The Troubles
My wife and I are booked for Best of Ireland 5/27- 6/9/2023. In my reading I noticed that many guide books recommend tours that focus on the recent of "The Troubles" in Norhtern Ireland. Some tour companies (e.g. Black Taxi) specialize in the conflicts, the IRA, the Unionists, etc. I don't see anything in our itinerary that indicates that we will be learning/exploring this important part of Ireland's history.
My questions:
- Day 4 indicates "a return to Belfast for an evening of leisure." Would that be a good time to book a private tour focusing on The Troubles?
- Day 6 indicates that we will be spending two nights at a lakesiide resort in Derry. Would that be a good time to book at private tour of The Troubles? Or am I too far from Belfast at that point? Or did the conflict affect all of northern Ireland and I could make arrangements with a private tour company to learn more.
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Comments
The tour definitely covers the troubles, although not in too much depth. Derry was in the thick of it. Bloody Sunday took place there. You'll see the murals commemorating the troubles, Free Derry - the site of the Bloody Sunday incident, and the "peace walls" between the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. Whether you want additional depth is up to you.
I recommend the movie "Belfast" and perhaps the series "Derry Girls", which is on Netflix.
It's been a few years since we took this - 2018 - but yes there was considerable discussion by our local guides in both Belfast and Derry that was quite interesting. And yes, that might be a good evening to book an extra tour. Those will be the two places you'll mostly see the impacts of the troubles.
Unfortunately, no the Lough Erne Resort is not at all close to Derry. About a 4-5 hour drive. You do the stop in Derry in the morning with a bit of free time then drive to the Ulster American Folk park with a couple of hours there to tour it. Then you end at the resort which is not in a town. A hint to tell you're staying out in the country at a Tauck hotel is dinner is included both nights of your stay. If you can't easily walk to a choice of dinner locations they include dinner both nights. They take care of you.
Our tour stayed at Lough Eske Castle north of there and a similar sort of golf resort. In that area of Ireland it was sometimes confusing knowing which country you were in at any given time. Which really only mattered if you paid cash for something - Euros vs Pounds. Of course, since we were there Brexit happened so there could be some changes.
Hope you enjoy the tour. We sure did.
Derry Girls is hilarious. My favorite being season 3 episode 1 with Liam Neeson.
As far as booking a private tour- the tour has changed somewhat since we did it, but in the north, the sites and what you see are about the same. I don't recall there being any time for a private tour, certainly not enough in the afternoon/evening to visit Derry from any on-tour lodging. In Derry you get a significant amount of local guide commentary about it and will see plenty of wall protest art, a burned-out police tower, the main police checkpoint of the formerly divided city, etc, but I don't recall seeing the Bloody Sunday Memorial. If we did see it, I didn't get a photo. There are wall paintings and reminders in Belfast, too, but the focus of your two days here is shipbuilding and the Titanic one day and the Antrim Coast and Giant's Causeway the next. If you want to do a private tour for a deep dive into "The Troubles", you will need to do it pre- or post-tour. The lunch at Bushmills Inn is fabulous, so eat a light breakfast. If you have a buffet like we had it was sumptuous with a wide variety of roasted meats, starches, and veggies
s, and great desserts (including Sticky Toffee Pudding!
Derry:
Belfast (wall art photographed from the bus):
Yes, lots of wall art to look at. I also remember a fence in Derry but I think it was going to be removed so it may be gone by now.
There should be time day 4 for an evening tour. We did lunch at Bushmills but it wasn't a buffet. It was Cod with mashed potatoes and Sticky Toffee pudding. Then after lunch we had about 2 hours at Giants Causeway. Were back at the hotel in Belfast by about 4. Dinner is on your own that night. We walked around the area near the hotel and had pizza somewhere.
If you're interested in life during "The Troubles, " I highly recommend "Say Nothing" by Patrick Keefe. It's non-fiction that reads like a mystery.
One of the most horrible things I witnessed during these times was working with a wonderful nursing sister who got a phone call to say her brother had just been killed in a bombing in Ireland. When I was a teenager, no one would dare visit Ireland and I’ve still never been even though my grandfather was born there. So for me, I would not want to see anything about The troubles when there is so much beautiful countryside in Ireland and Tauck doesn’t take you to see enough of that as it is.
Claudia Sails said:
Sorry to have to correct you, Claudia. Maybe you were confusing Lough Erne and Lough Eske. Lough Erne is about 60 miles from Derry, about 1 1/2 hours by car.
Ken, you're right - I had my google maps set to bus not car which gave a longer route. When I corrected it and recalculated the route from Derry (Londonderry) to Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen it came up with the shortest route of 58 miles and 1 1/2 hours. The Tauck map for the tour shows it well.
B84, the fastest route (at this moment), is a nice road, but not a superhighway. A5 is nicer, but does not contain any dual carriageway sections, and despite the Strabane and Omagh bypasses, there are still potential bottlenecks. Just check the enroute times for the 3 main routes and you'll see they change throughout the day. Even on a good day, the r/t time is about 3 hrs.!! Belfast to Derry is longer but quicker, however it will still require over 2.5 hours r/t. In my mind, not worth it - not enough time, too much rushing around and not enough pay back.