Our Trip to Northern Ireland - Derry (Londonderry)

You can walk the wall high above the old part of Derry, where in 1689 its inhabitants staved off a siege by Catholic King James II  until Protestant King William arrived to relieve the town.

I wanted to go to Northern Ireland, especially to Derry, because an ancestor on Mom's side, James Raney, sailed from Derry for America about 1732. 

Outside the old city wall. You mount the steps just inside to walk along the top.

 I got my photo taken with Reg, who had just marched with a King William commemorative parade in the Protestant section of Derry. It must have been windy because I forgot to remove my ear protector.

Sidewalks in town are embossed with bronze depictions of sea life.

From the west side of the city wall we viewed Bogside, the Catholic section of Derry.

 

 We descended to see the murals on the sides of houses depicting The Troubles. There were many. Here are two.

Below "You are entering Free Derry" someone has scrawled "Smash Fortress Europe. No one is illegal." The city wall is up the hill.  Later, back in the town center, we had our photo taken by a friendly police woman with her partner and his sniffer dog.

I always stop to read war memorials

Not all of Derry looks back at war and The Troubles.

I went to the nearby River Foyle that flows through Derry into Lough Foyle and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean, where I wished my ancestor a safe voyage to America.