Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
drivers—a car is a must—will be rewarded with a time-capsule peek into old Irish ways
and starkly beautiful scenery.
Planning Your Time
Travelers heading north from Westport or Galway should get an early start. Donegal town
makes a good lunch stop, with lots of choices surrounding its triangular town square. And
then it's on to Derry, where you can spend a couple of hours seeing the essentials: Vis-
it the Tower Museum and catch some views from the town wall before continuing on to
Portrush for the night.
With more time, spend a night in Derry, so you can see the powerful Bogside murals
(illuminated after dark) and take a walking tour around the town walls—you'll appreciate
this underrated city. With two nights in Derry, consider crossing the border into the Repub-
lic for a scenic driving loop through part of remote County Donegal.
No city in Ireland connects the kaleidoscope of historical dots more colorfully than Derry.
From a leafy monastic hamlet to a Vikingpillaged port, from a cannonball-battered siege
survivor to an Industrial Revolution sweatshop, from an essential WWII naval base to a
wrenching flashpoint of sectarian Troubles...Derry has seen it all.
But the past few years have brought some refreshing changes. Manned British Army
surveillance towers were taken down in 2006, and most British troops finally departed in
mid-2007, after 38 years in Northern Ireland. In June of 2011, a new, curvy pedestrian
bridge across the River Foyle was completed. Locals have dubbed it the “Peace Bridge”
becauseitlinksthepredominantlyProtestantWaterside(eastbank)withthepredominantly
Catholic Cityside (west bank). Today, you can feel comfortable wandering the streets and
enjoying this “legend-Derry” Irish city.
The River Foyle flows north, slicing Derry into eastern and western chunks. The old town
walls and almost all worthwhile sights are on the west side. (The train station and Ebring-
ton Square—at the end of the Peace Bridge—are the main reasons to set foot on the east
side.) Waterloo Place and the adjacent Guildhall Square, just outside the north corner of
the old city walls, are the pedestrian hubs of city activity. The Strand Road area extending
