The red line traces our route, with an 'X' where we stayed each night.
Thursday afternoon - on our way!
We drove up to Letterkenny, still in Ireland, and spent the evening in the hotel pool.
I took one picture, put away the camera, then took turns with Daniel sitting in the sauna/playing in the kiddie pool.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Friday morning, we drove east.
Looking back on the city of Letterkenny in the morning sun.
Crossing the border into Northern Ireland.
An important reminder that the unit has changed from kilometers to miles. We were again thankful for our gps which we could change into mph, unlike the car's speedometer. It would have been confusing!
The City Walls of Derry
The city of Derry. I am determined to give brief explanations of the things we saw on this trip - otherwise I'll never get done with these blogs...so I'm going to resist the temptation to do internet searches, and stick to citing the Eyewitness Travel books instead.
'St Columba founded a monastery here beside the River Foyle in 546. He called the place Doire or 'oak grove', later anglicized as Derry. In 1613, the city was selected as a major Plantation project, organized by London livery companies. As a result, it acquired the prefix London (Londonderry), though most people still call it Derry. When British troops shot dead 13 demonstrators in 1972, Derry hit the world's headlines. As the peace process has taken hold, the city council has undertaken several admirable heritage projects.'
'Derry is the only remaining completely walled city in Ireland, and its fortifications are among the best preserved in Europe. The city walls rise to a height of 26ft and in places are 30ft wide. Completed in 1618 to defend the new merchant city from Gaelic chieftains in Donegal, the walls have never been breached, not even during the siege of 1689, when 7,000 out of a population of 20,000 perished from disease or starvation. Restoration work has made it possible to walk the entire wall. Just outside the old fortifications, beyond Butcher's Gate, is the Bogside, a Catholic area with a famous mural that announces "You are now entering Free Derry".'
We started out at Bishop's Gate and walked the city walls. Now the boys have some perspective to understand the Walls of Jericho!
Original cannon.
(I had to look up the spelling and found this helpful video - just a funny aside.)
Within the walls.
Singing a song he made up..."I'm cleaning off the cannon (repeat indefinitely)".
The Protestant side, loyal to England.
Daniel tried to pose the boys to cover up the 'w' (a spelling error), but Silas wouldn't budge. It was not worth a fight in my mind for this ridiculous picture. (If Daniel can call my pictures names, then I can dish it right back.)
Full-circle. A neat experience.
'St Columba founded a monastery here beside the River Foyle in 546. He called the place Doire or 'oak grove', later anglicized as Derry. In 1613, the city was selected as a major Plantation project, organized by London livery companies. As a result, it acquired the prefix London (Londonderry), though most people still call it Derry. When British troops shot dead 13 demonstrators in 1972, Derry hit the world's headlines. As the peace process has taken hold, the city council has undertaken several admirable heritage projects.'
'Derry is the only remaining completely walled city in Ireland, and its fortifications are among the best preserved in Europe. The city walls rise to a height of 26ft and in places are 30ft wide. Completed in 1618 to defend the new merchant city from Gaelic chieftains in Donegal, the walls have never been breached, not even during the siege of 1689, when 7,000 out of a population of 20,000 perished from disease or starvation. Restoration work has made it possible to walk the entire wall. Just outside the old fortifications, beyond Butcher's Gate, is the Bogside, a Catholic area with a famous mural that announces "You are now entering Free Derry".'We started out at Bishop's Gate and walked the city walls. Now the boys have some perspective to understand the Walls of Jericho!
Original cannon.(I had to look up the spelling and found this helpful video - just a funny aside.)
The wall overlooking the Catholic area.
Within the walls.
Singing a song he made up..."I'm cleaning off the cannon (repeat indefinitely)".
The Protestant side, loyal to England.
Daniel tried to pose the boys to cover up the 'w' (a spelling error), but Silas wouldn't budge. It was not worth a fight in my mind for this ridiculous picture. (If Daniel can call my pictures names, then I can dish it right back.)
Full-circle. A neat experience.We drove northeast to the coast, driving through some quaint towns.
Portstewart
'A popular holiday destination for Victorian middle-class families, Portstewart is still a family favourite today. Its long, crescent-shaped seafront promenade is sheltered by rocky headlands. Just west of town, and accessible by road or by a cliffside walk, stretches Portstewart Strand, a magnificent, long, sandy beach, protected by the National Trust.'
We chose to take the road rather than the cliff to Portstewart Strand - for obvious reasons.
Excited to spend the whole afternoon at the beach!
All three boys played in the sand while I laid on a blanket, watching them.
I guess I didn't take a picture of the finished Sand Castle before the boys were given permission from Daddy to destroy it.
'A popular holiday destination for Victorian middle-class families, Portstewart is still a family favourite today. Its long, crescent-shaped seafront promenade is sheltered by rocky headlands. Just west of town, and accessible by road or by a cliffside walk, stretches Portstewart Strand, a magnificent, long, sandy beach, protected by the National Trust.'
We chose to take the road rather than the cliff to Portstewart Strand - for obvious reasons.
Excited to spend the whole afternoon at the beach!
All three boys played in the sand while I laid on a blanket, watching them. 
I guess I didn't take a picture of the finished Sand Castle before the boys were given permission from Daddy to destroy it.(The Castle looked more like a Wedding Cake. Daniel will not see this - he never reads the fine print.)
We spent the evening playing at the park on the promenade.
And again..and again..and again...
Fish 'n' Chips
The hostel we stayed in (the yellow house), overlooking the water.
The boys watched the water "exploding" as the waves came in and splashed out of the crevices in the rocks. They slept well! Moriah took a while to wind down - click here to watch her not go to sleep.
We spent the evening playing at the park on the promenade.
And again..and again..and again...
Fish 'n' Chips
The hostel we stayed in (the yellow house), overlooking the water.
The boys watched the water "exploding" as the waves came in and splashed out of the crevices in the rocks. They slept well! Moriah took a while to wind down - click here to watch her not go to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment