Dublinia, Province of Leinster, Ireland

4JHoaglandFL 5:00 PM Dec 22, 2022

Intertesting museum, but they closed the cathedral
Dublinia is a very interesting museum, but don't get your heart set on touring the cathedral We went into Christ Church Cathedral first, but the ladies said it's an extra charge to take a tour. We had tickets for Dublinia and she said we could get a 10% discount for the cathedral tour after we finished Dublinia. We said we'd be back later. The museum itself has a lot of interesting information, from the Viking times, through medieval times, to the 1700 and 1800's. A lot of scenes give you a real sense of what it must have been like to live in those times. For example, the medieval town scene showed a mud ground and buildings right next to each other, which meant it was very cramped and dirty. After we finished the third floor, we could either take the bridge to the cathedral and do that tour or climb up the tower. We climbed the tower and got some very nice views of the city. However, after we came down, the bridge to the cathedral was closed! We asked the staff at Dublinia and they said there was a funeral service being performed and we should come back tomorrow. I understand Christ Church is a working cathedral and they have different kinds of services, but was this an unplanned service that none of their staff knew about? We talked to the staff at the cathedral and they said to tour Dublinia first and come back. We talked to the staff at Dublinia before going into the tower and they said the bridge to the cathedral was the best exit from Dublinia. So why did none of these people warn us that the cathedral was closed for tours? Luckily, we didn't pay for a cathedral tour before going through Dublinia, so we didn't lose any money, but still. And, no, going back the next day wasn't an option since we had booked day trips to other places.

4LR1 5:00 PM Apr 21, 2022

Wonderful historical attraction in Dublin
We loved visiting Dublinia. It is wonderfully set up and is a great educational and enjoyable explanation of Dublin History. We particularly enjoyed the replica viking round house and medieval merchants house and the displays on both the Vikings and the Medieval times. All very well displayed and interactive activities for kids were brilliant. There was a fantastic audio visual large screen presentation aswell. Lots of work has gone into this and it should definitely be a must do on any visit to Dublin, whether you are Irish or a visitor from abroad. If I had one comment, it would be that there were too many visitors in our 11.30 am time slot, including a walking tour, who basically took over large sections of the room of what is a small space at times....we did not view some of the walls because of the size of the group and we left the tiny Viking round house, so they could come in. Staff were friendly. There was a needless queue on the way in to print tickets that were never checked for those of us who paid online, so maybe they could improve with a scanner like at the book of kells attraction at Trinity and maybe stagger the groups going in?