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DERRY lies at the foot of Lough Foyle, immediately before the border with the Republic. It's a crossroads city in more ways than one; roads from all cardinal points arrive here, but it was also a major point of emigration from the eighteenth century onwards, an exodus which reached tumultuous proportions during the Great Famine. Derry is the fourth-largest town in Ireland and the second-biggest in the North, but it has a markedly different atmosphere from Belfast, being two-thirds Catholic . While entrances to the city are now marked by signs in Irish welcoming visitors to Derry, the city still appears as " Londonderry " on many road maps and signs, a preference adhered to by the British government, Unionists and television news bulletins, Indeed, it has also acquired the nickname " Stroke City " - a reference to the tactful placating of both Nationalist and Unionist traditions by entitling it "Londonderry/Derry" on signs and in radio and television broadcasts. Whatever, the case, locals of both persuasions now generally refer to their city as "Derry". Within Ireland, Derry is highly regarded for both its characteristically caustic humour - best caught in the busier bars and at the football matches at the Brandywell - and its musical pedigree, having produced names as diverse as Dana, Daithi Sproule (of Altan), Phil Coulter, The Undertones, and many less famous. Approached from the east in winter twilight or under a strong summer sun, the city presents a beguiling picture, with the spread of the River Foyle and the rise of the city's two hillsides, terraced with pastel-shaded houses from which rise the hueless stone spires of the ever-present Church Orders. This scenic appeal apart, at first sight Derry might appear to offer little cause to linger, for all the richness of its history. Yet there are several real attractions, mostly enclosed within the seventeenth-century walls , themselves the most significant reminder of the city's past. And four miles or so west of the centre, across the border on the Letterkenny Road, is the unmissable Grianan Ailigh , a stone fort and the oldest habitation left standing in Ireland. Outside Ireland, the name of Derry recalls the Troubles of recent years and savage events like the Bloody Sunday massacre. Nonetheless, under no circumstances be deterred from visiting, for, unlike Belfast, the cutting edge of violence had receded considerably here even before the ceasefires, and the city is still imbued with a real sense of optimism, despite losing much trade to nearby Letterkenny thanks to the declining value of the punt against sterling.
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