MICHAEL: Hello and welcome to Ireland with Michael.

I'm Michael Londra and in this show, I get to tell you everything I love about my home country the best way I know how, through music.

Today we're in Derry, the Walled City, one of the oldest, continually habited places in Ireland.

Nowadays, Derry is a cosmopolitan hub with layers built up by the storied years, which have shaped it.

Compact and walkable, it's the perfect place to get out, explore its nooks and crannies and discover the hidden gems that make this city, such a pleasure to visit.

It's also home to the song that you probably think of when you think of me and when you think of this vast and varied country.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael is made possible by... ♪ ANNOUNCER: Whether traveling to Ireland for the first time, or just longing to return, there's plenty more information available at Ireland.com.

♪ ANNOUNCER: CIE Tours, sharing the magic of Ireland for 90 years.

♪ ANNOUNCER: Aer Lingus has been bringing people home since 1936.

If you are thinking about Ireland, Aer Lingus is ready when you are to take you home.

♪ MICHAEL: Derry is an incredibly rich city, with a heritage stretching back to the 6th century.

At its center is the old Walled Town.

The historic walls and gates are still completely intact, having never been breached in all of their 400-year history, making it one of the very best examples of its kind in Europe.

Also, the first planned city in Ireland, its grid design would later be copied in the British- American colonies, making it a twin to some of the oldest towns on the eastern seaboard.

Charlene.

CHARLENE: Michael, how are you doing?

MICHAEL: To get a sense of the stories which surround these stones, there's really no one better than Charlene McCrossan.

All right, well lets go.

Who manages the five-star Derry City walking tours and whose dad, Martin McCrossan, started giving tours 30 years ago.

CHARLENE: So, we're just going on to the walls here now, the 400-year-old walls.

MICHAEL: Great.

CHARLENE: And this is the widest section of the wall.

Up here we have the double bastion.

We've all the cannon that we have on the wall.

Every single cannon is original.

MICHAEL: Wow.

CHARLENE: Yeah, so, 24 in total throughout the circumference.

And then we have the beautiful view, you can really put it into perspective here as well.

When you're at the highest point of the wall, you can really see why they built the walls where they did, mainly surrounded by a river and built on a hill at that same time as well.

This is called the double bastion.

MICHAEL: Oh.

CHARLENE: And the cannon closest to us here is called the Roaring Meg.

So, all of the cannon that are on the wall, were actually given by the London Livery companies.

And this one was given by the fishmongers.

And it's said to be named after a fishmonger's wife, called Meg.

MICHAEL: Oh, right.

CHARLENE: So apparently when Meg got a little bit angry, she sounded like the noise from the cannon.

MICHAEL: She fired off.

CHARLENE: Yeah, so hence the name Roaring Meg.

MICHAEL: Good woman, Meg.

CHARLENE: Yep.

MICHAEL: As per the tour's reputation, Charlene's overflowing with knowledge about the walls and Derry.

CHARLENE: And you can see there are like musket loops in the top of the building.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

CHARLENE: It was completed in- MICHAEL: And she certainly doesn't gloss over the troubles this city has endured.

So we've got a fairly formidable wall here.

Tell us about it.

CHARLENE: So it is what is known as a peace line.

It is the divide between the two main communities in this city.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

CHARLENE: Catholic community here, Protestant community- community at the other side of the fence.

Now, I do say to everybody that comes to this city, do not leave here thinking that we are divided.

MICHAEL: You're right.

CHARLENE: The way in which this portrays us, because we're most certainly not.

Today we have integrated schools, integrated friendships, integrated relationships.

And the government of this country, did recently announce that they do plan to totally remove every single peace line in the whole of the country by 2023.

MICHAEL: So, that's... wow, that's something to look forward to, right?

CHARLENE: It's definitely something to look forward to, yeah.

MICHAEL: A new Derry.

CHARLENE: Yeah, a new Derry is right.

MICHAEL: As these stories of the past and their monuments remind us that people just like us lived here too, did this, built walls and sieged them, set borders and broke them.

And that today, we are truly lucky to walk freely through gates, ♪ to linger and listen to a man play guitar in a quiet spot on top of a wall that stood there, since they finished it one day in 1619.

♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Inward from the city walls, nestled away around its own square, is one of the liveliest corners of Derry.

Enclosed by charming 18th and 19th century style buildings, complete with balconied departments overhead, this eclectic neighborhood is a delightful escape in a buzzing town, where the variety of Derry crafts and eats mingle.

In the heart of this bustling city is a quiet, peaceful oasis that is chock full of art galleries, craft stores and restaurants.

And right behind me, I hear there's somebody who makes the best scones in Ireland.

(birds chirping) ♪ So, Michelle, before I got to Derry, I heard about this place, not because of how gorgeous it was, but because of your scones.

And you call them?

MICHELLE: Scones.

MICHAEL: Oh, right.

Is that- is that the posh way to say it?

MICHELLE: No, there- you know there actually is a reason.

MICHAEL: Why?

MICHELLE: People from the north, like north of Ireland and north England, Scotland... MICHAEL: Yeah.

MICHELLE: They say scones.

It's a southern dialect.

MICHAEL: I didn't know that.

Okay, so, so now you're making scones.

And, do you- do you use a family recipe or did you learn this from somebody?

MICHELLE: Well, my mother made scones all my life and I watched her.

And I'm using a recipe, I've adapted it a wee bit.

MICHAEL: Oh, right.

MICHELLE: Because I- she just made plain scones and I make raspberry and white chocolate scones and fruit scones... MICHAEL: Oh.

MICHELLE: And savory scones, which is a creation that we made in here.

MICHAEL: Which I love.

MICHELLE: Have you tried?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

So, is it right that there is no, do you- do you prefer a scone with no filling or with fruit?

Because I have a very definite opinion about that.

MICHELLE: I love a plain scone.

It reminds me of my mother.

And a plain scone, if it's a good plain scone, you don't need anything else.

MICHAEL: Yeah, I totally agree.

And then you can add the- the jam and the dollop of cream, like a whole dollop of it.

MICHELLE: But the raspberry and white chocolate scones, which I make are- MICHAEL: To die for?

MICHELLE: People say that.

I don't say that.

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah, you can't.

Well, let me tell you, I'm going to try them all.

MICHELLE: Mm.

MICHAEL: So... MICHELLE: I better get back and make some.

(both laughing) MICHAEL: So, is this the scone you're talking about?

MICHELLE: This is the raspberry and white chocolate one, Michael.

MICHAEL: Oh, boy, look at that.

MICHELLE: They are not too long out of the oven.

MICHAEL: Talk about decadent.

And you still provide the dollop of cream.

I have to tell you, I'm gonna take the dollop of cream and put it on because that is my idea of a scone.

I'm happy to say that I ran about 5K this morning, so I'm well able to take all these calories in and I'm going to take every single one of them.

MICHELLE: There are no calories in it, Michael.

MICHAEL: Oh, my God.

(Michelle laughs) ♪ MICHAEL: As it happens, when Ireland was partitioned a hundred years ago, Derry was cut off from its traditional hinterland in County Donegal.

It's there that we're off to visit Emerald Guitars in Lifford, the county seat just outside the city of Derry.

A small business, which has grown into an internationally acclaimed brand, over the last 20 years, Emerald Guitars builds resonant and extremely durable guitars made out of carbon fiber.

ALISTAIR: It's a fabric just like your clothes are made of.

MICHAEL: An idea sparked in founder Alistair Hay, while he was working on racing boats, made out of the stuff in the '90s.

ALISTAIR: Carbon fiber is a very uniform material.

It's all, you know, that black woven fabric.

MICHAEL: Yes.

ALISTAIR: But the one thing that we do to try and make it very unique is we select individual pieces of veneer and then this library of veneers here.

MICHAEL: So, if I'm buying a guitar, I can pick the exact veneer?

ALISTAIR: The exact piece.

On our website, you- you can find a piece with a number... MICHAEL: Oh yeah.

ALISTAIR: And a picture and- and that'll be represented in this library.

And- and you can find a piece that, you know, something like this.

This is Royal Ebony.

And- and we put this into our molding process and fuse it with the carbon fiber.

So, it gives a- a very unique look.

(air whooshing) MICHAEL: A lapsed guitar player myself, this is a process that fascinates me.

(guitar strums) So naturally, I had to be walked through every step of how they're made by the experts that do this day in and day out.

You see yourself in a way as a local brand, because everything is from right here in the most beautiful spot.

ALISTAIR: Yeah, well, we've- we've fought really hard to- to keep it local and to, you know, keep our manufacturing local.

We're very proud to be able to do that.

And while we- we make a very technologically advanced guitar.

We're doing it here in a very remote part of Donegal and, you know, on the side of a hillside here and surrounded by green fields.

And to me, I think that's a really big part of what we do.

You know it's- we're not just making guitars, we're- we're making something that's special.

And we always say here, we don't just sell guitars, we sell stories.

MICHAEL: I want one.

It's obvious the craft that goes into these guitars, so I couldn't wait to hear one being played.

♪ Especially when the one playing it is none other than, and I can't believe I'm saying this, Noel Ó Dúgáin.

Guitarist for the highly influential and innovative band, Clannad.

But for my inner kid with hardly, but a dream of singing professionally, there's simply nothing more exciting than the prospect of hearing the voice of Clannad, Máire Brennan.

Keen viewers might notice I was perhaps slightly starstruck, getting to speak with this lot of legends.

So, if somebody told me when I was 14 years old that I would be sitting with the legends of my life musically growing up, many years later, I don't know what.

I'd spontaneously combusted with excitement.

You know, everybody talks about Riverdance making Irish, and being Irish and using Gaelic a- a sexy thing.

I think it was Clannad who made Ga- Gaelic and Irish, being Irish, a sexy thing internationally.

Because it was the first time that we saw Irish music being represented internationally on a global scale.

M ÁIRE: I- I think you know, Irish music has come in waves.

And if you think about it, the first wave, like was the Clancy's.

You know what I mean?

MICHAEL: Oh right.

M ÁIRE: So, it was- if you look at it in that- those kind of terms, it was that kind of wave of the Clancy Brothers and that.

And then, you know, it was the Dubliners and all that ballads kind of scene that was happening.

But we just brought in a new sound.

And I think that was what is now regarded as the Celtic sound, you know.

And then after that with Riverdance, it was another wave, and- And so it- I- I feel that it comes in waves in that sort of way.

You know, and we were one of the waves.

♪ ♪ (singing in a foreign language) (singing in a foreign language) MICHAEL: Over the years, you- you gradually change your sound and you took on solo projects, and- But ultimately, you have this Clannad sound has stayed at the root of your music.

M ÁIRE: Yeah.

MAN: Oh yeah.

MICHAEL: Is it because- is it because of your style of singing?

Is it because of your arrangements?

Is it because you gel so well together?

M ÁIRE: Yeah, I think it's both.

We gelled a lot.

And, you know, the sound, you know people would often say to us, you know, about, you know, "Where did you get the sound?"

And I'd say to them, "Go to Donegal."

And, you know, it's the earthiness and that kind of feeling of- of- of- the surroundings of Donegal.

And I've met people that have been in Donegal and they look at me and says, "You're absolutely right."

Because there is an earthiness and the spiritual kind of feeling in- within the Clannad thing.

And it's to do with the way we kind of, we- we weren't sort of trying to become famous, you know, immediately or, or, you know, I mean, it was kind of very gradual things.

So, it allowed us to kind of have that empathy with- with nature and kind of, let it be part of what we did.

So when "Harry's Game" happened, which is the first Gaelic song on top of the pops, and, you know, it was- you know we were as surprised as anybody.

MICHAEL: Oh right.

(singing in a foreign language) (singing in a foreign language) ♪ (singing in a foreign language) (singing in a foreign language) (singing in a foreign language) (singing in a foreign language) ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Heading back into Derry, outside of the walls in one of the city's many green spaces, I'm meeting up with forager and chef Emily McCorkle, who's adopted this city as her own.

EMILY: Okay, so here we come.

Watch your step with the nettles.

MICHAEL: And makes use of the native and wild things, which grow here to cook up truly delicious food that emphasizes locality foremost.

EMILY: This is wood sorrel, which is a very surprising tiny little plant.

Go ahead and try it and tell me what flavors you feel in that?

MICHAEL: Okay, what flavors?

EMILY: Yeah.

MICHAEL: It's kind of smoky.

And there's another kick of sweetness.

EMILY: But apple citrusy kinda.

MICHAEL: And there's the citrus.

EMILY: Yeah.

MICHAEL: The lemon.

EMILY: It's beautiful, isn't it?

MICHAEL: All right, amazing.

It kind of opens up into different flavors.

EMILY: And here we are with all the nasturtium.

MICHAEL: Okay, so tell me about the nasturtium.

EMILY: Have you ever eaten them?

MICHAEL: I have not.

I know that you're passionate about this subject.

EMILY: Yes.

MICHAEL: How do you persuade chefs around the country and indeed people at home, to embrace this?

EMILY: Well, for chefs around the country, I think there's- there's a lot of chefs who- who wanna be aware, maybe I think, of different flavors.

The things that are- are not common, are not usual ingredients that you can get from your wholesaler.

MICHAEL: Yes.

EMILY: But for the- for the average person and that's a tour that I'm doing, it's for the average person, it's for the person who just feels a little bit stressed out, maybe wanna do a family activity, get their kids more involved in nature.

(food sizzling) MICHAEL: After our romp through the undergrowth, it's back to base camp, as it were, where the grill has already been heating up.

EMILY: So what we have here is just a table full of local.

Everything that we've got here is all sourced locally as- as much as possible.

MICHAEL: Amazing.

EMILY: We've got our nasturtium that we've... MICHAEL: Yeah.

EMILY: Foraged earlier.

MICHAEL: It's time to taste these.

With the finishing touches, it's time to take all the credit for our meal and finally sit down for the most important part, tasting it.

EMILY: Going straight in?

♪ MICHAEL: Oh my word.

EMILY: Can taste the nasturtium?

MICHAEL: I can, oh yeah.

EMILY: That nice bit of pepper in there, huh?

MICHAEL: That little bit of pepper in there.

Personally, I'm parched, (liquid sloshes) and more than a little interested in how all this local creative flair can be applied to the time-honored art of imbibing.

Patrick, after that gorgeous, delicious meal, I can't quite believe that here in the heart of the city, you are going to make me a cocktail in the middle of nature here.

What are you gonna make for me?

PATRICK: So, we start off with some strawberries and raspberries.

MICHAEL: We're good at strawberries in Ireland.

PATRICK: Oh yes, beautiful strawberries, beautiful.

Next, we need some fresh basil.

Basil just adds a beautiful- MICHAEL: I'm gonna say, I'm gonna correct you.

It's basil.

PATRICK: Well, tomato, tomato, really isn't it.

MICHAEL: Yeah (laughs) PATRICK: Tomato, tomato.

Then for our alcohol, we're using a raspberry liqueur.

We use about 25 mils of this here.

MICHAEL: Oh, very good.

PATRICK: Yeah.

MICHAEL: How much is 25 mils?

PATRICK: You're talking just over three quarters of an ounce.

MICHAEL: Oh, perfect.

PATRICK: Just over three quarters of an ounce.

Then a same measurements of a orange cognac... MICHAEL: Yeah orange liqueur, yep.

♪ PATRICK: Then we're using some fresh cranberry juice.

We're going to go about 100 mils of this here.

That's three ounces and a bit, I believe.

MICHAEL: Good math.

PATRICK: Yeah.

♪ MICHAEL: So, Patrick, you're- you're from Derry, right?

PATRICK: I'm from Derry, yeah.

MICHAEL: Very good.

(glass clinks) But you're a mixologist in the city, in a- in a cocktail bar in the city?

PATRICK: Yeah, so I'm helping set up a cocktail bar in a place called Pyke 'N' Pommes.

Beautiful, beautiful restaurant.

MICHAEL: In town?

PATRICK: It's in town, yeah.

MICHAEL: Very good.

PATRICK: So now we've got all the ingredients in.

It's only actually three liquids.

It's all based on the fruits and the herbs that go in with it.

And then you shake it up beautifully with some ice.

(shakes drink) And if you give that a smell, you can really.

It brings out the strawberries.

MICHAEL: Oh, that's beautiful.

PATRICK: Yeah, then straight pour in.

MICHAEL: Oh, that looks beautiful.

PATRICK: And lastly, garnish it with a single basil leaf.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

This is what I've waited for.

♪ Sláinte.

♪ This, Patrick, is sensational.

PATRICK: Enjoy.

MICHAEL: Oh, boy, it's gorgeous.

♪ ♪ Oh, Danny boy ♪ The pipes, the pipes are calling me ♪ What must be the most popular song in the Irish diaspora is "Danny Boy."

Beautiful and melancholy, it is that tune which is attributed firmly to Derry, as it was originally called the "Londonderry Air."

♪ And all the flowers are dying ♪ Found by Jane Ross of nearby Limavady, the lyrics added later by EE Weatherly, touch the listener like no other song in my repertoire.

♪ ♪ But come ye back when summer's in the meadow ♪ ♪ Or when the valley's hushed ♪ ♪ And white with snow ♪ ♪ Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy ♪ ♪ I love ye so ♪ ♪ But if ye come and all the flowers are dying ♪ ♪ ♪ And I am dead, as dead I will be ♪ ♪ You will come and find ♪ The place where I am lying ♪ ♪ And kneel and say an Ave there for me ♪ ♪ ♪ And I shall hear ♪ Though soft you tread above me ♪ ♪ And all my dreams will warmer, sweeter be ♪ ♪ ♪ If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me ♪ ♪ ♪ I'll simply sleep ♪ In peace ♪ Until you come to me ♪ (crowd applauding) Thanks for joining me on my travels around Derry.

I'm Michael Londra and I hope to see you next time on Ireland with Michael.

But for now, cheers.

Sláinte.

ANNOUNCER: Want to continue your travels to Ireland?

A deluxe Ireland with Michael DVD featuring all episodes of Season One plus bonus concert footage is available for $30.

Season Two plus bonus concert footage is available for $30.

A copy of the Ireland with Michael Companion Travel Guide featuring places to visit, as seen in Seasons One and Two, is also available for $30.

ANNOUNCER: This offer is made by Wexford House.

Shipping and handling is not included.

MICHAEL: To learn more about everything you've seen in this episode, go to IrelandWithMichael.com.

ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael was made possible by... ♪ ANNOUNCER: Whether traveling to Ireland for the first time, or just longing to return, there's plenty more information available at Ireland.com.

♪ ANNOUNCER: CIE Tours, sharing the magic of Ireland for 90 years.

♪ ANNOUNCER: Aer Lingus has been bringing people home since 1936.

If you are thinking about Ireland, Aer Lingus is ready when you are to take you home.

MICHAEL: OK, put your hands up in the air!

Come on, let's get a-waving.

♪ In my heart its rightful queen ♪ ♪ Ever loving, ever tender ♪ MICHAEL: That's it.

♪ Ever true ♪ Like the Sun your smile has shone ♪ MICHAEL: Go on, Wexford.

♪ Gladdening all it glowed upon ♪ ♪