Derry

Soak up hundreds of years of Northern Irish history walking the Walls of Derry. Dating from 1618, the walls form a promenade around Ireland's first planned city and were originally constructed to defend settlers from England and Scotland. The settlers, known as planters, were enticed to Derry as part of a plantation programme instigated by King James I of England. Catholic Irish locals were uprooted and their lands given to the Protestant settlers. The name of the city was officially changed to Londonderry, but most Irish people continue to refer to it as Derry. These magnificent walls, which are eight metres high and nine metres wide in some places, have never been breached. The 105-day Siege of Derry occurred in 1689, when Catholic King James II, whose crown was under threat from the Protestant William of Orange, ordered his soldiers to take the fort. The Protestant garrison shut the doors and refused to let them in; thousands died of starvation. The walls are well maintained, as are the four original gates: Shipquay, Ferryquay, Bishop and Butcher. The cannons mounted along the walls serve as a reminder of past battles and were donated by the Guilds of London in 1649. The walls are open to the public from dawn until dusk and guided tours are available year round (www.discoverireland.com).

Completed in 1633 for the English and Scottish planters, St Columb's was the first cathedral to be erected in the British Isles after the Reformation (www.stcolumbscathedral.org). The interior of this Gothic edifice was extensively restored in the 19th century. Inside, there's a small museum with relics from the 1689 siege, while a hollow mortar cannonball that was fired into the city by James II's army graces its vestibule. The cannon- ball carried terms for surrender to which the Protestants within the walls defiantly replied 'No surrender', a phrase commonly used by Ulster Loyalists during the so-called Troubles during the years after 1969.

The giant wall murals of the Bogside, Fountain Estate and Waterside areas of Derry commemorate the bloodshed in the city's recent history. In the Catholic Bogside area there are 10 murals that illustrate the Troubles. One depicts the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry, on January 30, 1972, when the British army opened fire on a civil rights demonstration, killing 14 people. Another striking mural is that of 14-year-old Annette McGavigan, the 100th victim, and the first child to die in the Troubles. You can drop into the Bogside Artists' studio (www.bogsideartists.com) and visit the artists behind the murals. All can tell you about their experiences in those difficult times. By contrast, royalist murals of King William, the Union and Red Hand of Ulster flags can be found in Loyalist Protestant areas such as Fountain Estate and Waterside. Mural tours, at #4 per person (HK$60), depart daily at 10am and 2pm from Pilots' Row Centre on Rossville Street (www.freederry.net).