Derry

After all the running around we did at Portrush and the Giants Causeway, we drove 20 minutes west to Derry. Being a big history enthusiast, I was more excited for this portion of the trip than the Giants Causeway (which was quite spectacular).

We arrived around dinner time, and while my parents took a nap Alisa and I headed out for a walk. We decided to walk around the old walls of Derry, which still form a complete wall today. The walls were built in just six years in the early 1600s. When they were built they were up to 50 feet high. The walls also have over twenty of the original cannons on them.

Free Derry Corner

The next morning we were up early and we went out for a walking tour of the city. Although it rained non-stop during the tour, I enjoyed it because the tour was so informative. Being too young to really remember the troubles first-hand, I only had a faint idea of the magnitude of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

While most people see the conflict as a religious one, that is not really the case. It is true that it is Catholics fighting Protestants and vice versa.

Several hundred years ago, as England was dominating the less advanced civilization of the time, the King made the decision to conquer Ireland. Because Ireland was mostly a clan-based society, this was not difficult. English settlers then moved to Ireland. As it so happens, the only successful English settlements were in Ulster County, which became Northern Ireland after the partition. The English settlers were all Protestant, and the native Irish were Catholic. What this conflict boils down to is not whether you are Protestant or Catholic, but whether you are a Nationalist (prefer Ireland as one nation) or a Unionist (prefer union with England).

Although national identity is the root of the conflict, there has been too much killing, too many families torn apart and too much discrimination to be solved quickly. Undoubtedly there is blame on both sides, and because the hatred is so deep-seated it will take several generations before any real progress is made.

The west bank is 97% Nationalist and 3% Unionist. The siege mentality still exists, despite the cease-fire being adopted in 1998.

Having given a (relatively) brief overview of the conflict, I'd like to give a little background on Derry. The walled portion of the city sits on top of a hill that was formerly an island. The River Foyle eventually shifted it's path, connecting the city with the mainland. The area where the river used to run became a boggy mess, known as the bogside. These undesirable mud flats was given to the Catholics, who built their houses below the city in the bog.

The view of the bogside from the city walls. If you enlarge the picture you can see some murals in the foreground.

Approximately 100,000 people call Derry home, with about 75% of the residents considering themselves Catholics. While they may make up the majority of the population, for a long time the Nationalists controlled the political, economic and social arenas. For a long time the police force was strictly Protestant.
With the minority holding the power and oppressing the poorer majority, it was only a matter of time until chaos broke out. The event that would bring this conflict to the eyes of the world and be immortalized by one of the biggest rock bands of all time happened in January of 1972.

Spurred on by the American Civil Rights Movement, approximately 20,000 Catholics gathered in Derry to march in protest against internment (imprisonment of Catholics without trial or charges being levied) and job/housing discrimination against Catholics. The Protestant government deemed this march to be illegal, and the British paratroopers were brought in. This was the most elite, best-trained fighting force in the British military.

As the protesters were marching in the bogside, the British soldiers panicked. Later claiming they were sniped at by a single shooter, the soldiers opened fire. By the end of the firing 14 people lay dead and 14 were maimed for life. Of the 14 who were killed, seven were teenagers. Worse yet, all of them were unarmed and at least five of them were shot from behind. One person, shot in the back of the head, was waving a white hankerchief. Forensic tests after the incident proved that nobody who was killed was armed.

A inquiry was quickly set up by the British government after the incident. This inquiry was deemed to be a whitewash by most everybody who was not British. Not until 1998 did the case get reopened. In June of this year, the last inquiry was finalized. It proved that the soldiers were not fired upon and that none of the deceased had weapons.

In 1998 a leap in the quest for peace was made when the two sides signed the Good Friday Agreement. While technically only a ceasefire, it is still a step in the right direction.

Throughout Northern Ireland one of the most popular forms of expression are large murals. The murals in Derry, all located in the bogside, are quite famous. Below are three of what we think are the most powerful ones.

The Petrol Bomber: Depicting the Battle of the Bogside in 1969, three day riots that pitted bogside residents against Protestant police.

The Saturday Matinee: Named this because riots were commonplace, it shows a young man about to take on an armored vehicle with a shield and a stone.

Bloody Sunday: Originally a photograph, depicts Father Daly waving a bloodstained hankerchief while a mortally wounded man is carried from the scene. The Civil Rights banner at the soldiers feet became bloodstained when it was used to cover the body of one of those killed.

Portrush & The Giants Causway

On the cliffs above the Giants Causeway

So begins the long weekend trip w/ Brayden's parents to Northern Ireland! Mr & Mrs B (Ted & Sheila) arrived Friday afternoon and are in town for 17 days! good for them right! I was able to get Monday off from work so the 4 us planned at trip up to the North. Their agenda is to then tour around the rest of Ireland and then come back to see us and Dublin at the end. It looks like we might also meet up this wknd for a bball tourney in Limmerick but we shall see.

Anyways so Friday after work we pack into a rental car and head off to Portrush, beginning an interesting driving experience for 2 reasons. One being the fact that Ted is 6'5" and Brayden is 6'11" thus we are all crammed to smigens in the European style car. The other being the fact that driving in Ireland is quite tricky due to the very narrow roads and left-side driving (this will play in later...). We stopped for din on the way and got up there to our lil B&B on the ocean around 11pm.

This used to stretch all the way to Scotland!

Saturday was a very eventful day! Portrush is adorable and has a great deal to offer, but the main attraction is the beautiful Antrim Coast which is home to the Giant's Causeway. The GC is a bunch of basalt columns that are shaped like hexagons and form an ancient link from the coastline, under the ocean, which used to connect like a bridge to Scotland! There is a cool old legend about how it came to be. I think it's like there was a giant warrior named Finn MacCool who built the bridge to fight his giant counterpart in Scotland for whom he was fighting over a girl-giant. Drama. Anyways it's a World Heritage Site and quite impressive! We were lucky enough to have bright blue skies and sunshine while hiking around the GC coast, until... the weather changed as it always does in Ireland... and we got caught in torrential downpour! Like torrential. Like we jumped in the ocean in our clothes wet. So we got in the car and proceeded back to the B&B to change clothes. Now recall the narrow roads and tricky driving... Ted accidentally brushes a curb on the way home. No big deal, I do it all the time. But we get a flat! It was actually pretty funny and luckily the people at the B&B helped us out since it was Saturday and no tire stores were open. Good Irish people.

So a bit later shall we say decided to try our luck over at the Bushmills Distillery. Most people think of Jameson as the famous Irish Whiskey (that distillery is literally like 3 blocks from our apt in Dublin) but Bushmills is the other famous beverage of the Irish. I wasn't too too overly excited about the tour but it ended up being really cool! I don't know how the Irish came up with such a complicated process but I'm guessing lots of taste testing along the way. Their logo is "making Irish Whiskey legally since 1608."

Dunluce Castle

Next we stopped at the awesome old ruins of a castle on a cliff, Dunluce Castle. It was really cool and the history there is that the owners finally decided to move out after the kitchen fell off into the ocean during a dinner party one night. Brayden took a particular liking to the 'Wee Cottage' next to the castle. One of the many things we quickly learned in Northern Ireland is their affinity for the word "wee" meaning little. For example, Brayden is not wee.

Wee!

Later we went to dinner at this really good (and trendy!) restaurant called 'The Bistro' in the harbour. I guess I did forget that it was Saturday night but I was quite surprised at how done up all the locals were. I didn't let my touristy jeans/sneakers/fleece caught-in-the-rain hair look interfere with the great food and company. Anyways it was a very exciting and eventful day.

After passing over the rope bridge.

Sunday we got an early start and headed over the famous Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. The weather turned stormy and it was very windy and ominous. Maybe it was the weather, not the shear drop below the narrow bridge, but a certain 7-footer was scared to dealth of the little rope bridge. Notice in the picture how I stop and pose for a pic while Mr. "My-center-of-gravity-is- a-lot-higher-than-yours" runs awkwardly to the other side (you can click the photo for further enhancement)... ok I guess the handrails were a bit low for him, but still!

Alisa bravely posing while Brayden scurries across!

Next we headed over to a wee pitch and putt (3 par) golf course. It was a great and really inexpensive course next to the beach, just lovely! While I have very minimal golf experience we all proved to be less than Irish expert golfers. There may have been two or three pars (1 for me!) but lets just say we all golfed about as well Mr. B drives (joke!). Then we had a nice lunch by the beach and headed over to Derry...

Weed-whacking or golfing? You decide.

Roommate gone

The other American who came over to do the same program as me is now gone. He went crazy, long story short there aren't a lot of people sad to see him go. Because he left Alisa and I now have an open room. If DBS fills the basketball scholarship then somebody will use it, if not we'll have a free room all year. DBS will undoubtedly attempt to fill the spot, and they likely will. But here's hoping they don't!

Address Again*

Today I finally got our address correct. I've asked the lady who runs the property for the address, and she gave me the incorrect address previously. Today she figured out the correct address, which is great....except for all the mail that I was supposed to get is still missing. Anywho....Here is the correct address:

Brayden (Or Alisa)
Block B - Apartment 3
Arbour Hill
Dublin 7
Ireland

Aran Islands!

After Alisa got out of work last Friday we took a bus over to Galway. We got there about 10 pm, which was about perfect for a Friday night. Galway is a small city, about 70,000 people. It doesn't have a lot of sights to see in the city per se, but it is close to a lot of great things. The other thing about Galway is that it is a university town, so the pub/music scene is very good on weekends.

We walked around the town, checking out the various pubs. Since we were both tired and we had a lot of plans for the next day we decided to just get some ice cream and call it a night. For a weekend trip where you want to "enjoy the pub scene"....or see some cool things (Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher, Connemara)...Galway is a great place.

Alisa with St. Benen's church in the background

Saturday morning we caught a ferry to the Inishmore. We landed on the island about 11 am and immediately rented bikes. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel and grabbing some picnic foods from the "grocery store", we set off to ride around the island. Actually, up and down the island is probably the right way to say it. Inishmore is the biggest of the three Aran Islands, it is 9 miles long by 2 miles wide. About 800 people make their residence here, while almost 2000 tourists come everyday. So there aren't a whole lot of roads.

Since most people go north toward Dun Aonghasa, we rode south toward St. Benen's Church. It is considered the smallest church in the world and measures just 3.2m x 2.1 m. It was originally part of a monastic settlement by St. Benen, a disciple of St. Patrick himself. Apparently it is considered to be a tomb-shrine to St. Benen and has stood unaltered for a thousand years. That's probably why they blocked the entrance. Oops!

I would have needed a sun roof to attend this church.

It was awesome, situated on top of a ridge that allows you to see the Atlantic on one side and the sea toward the Irish mainland on the other. We had the place to ourselves, which was great.

After St. Benen's church we continued south toward St. Enda's church and graveyard. The graveyard was alright but the 1500-year-old church was rather meh. Enda's story is much more captivating than his actual church.

 After the churches we headed over toward the Black Fort to eat our picnic lunch. It was a pretty impressive structure, the stone walls were 18 feet high and 13 feet thick!

Alisa peering over the edge.

The Black Fort was built along the cliff walls. It was probably about a 150 foot drop into the Atlantic.

After eating our picnic lunch at the Black Fort we headed toward the main attraction on Inishmore, Dun Aonghasa. This ring fort was built sometime in the Iron Age, and it's within reason to believe this fort was built a thousand years BEFORE Christ. The coolest feature of the fort though has to be the fact that it's not a complete ring. It's more like a capitol 'C' in that it is built next to a 300 foot cliff that falls off into the frigid Atlantic. 

The tour guide tried reassuring us by telling us that nobody has fallen off the cliff in the 10 years that the fort has been open to the public. I was less than enthused about the cliff and didn't go near it. The ground, being limestone with smatterings of grass, was very uneven. Plus....you know....heights and all.

After Dun Aonghasa we casually rode around the island, marveling at the stone walls that were everywhere. It's unbelievable really. A small island that has a current population of about 800 people is completely gridded by stone walls. The puzzling part of all this is that inside most of the sections was just grass. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that they use a section for crops maybe once every 20 years or so. I guess to let the nutrients in the soil regenerate.

A view from St. Benen's. You can see the stone walls in the distance.

All in all the Aran Islands are definitely my favorite place I've been in Ireland thus far. It was a great time, a little expensive, but the natural beauty we saw there was quite different than anything I've seen before. If you are thinking of visiting Ireland, the Aran Islands are a must-see.

Here is Alisa feeding a horse. What is not pictured is what happened after this horse rejected the grass Alisa offered it. After sniffing the grass, the horse promptly turned around and pooped in Alisa's direction. It was possibly my favorite 10 seconds of the trip!

Alisa and horse. Sans poop.

1st week of work...

So I made it through my 1^st week at my new job and all is going good so far... with a few minor exceptions which I’ll get to. Basically Habitat Dublin is fairly new and started up maybe less than 10 years ago. Because they too have been experiencing a financial crisis they haven’t been able to get mortgages for new home owners, nor been able to get land, thus haven’t been do any new homes recently. They did a few homes and some renovation work in the past but for the last few years their office (5 woman + myself now) has been focused on their Global Village Program, which organizes groups of Irish volunteers to do projects abroad. Anyways, so I’m the ‘Local Programme Manager’ and basically that means re-establishing our presence in Dublin and getting some local projects going! This will be a big challenge, and the plan is to start w/ some small refurbishment projects (lots of landscape work, cosmetic improvements like painting etc) and eventually do some legit renovations! I’m excited.

So the pics are of one of my 1^st projects which is for the St Vincent DePaul Charity. They have this old house on 30 acres that they use as a holiday/vacation home for elderly people. Basically groups come in and stay for a week, sometimes like boy scouts etc, but mostly elderly. Anyways the grounds are really cool, there are ruins of an old chapel and cemetery (actually a heritage site!), a river, farm, etc and we’re going to do some clearing, make some walking paths, gardens etc. and do some cosmetic work inside too.

In other news last Thursday my boss and I went up to Belfast to meet with the Habit Northern Ireland group and get some info/advice from them since they have a much bigger, more established program/programme lol. Anyways that was cool. Doesn’t look like there is a ton to do in Belfast but I did see the crane that built the Titanic! Lastly regarding Belfast I saw something else that shocked me.... ‘peace walls.’ I had no idea what peace walls were, how prevalent they are, and that they actually gate off different areas at night, weekends, or whenever there is tension I guess. I visited the Habitat jobsite and it was right next to a giant wall that almost resembled the external wall of a prison.... I don’t even know which side we were on! In other areas the walls have crazy graffiti murals. It was very, very interesting. Something cool about the Habitat branch up there though is that they focus heavily on diminishing the conflict in terms of group diversity, location of homes & families selected , public awareness etc. So that’s good.

Now to the aforementioned minor exception to my job going well... because I’ll be spending a lot of my time at job sites they want to get me a car. But by car I mean a mini-van (European standards- they look even goofier!) with a Habitat magnet logo! Yeah! So the other day my boss takes me into the park to practice driving... stick.... and on the left side of the road?!?! Anyone who has ever driven with me knows that this is a bad idea. A horrible idea. Needless to say I need a lot of practice. And my boss is going to look for an automatic, fingers crossed... I’ll keep you posted on my new ride!

Kinsale & Blarney Pics