Have you ever thought of discovering a city through a re-enactment of its history?
I thought about it during my trip to Dublin, and I decided to take part in the “1916 Dublin Bus Tour“. It is a tour that recreates the atmosphere of the “Easter revolt”, with actors who stage that week of revolt by interpreting some of the principal exponents of the rebellion itself. But let’s start from the beginning: the story behind the Easter Revolution. It was a revolt that took place between 24 and 30 April 1916, the Easter week precisely, and which was organised mainly by the Irish Republican Brotherhood. That was an attempt by the Irish Republicans to obtain independence from the United Kingdom. The symbolic building of the revolt was the General Post Office: the Irish republicans occupied it because it was the place from where the messages and direct messages to the
United Kingdom departed. Why I chose this tour, just me trying to limit the most “tourist” attractions to do on the go? Just because it intrigued me very much the idea that there were actors to recall events: I must admit that, in the end, I was pleased with my choice! The two actors were very good at getting into the various interpretations (they were only two for different characters) and also in involving all the participants, exchanging jokes and making them more involved in the script. Also, inside the bus was structured to perfectly recreate the environment of the period (there are also moments when the action takes place outside the bus).
-> Tour prices:
Adults € 25 – Children (12-18 years) € 15
Students & “Senior Citizen” € 23
Family ticket (two adults + two children) 60 €
On the website is reported a 10% discount for the online booking (not valid for the family ticket);
-> Tour timetable: Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11.30 and 14.30.
-> Tour schedule: it starts (and ends) from the Dublin Bus Head Office, at 59 Upper O’Connell Street. The tour lasts 90 minutes, passes through the town hall, Four Courts, North King Street, the General Post Office. There are also two stops where the tour takes place outside the bus: St. Stephen’s green
and Dublin Castle. The two actors speak rather quickly, and the Irish accent is slightly different from that of the United Kingdom, which perhaps makes it more “difficult” to be able to follow the speech without losing the thread. I recommend you, therefore, to take part in the tour only if you have a good English knowledge to avoid understanding practically nothing (even if you can guess some things to intuition). If I advise you to participate? Given what I have already expressed about the understanding of English, I have no reason to warn you against this tour. On the contrary: if you are passionate about history, if you like discovering the city and trying to understand what happened in its past, I suggest you take a ticket for this tour and enjoy the story through the city and the Easter revolt of 1916.