2 Best Sights in Northern Ireland

Since it was erected in 2019, the Derry Girls mural has become the talk of the town and a must-see sight for tourists. The extensive 3-meter-high artwork, based on the cast of a hit British comedy TV series, Derry Girls, has been spray-painted on to the gable wall of Badgers bar in Orchard Street. The eye-catching wall of fame in the city center can be clearly seen from a walk on the walls and is a contrast to some politicized murals elsewhere. The sitcom, which has earned critical acclaim—the Hollywood Reporter's reviewer declared it her favorite comedy of the year—features the adventures of five Derry teenagers navigating their way around the late-Troubles era of the early 1990s. It has been picked up by Netflix and turned into a second series, which ends with the re-creation of Bill Clinton's visit to Derry in 1995. You can also sample drinks made in the name of several of the characters from the series, including "Sister Michael" coconut stout and the "Wee English Fella," a strawberry pale ale, available from the Walled City Brewery on the city's Waterside.

Dramatic wall murals throughout Derry testify to the power of art as historical document, while also serving as a reminder of painful pasts. Symbolic of the different communities, the murals attract considerable curiosity from tourists. The Bogside Gallery of Murals, painted by William Kelly, Kevin Hasson, and Tom Kelly, are made up of 12 wall paintings known collectively as "The People's Gallery." They include the Bloody Sunday Commemoration, The Death of Innocence, Civil Rights, The Hunger Strikes, and a poignant one featuring the Nobel peace prize–winning Derry politician John Hume along with Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa—all beside the Brooklyn Bridge. In 2015, a mural featuring John Hume and Ivan Cooper, founding members of the civil rights movement, was restored. The paintings span the length of Rossville Street in the heart of the Bogside. Some of the guided walking tours that leave from the tourist information center include the story of the murals. On the other side of the political divide, close to the city walls, the Protestant Fountain estate is home to one of the oldest King Billy murals along with other colorful ones linked to the siege of Derry.