We were a bit slow getting away and joined a walking tour at 11-ish. It was raining off and on of course but we didn't get too wet. It was well worth it anyway. The guide pointed out Bogside, the Catholic area; Newgate, a Protestant area; St Columb's Cathedral, which was a strongpoint in the siege, even having cannons on its tower. The story goes an earlier church here was used as a magazine and St Patrick sent a burning wolf to clear it out. The explosion levelled the church and all the fools who misused it. 
Lucky he wasn't around in 1689 or the siege may have been shorter; The British Army/Police Observation and Comms Point which was torn down just weeks ago; The plinth of a statue carefully blown up by the IRA; The Magazine; the Town Hall, target of many bombings; Free Derry Corner, the entrance to Bogside; the site of St Patrick's Monastery. The guide was amusing and well-informed so you can't ask for much more than that. It's strange how nearly anyone who did anything is in some way related to Derry though...
Lucky he wasn't around in 1689 or the siege may have been shorter; The British Army/Police Observation and Comms Point which was torn down just weeks ago; The plinth of a statue carefully blown up by the IRA; The Magazine; the Town Hall, target of many bombings; Free Derry Corner, the entrance to Bogside; the site of St Patrick's Monastery. The guide was amusing and well-informed so you can't ask for much more than that. It's strange how nearly anyone who did anything is in some way related to Derry though...It was well into the afternoon before we headed off and around 4:00 before we got to the Bushmills Distillery. Just in time, in fact, for it to close. Ah well, I don't really like whiskey 
anyhow. We drove through to the Giant's Causeway and had a very late lunch/ early dinner. We were a little worried when we saw the carpark was closed, but thankfully we were still able to walk to the rocks. It's a curious piece of geology, formed by volcanic rock pushing up between sedimentary deposits and baking them hard. We have some similar areas in NZ, for example in the Catlins, and possibly even closer to Dunedin, but nothing to this extent. And nothing with the neat story that goes with it. Finn MacCool snuck across to Scotland to fight a giant over there, and this is the path he built to get 
there. (Read the story here.)
anyhow. We drove through to the Giant's Causeway and had a very late lunch/ early dinner. We were a little worried when we saw the carpark was closed, but thankfully we were still able to walk to the rocks. It's a curious piece of geology, formed by volcanic rock pushing up between sedimentary deposits and baking them hard. We have some similar areas in NZ, for example in the Catlins, and possibly even closer to Dunedin, but nothing to this extent. And nothing with the neat story that goes with it. Finn MacCool snuck across to Scotland to fight a giant over there, and this is the path he built to get 
there. (Read the story here.)After a scramble over the rocks we set off toward Belfast, planning to find a B&B within striking distance. There were plenty on the north coast but they all dried up near Belfast itself and we didn't find one until 9:00, and even then he had to open up for us. This particular place was due for redevelopment and clearly hadn't had much effort put into it for some time. We had a drink in the bar then hit the sack.
All our Ireland photos can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/Italythenandnow/Ireland
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