"Legenderry" and the Giant's causeway

On Thursday, we visited London Derry and went back in time to understand what happened on  30th January 1972. In the afternoon, we took a walk along the north coast of Ireland to admire the famous Giant’s causeway.

   Free Derry museum was about a tragic day where the  catholic population of Derry demonstrated for civil rights. The British army, who wanted to stop the unarmed protesters started to fire at them, making  13 victims and 15 wounded. That’s why that day was named Bloody Sunday afterwards. The museum showed many objects related to that day, like the bullets that were used to shoot the protesters, their jackets with holes in it, recordings of the shooting and even a very cruel letter that a British soldier sent to the family of a kid he murdered. It was very moving because the guide in the museum was the brother of Michael Kelly, who was 17 on that day and who was one of the 6 victims who were just innocent teenagers.

Then we saw the murals of the city of « Free Derry »  which showed events of bloody Sunday and the life of the Bogside people at that time. For instance, one of the victims : Jackie Duddy, 17, being carried by three other men to an ambulance, with a british soldier trying to stop them. There was also a wall with « You are now entering Free Derry » written on it.

 Eugene Coyle, our guide for this part of the tour and and a past activist explained to us that today the two communities have managed to overcome this hatred and found peaceful solutions.

  After lunch, we went to see the Giant’s causeway, which is a geological site with over 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. Those columns were created due to intense volcanic activity. However, the legend tells that they were created by two giants, and that the place has mythical and magical features. We walked about 2 kilometers there.

It is a beautiful landscape which is typical of Ireland.

Marie T and Emeline P.F.