Most people would not think of the North as a tourist destination. The Troubles hang over people's image of the area like a dark shroud of fear. And so I had to see it for myself. Perhaps I have a wish to court danger somewhere in my deep psychology. Ever since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, of course, Northern Ireland has become a much safer place for tourists. Some places are still not safe for visitors. But let's just say that I have more fear of being robbed in Limerick than I do in Belfast.

	This picture was taken from near the top of a hill in County Derry (NI). In the distance in this picture can be seen the straight that connects Loch Foyle with the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond it the shore of county Donegal, on the other side of Loch Foyle.
	Looking north-west from Banba's Crown, Malin Head, Co. Donegal, the most northerly tip of land in all Ireland.
	This is part of the stone circle near Bocan, co. Donegal. It is said that this circle, as it is the most northerly stone circle in all Ireland, receives the incoming cosmic energy for Ireland and spreads it throughout the land. Much of the rest of the circle, which is actually more an elongated oval than a circle, is strewn with boulders, probably cleared from elsewhere in the field and dumped here to make way for farming, some time in the last few hundred years.
	The view from one of the roads leading up to Banba's Crown, co. Donegal.
	The Bogside of Derry (NI). This place marks the beginning of the "no-go" zone controlled by militant Republicans after Bloody Sunday. The site of Bloody Sunday itself is a short distance behind where I stood to take this picture. There are numerous wall murals like the two feature here, painted by professional artists of both communities in their respective neighbourhoods, depicting events in the history of Ireland since partition.
	This monument, inside a roundabout and adjacent to a bridge across the river Foyle, is called "Reaching Across the Divide". I believe that it was erected shortly after the Good Friday Agreement, although I may be wrong. It symbolises the co-operation of the Republican and Loyalist communities in the aspiration for peace.
	Derry is the only city in Ireland to retain its fortifications complete. One can walk all around the old part of the city on the top of these 17th century stone walls. This section here, overlooking the Bogside, features a mobile telephone mast and a British Army listening post. The graphiti on the wall satirises the initials of one of the major Loyalist paramilitary groups.

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