Dublin is more than 1,000 years old but nobody really knows just how old it is. The proto-Geographer Ptomely of Alexandria thought he knew something about it. In the year 130AD his "Geography" included a map of Ireland with a town named Eblana Polis roughly where Dublin is now situated. According to legend St Patrick visited Dublin in 450AD and baptised some of the citizenry at a well situated in what is now the grounds of St Patrick's Cathedral.
At least nine churches were established in the Dublin area before the arrival of the Vikings, and the place was significant enough in 660AD for the Pope to appoint a Bishop of Dublin - despite the fact that it appears to have been little more than a village at the time. In 837AD an event took place which ensured that the village would become a city. In that year 60 Viking ships sailed up the river Liffey and spied out the lie of the land. They were impressed and four years later established a fortress at the "black pool", in the Irish language Dubh Linn. For more than 1,000 years after this Dublin was a foreign stronghold in Ireland under the Vikings, the Normans and finally the British until independence in 1922.
Today Dublin's future looks bright. Older sections, which had begun to cave-in have been repaired and thousands of people have moved in from the suburbs and the country and revitalised the centre. Dublin is a city that is undoubtedly booming and its citizens are intent on enjoying it while it lasts. It is no wonder that in Dublin today Irish eyes are smiling.
We hope that your trip to Dublin will be truly pleasurable and worry-free. Here, we have gathered some useful and interesting information to help your journey.
