Derry, Northern Ireland’s Walled City, Londonderry, Ireland

Our day trip to Derry, Northern Ireland’s walled City, is one of the top highlights of our Ireland vacation. Derry’s walls are probably its most famous attraction, although Derry is also the site of Northern Ireland’s infamous Bloody Sunday.

Steve and I had difficulty finding a place to park in the center of town and, once finally parked, decided to walk through the City to explore these sites. We experienced a lot of uphill walking but very little downhill walking. How did that happen?

Derry, also called Londonderry, is now the only City in Ireland surrounded by City Walls. These Walls, built in the 17th Century as a defense structure, are over 400 years old, have never been breached, and famously withstood a 105-day siege in 1689.

The Walled City of Derry has seven gates. Four are original, and three others were added between 1790 and 1888. We only walked on a small portion of the Walls and saw Butcher Gate and one of the newer ones, Castle Gate.

As we walked that short distance on the Wall, I was amazed to see how sturdy and solid it is today. While standing on the Wall, you can see beautiful scenes of the City and well beyond in any direction. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).