Finally, a Yelper visits the best-kept secret in Dublin!…read more When your taxi driver says, "Tirty years a drivin' in this city and I never heard a Richmond Barracks," then you know you've stumbled onto a hidden gem! We had the entire place to ourselves, a museum way off the beaten path. Kudos to my wife for always finding these attractions. Richmond Barracks was an enormous compound erected by the British Army in 1810 when Dublin was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. A century later, it served as a quarantine during World War I for prisoners accused of fighting for Ireland's independence. The extant building went through multiple reincarnations, from hosting the Irish Army post-independence to public housing for the poor. The last remaining occupant would be Christian Brothers school in 2006. Opening in 2016, the museum manages to capture every bit of this history within its limited space. What remains today in the blue collar Inchicore neighborhood is a tiny piece of the once massive, sprawling military base. Only a small section of the easternmost barracks stands today, the building originally just north of the notable arched courtyard entrance, a small yet historically pivotal section. The neighboring park now occupies that former courtyard. Seeing the small museum with a guide is imperative to learn the true story. You'll hear information from a knowledgeable personal guide that isn't even taught in schools yet as more about Richmond Barracks is still being revealed. Insight is only now coming to light about various periods in Irish history. As you stand in the gymnasium, you'll hear chilling tales of the British military leaders standing above, singling out certain Irish rebels for execution including the masterminds of the Easter Rebellion Tom Clarke and Seán MacDermott. Audio interpretations of eyewitness accounts are chilling! You'll learn about the 1920s school that occupied the site, whose presence singlehandedly saved the remaining wing of the barracks that stands today. The guide will answer your every question, including details of the unscrupulous behavior of the Irish government who promised the neighborhood they would leave the iconic archway of the barracks, only to surreptitiously demolish it in one fell swoop. You may also want to visit neighboring Goldenbridge Cemetery, where victims of the Irish Potato Famine were buried in mass graves in the 1840s. There are several amazing aspects about Richmond Barracks that promotes it from a 4-star to a 5-star experience. What it lacks in size it more than makes up for in historic impact, the implications of which are still fluid, gradually and actively revealing its history through uncovered facts and research of which most Irish citizens are not even aware. More amazing is the fact that the other historic sites in town refused to embrace Richmond Barracks or offer any marketing assistance to the museum. Despite that, the museum has defied the odds and risen to become one of the most recommended attractions in Dublin, the ultimate underdog prevailing! Every effort is made to create a personable experience, an informative tour, and unique programs for adults and children. If you want that tourist gem without all the tourists, this is the place to go in Dublin! With an overwhelmingly compelling history, give them your patronage and you shall reap great rewards. And if you're hungry, yes, they have a nice café.

Very informative and interesting tour. Including hidden stories from the 1916 rising and less…read morepublicised accounts from the different people involved. Their cafe is great and the tour of Goldenbridge Cemetery is a highlight!

This is my second year visiting Culture Night. What i love about this event is getting in to see…read moreso many buildings that would not normally be open and usually get a tour - i got to see christ church, marshs library, city hall and others. There are also street performances and music all around The streets around town are crowded with people all rushing to make it to as many places as possible. Its so much fun. This year i did a tour of Capel Street with the yelp gang. A little "pocket tour" of whats good on the street (Emily you can start "Pocket Tours with Emily"). I actually go to school at the top of the street and have never been to any of these amazing cafes and restaurants. I love to meet the people who work there or started the place an hear their story and what inspired them. We had such good food in all four spots and i can't wait to get back to try the full menu We were also joined by the guys from Story Map which is a dublin app. We got to meet people along the way who told us stories about the area. Like little mini history lessons. I will get the app for sure and check out the tours

What a brilliant night!!! Such a great idea and there has been a really nice vibe around town…read moretonight! The only places I went to were Christ Church Cathedral, Saint Patrick's Cathedral & The Freemasons Hall. I'm almost ashamed to say that I've not been to any of these three places considering I've lived in Dublin all my life!!! Highlights of Christ Church. I mean never mind the building itself - it left me a little awestruck! Strongbow's tomb, the treasures in the crypt, the mummified Tom & Jerry (the cat and the rat that were trapped in an organ in the 1860s) and the Magna Carta 800 celebration. From there we walked to Saint Patrick's Cathedral - the photo was taken as we walked through the park beside the Cathedral. The building is in the shape of a cross. There really is so much to see here and there is such a feeling of history as you wander through. Highlight for me here was the model of the building and the bust of Jonathan Swift. This should definitely be a must do for any tourists or even native Dubliners who have never been. Third and final stop of the evening was the Freemasons Hall which is in a Victorian building. It looked to me like this had the biggest queue and wow oh wow I can see why! Where do I even start with here? The building is pretty spectacular yet I've never paid it much attention!!! There was a guide advising us to start upstairs. First stop was the Grand Lodge room. The ceiling was something else!!! It was just incredible. The next highlight was the Knights Templar room. That is really something. Took a seat along the side of the room to just take It all in. We then wandered through the rest of the Hall before visiting the museum. It felt a little like walking in history - it's fantastic to have something like Culture Night to experience something new. You can check out the photos to see what I mean. Top night - will definitely do it again next year!

I was super excited to this event. I have been to some fitness days before and knew what to expect…read more I knew that Wellfest would start at about 9 am but I had walked for about 5 hours in the previous evening because of Dublin's Culture night so I was tired and needed to sleep in a little, arriving there at about 11.30 am. I could hear the loud music pumping and I could not wait really. I passed the entrance with no hassle as my name was noted in the Yelp list. Turning to the entrance's corner I saw Emily and Kate in the "Yelp desk" teaching many people how to upload the app and check in to get some freebies. I was a bit disappointed because there were no Yelp special goodies bags anymore and I thought there would be a few saved for the Yelp reporters (but it was my fault as I did not know they would be available for a certain number of people who checked in first) but there was none left so I grabbed a few things that were available and I was told I needed to upload a picture to get the stylized water bottle (which looked all red and pretty amazing). The internet sign was not so good in the park and it took me some time to be able to upload one so by the time I went back there was nothing left. I decided to go around to see what was happening and went right away to the well being tent to try some stretches. I was impressed by the amount of people that were there and I can see the health industry is getting big in Dublin as probably many people were there really because it seemed pretty hype and cool. I thought that for the price people would get some sort of Wellfest bag with samples (because that is what sponsors do in such events) and that yoga mattresses would be provided not to keep but only to use in there when needed but I did not see any, only a few people that seemed a bit lost like me (doing planks in the grass, but this was not such an issue) wondering where was that info that we should have brought our own and then I saw it was being sold in there. Some things were very well organized as the well kept toilets, a station with drinkable water and another one for cleaning up the hands with sanitizer. There were lots of food sellers and the main stage was the one that seemed the most energetic. The set up was basically 2 well being tents (one for walk-ins and the other one for very similar workshops that had to be booked online and had a huge waiting list so I preferred to go to the first tent instead; a spinning tent with lessons that also needed to be booked and were paid; a TRX exercise station with interesting looking machinery; a tent for talks and a cooking show and the biggest tent of the whole festival only had the purpose of selling healthy foods such as active almonds, raw coconut, protein bites, essential oils and so on. Also there were a few bean bags on the grass to relax (but only to the lucky few who managed to catch them!). I decided to browse everywhere then I watched the Happy Pear chefs cooking veggie pad thai and banana bread, did a full on aerobics Viking method of squats/jumping/plank/kicks for 45 mins, relaxed with yoga and meditation for beginners and had some protein balls (because the queues were insane in the stalls). The main thing is that for the price of 35 euros I felt that most people were flogged lots of products that are part of diet fads and it seemed absurd to have to pay extra for a particular workshop. Also, the tent for talks did not have so many interesting topics even though the chefs were indeed funny and charming all the way. Dublin has so much to offer and there are several classes of yoga/pilates/meditation done in parks for free of for a fiver and I did not see anything that was very impressive to be worthy the entrance. Also, being very used to exercises and gym I knew most of the techniques and there are many videos in Youtube which can be followed in your home to do the same thing. For me it was an overall "meh" experience unfortunately even though I still loved to have the opportunity to check it out (thanks you guys!)

There is a LOT to like about Ireland's first fitness & wellbeing festival, most of all is the fact…read morethat there's never really been something like this in Ireland. Held in the completely transformed Herbert Park, there was a feeling in the air that, yes this is strange and unusual, but that it was also the beginning of something that feels perfectly on point for modern day Ireland. First off, congratulations to the organisers for putting together something like this in IRELAND. The weather was completely fine but the gamble these guys were taking was pretty intense. With normal, boozed fuelled music festivals, if it starts raining then you just lash on more booze and numb your way out of the weather. This wouldn't have been an option at Wellfest with the strongest substance going being coffee or some healthy red bull alternatives, not quite enough to make you forget about any rain that could have happened. Thankfully the weather produced the goods. A full range of workshops from yoga to TRX training awaits anyone brave enough to get sporty in front of hundreds of others, and surprisingly everyone was totally jumping in. It was actually a really cool experience watching so many people just forget themselves a little and start joining in on workshops with complete strangers. The TRX training was unlike anything I would normally do but I'm thankful I got to try it out (my body isn't so thankful). There was an all too short meditation section that MANY people seemed interested in, and I really think the organisers should give this a bit more focus next year just by the huge number of people that were interested in it. Some great talks on nutrition (sugar, never again) and mental health by Bressie and others were some of the highlights for me. In fact, just like with meditation, I think even more could be done in these areas next year with maybe some interaction for people to make it more fun and to get people to open up a bit more. People rarely put themselves out there when it comes to expressing themselves and when attending an event like this with an open mind, this really could be capitalised on to bring the most out of people artistically and emotionally. The fact that Bressie talking about mental health was the most attended of the events (as far as I could see) really shows that people are very curious about mental health, and their curiosity could be rewarded more. A special shout-out to the range of amazing foods & drinks provided by some really awesome small businesses. This was suppose to be an event about fitness but the amount I ate would say otherwise. All in all, this event is what I want to see more of. Fitness, mental health, nutrition & openness are some real things that Ireland could pioneer in for the future and it's events like Wellfest that will lead the vanguard in these areas. Sign me up for round 2.

The Axis theatre is an arts and community resource center. they offer dance classes, art classes…read moreand drama classes for kids and the great thing is the classes are very affordable. This is great for the local children and children from other areas as it gives them a place to bring out their star qualities! Ballymun is sending out the next lot of superstars! I have been at the theatre for the odd pantomine and the last one i went to was so hilarious, the panto while for the children has enough adult content to keep the grown us happy and laughing along. And the cost is only a fraction of what it would cost in the more fancier theatres in the city center.

What ? the Axis hasn't been reviewed yet ? that's ...odd.. loads of good plays there...that said,…read moreI'm only 15 min drive from it and never went to see a play there, I heard lots of good reviews about the Christie Hennessy play for instance. Parking is quite difficult or at least tricky in that area... even they advice to give them a ring to get advice on where is best to park your car but they do have underground parking facilities on event nights. Anyway Axis does LOADS of stuff, it's not just a theatre. What I've experienced is the underground studio for musicians which has a recording studio and 2 rehearsal rooms of decent size. Very cheap, 10€ an hour, though they do need to get their act together with the booking process because for a while the receptionist pretended to take bookings over the phone but actually nothing was done!!!), there's a drumming set, 2 guitar amps and 1 bass amp, 1 PA system and 2-3 mics (plus a keyboard in one of the rooms). If you're interested in music rehearsal, dance or art projects, I think it's worth checking this place out.

It is a must-see if are visiting Ireland. It seems quite unreal - we just saw those things before…read morein The Netherlands! =) But they are spectacular. The small one is 500 years old and the white 300 years old. You can observe restorations here and there, but it looks very well preserved. They do not work any more but are open for visitation. You can either go see it by yourself but I took the tour and I really recommend it. It costs 4.80 for students and 6.60 for regular ticket. Kids go free. The tour takes about 1h and you learn a lot. You can even try the old machines a little bit - it was fun! The guide was very friendly and full of stories. In the visitors center they have a restaurant and craft shop. You have a half day off it is a good idea to explore the place.

I took a tour here the other day, it took about an hour and it was very informative. You learnt all…read moreabout the history of the mill which dates back to the 16th century, they only were restored very recently. I must say that I had fun trying to grind the flour with the stone. The location is very pretty and you get to walk outside a few times as you there are several mills. The views of the area are very impressive. Afters we had some lunch in the café that is part of the mill. It definitely is a good family activity to do if you are looking for ideas and want to try something new.

This is a pop up park that is there until the 22nd September. This little park features lots of…read morevisual art from plants in old shoes, dream garden, outdoor library and various sculptures made from raw materials. They have a little outdoor cafe with reasonable prices....known as the as the Granby Grazer. This a non-profit operation that solely works on volunteers. Other areas that were brilliant is the stage area made out of old pallets, the sand pit for the kids made out of tyres & sand of course, climbing frames made from big lumps of wood, cement benches.....the art here is endless, with many new items to find at every turn. Would love to see something like this be made a permanent fixture here.....well worth a visit.

This is adorable small museum near the shores of Dun Laoghaire. Beautiful inside and out. The…read moreexhibition includes many interesting details about ships, light houses, oceans and history. Many hands on activities for children. Fabulous staff. A must see in Dun Laoghaire!

I m not certain that this is the same museum I've been searching for. My husband and I were on a…read moreBritish Isles cruise and one of the ports was Dun Laoghaire, and we went into the small museum near the dock, there. The displays were very interesting, and in addition, there was a gentleman at a computer station who was a genealogist. He was able to search out many of our ancestors, and we got his card for future reference. Unfortunately, it has disappeared and I'm hoping that he, or someone from this museum, will reply here so that we can reconnect, I'd appreciate it.

The Famous Guided Tour at the Little Museum of Dublin is perfectly named. In just 30-ish minutes,…read moreGeorge delivered an awe-inspiring blend of storytelling, humor, and song that left me with a deeper appreciation for Ireland's rich history. I was completely intrigued by the number of stories packed into such a short tour, all made possible through the generosity by the people of Ireand who donated the museum's artifacts. The passion and pride of the staff shine through in every moment. This is an absolute cute, educational must-do experience in Dublin!

An old house from 1777 turned into a museum. Saul was an…read moreamazing tour guide. He had great energy w/ his storytelling & even danced a jig. Lots to see in this Little museum of history & pop culture. Prices were inexpensive as well. Guides can take tips too. Not a great place young kids.