Today was a long day, traveling from Westport, in Ireland, to Portrush, in Northern Ireland. Ireland is a separate country, and part of the European Union. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, which is slated to leave the EU the end of next month. Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU. If the UK leaves the EU, the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland will no longer be open. There is a lot of traffic and commerce that goes on across that border.
Our first stop was Drumcliffe Church, burial place of William Butler Yeats, the Irish poet. I'm not a Yeats fan, but the views are spectacular.
Next we stopped in Londonderry (or Derry depending on your political leanings). This is the First Presbyterian Church, which some say looks like a court house. Derry's court house looks like a church. Our guide described the 4 major religions in Derry as Protestant, Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian. Even our guide was confused by that description. I think Protestant means Church of England.
Derry was the site of many of the bombings during the 70's and 80's. That has stopped, and there are now murals depicting what happened.
This is a mural about a young girl who was killed while working on a school project. The people in both countries do not like to refer to this as a conflict between Protestant and Catholics, but rather a conflict between those who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK and those who want the island of Ireland to be one country. Brexit throws a monkey wrench into the whole thing, and there does not appear to be a lot of support for Boris Johnson in either Ireland or Northern Ireland.
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