing. We had breakfast in the Airbnb with some of the stuff that the owners had left, which was really nice, and then set off. It was further to Derry than I had thought, but no worries because we got there just after 11am. The museum is in the Bogside area of the city, in the area known as Free Derry, and it's just near the iconic Free Derry sign. That means it's literally in the middle of a lot of houses! There is a car park but it's not huge. But we parked in it and went into the museum.
It is simultaneously one of the most depressing places I've been and also one of the most uplifting. Depressing because obviously of what the British army and government did to the people of Derry throughout the years, and that includes a lot about what happened on Bloody Sunday and in the thirty eight year fight for justice afterwards. Uplifting because there's a lot about civil rights and civil rights movements, up to and including the current fight for rights for Palestinians. It's a brilliant museum, and packs a lot into its tiny space. I would thoroughly recommend it if you're in the area.
We then drove around the area to look at some of the very famous murals. The locals are clearly used to people stopping to take photos. We got decent photos I think. We were surprised to see the Che Guevara one, but his dad had Irish ancestry! That was brand new information to me. There was also a lot of anti monarchy stuff, I don't know if these are permanent or whether it's because the coronation had just happened.
We then went to a place called Quaywest for lunch. It didn't have many veggie choices so I went for cajun salmon which was absolutely beautiful and which I thoroughly enjoyed. I eat fish maybe four times a year and think that's fine! I also had a Black Russian cocktail with a difference as it had a head of Guinness in it. Well, I thought I should try it as I was in Ireland! It was delicious, I really enjoyed it.
We then went into the city centre and visited the Derry Girls mural. I am a huge fan of the show and really wanted to see it. It's really big! Lee took a photo of me under it where you can see the scale of it, but you'll just have to believe me. We parked in the shopping centre and looked around that for a bit. I got two books in Waterstones, both by Irish authors, which felt appropriate!
We went to a cafe called Synge and Byrne (we also saw one of these in Belfast) and had coffee and a traybake. Now I didn't know that traybakes are quite so prevalent in Northern Ireland, but everywhere we went had tons of different delicious squares to choose from. I went for a caramel shortbread which had an amazing ratio of caramel to shortbread. Lee had something a bit like tiffin.
Time was getting on by this point so we went to St Eugene's cathedral. I lit a candle for my dad which would have amused him because it was a Catholic cathedral. It was pretty inside. I then went to the loo at the back which may have been out of bounds but I would like to hope my sins will be forgiven because I did really need the loo. We left Derry and drove back to our base. We had sandwiches for tea and just relaxed again in the evening!
I will let some of my photos from this day speak for themselves; if you don't know the history of Derry and the Bogside do have a google!
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