EPIC Five Hours in York, UK
Travel Diary
Day 1:
We went on a mini train trip to the Northern part of England for our last trip before making our way back to Canada. On our way up to Durham we made sure to stop in York which has been on our bucket list for awhile now. It is only 2 hours away from Birmingham by train but somehow we haven't found the time for a visit yet. It was also cheaper to book a train ticket to York, and then a separate ticket to Durham.
York really has the old feel we were looking for as tourists exploring the UK.
We don't get to see this sort of stuff back in Canada.
We walked through a park past the museum and saw St Mary's Abbey.
We walked around towards the front of the York Art Gallery.
York has a long history going back to the Romans which you can see.
We walked through the charming streets and made our way to one of the main sights of York which is York Minster. Unfortunately York Minster was not open to the public because of a funeral so we didn't get to go inside.
Next up we found the Shambles which is York's oldest street. It is a medieval street so it's narrow and has charming old buildings.
There is a market next to the Shambles called the Shambles Market. We spotted a food stall with vegan options.
Another place of note is the old Merchants Hall.
We were getting a bit hungry and so we headed to El Piano which came highly recommended by The Vegan Engineer.
We made sure to try some of the coffee and chai tea. They have a unique menu.
We tried the soup of the day and the Thai curry.
After lunch we went to a pub with a Roman Bath in the basement.
A Roman Bathouse was discovered when the pub upstairs was doing renovations and now it's a little museum. These are the remains of the bathouse part of a Roman Legionary fortress called Eboracum which was built in 71 AD. The fortress was 50 acres so this bathhouse is just a small part of it. The bathouse was a place the 5000 soldiers that lived in the fortress liked to hang out to get clean, drink, eat and have fun.
There used to be wood flooring on top of where the pillars are and heat from the furnace in the floor would heat the room. It sounded like a sauna but it was called a Caldarium. After working up a sweat in the Caldarium the soldiers would got to the Frigidarium to cool off in a cold pool.
We had fun dressing up like Roman soldiers.
There were a few displays in the museum telling you all about the Roman Baths and life as a Roman.
There is all kinds of Roman stuff buried under York since it is such an old city.
York has a history of Vikings so there is a museum called the Jorvik Viking Centre. Jorvik is the old Norse name for York. The Jorvik Viking centre is closed until 8th April 2017.
We followed the signs to Clifford's Tower which is a part of York Castle.
Inside the tower we climbed to the top and got an excellent view of York.
The view from Clifford's tower is probably the best view of York you can get unless you can climb to the top of York Minster.
It was very cold on top of the tower though so we didn't stay up there long.
Luckily there was a little shop in the Tower where we were able to get warm.
We walked along the river for a little bit and looked at the birds.
There were birds all over the place.
We walked back to the Shambles Market and then we found a comic book store that was called Travelling Man.
We window shopped a little more and then walked back to the train station. On the way there we took some pictures up on the city wall.
We had an excellent time in York and we definitely understand why it came highly recommended as a city for tourists to visit as it has so much history. We were lucky we were able to have a stopover in York but now it was time to catch our train to Durham to visit our friend.
Continue reading: 'A Day Trip to Newcastle Castle'
Did you enjoy York as much as we did? Will you add it to your bucket list for England?
All of this is so so so so so familiar because my husband and I went to YORK right after we got engaged in Jan 2016. It was soooooooooooo colddddddddd and everything was closed, ha ha ha ha! And we were staying with my husband's friend and um, got kicked out - hahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh man, that's a long story!
ReplyDeleteIt was quite cold while we were there. Hope you found other accomodation!!
DeleteLooks amazing!! I lived in England for one year (1995-1996), but based in Somerset and never got up that far. Looks like an amazing area, and great to find some delicious-looking vegan food too. Thank you for sharing all the photos! Hope to someday check out the area.
ReplyDeleteYork is a beautiful place to explore. I would have loved to see it in the summer. I've heard Somerset is lovely though!
DeleteEpic, indeed :) I love the photos, I can only imagine how great you guys felt! Thank you for sharing your journey, I hope you enjoy many, many more!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the photos. York was a great place to visit. Thank you for reading along.
DeleteYork is indeed a lovely spot and this time of year, despite the cold, is actually a really good time to visit, providing of course that you manage to avoid the rain. It's certainly humbling to think how much country, even continent defining history that once occurred there although with so much of the sites being reasonably well preserved, a little imagination can go a long way. Really nice post and great snaps
ReplyDeleteYeah we managed to avoid rain, and had some lovely sunshine. The wind was a bit cold, but all in all it was fine. A lovely day of exploring. Thanks for your comment.
DeleteSeems like a very enjoyable five hours. The ancient buildings, coupled with the old world charm of the town makes for a perfect day out. Adding it to my list.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lovely English town.
DeleteYork/Jorvik is a often re-occurring place when reading about the Vikings, so it would be interesting to go and have a look at the museum once it is open again. I can only agree with you that it is nice to find a town with an old feeling, the feeling of history that you expect of the UK. I can imagine that there are a few of them, but there cannot be many with as impressive history as York?
ReplyDeleteYork was pretty impressive. I heard Bath in England is also history ridden and great to explore.
DeleteDespite the chilliness, York looks like an awesome place to go. I might choose a summer visit myself, but would love to see the history one day. Also, I'm kind of in love with charming towns, so it looks pretty perfect :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a lovely little town. Definitely worth the visit.
DeleteThe pictures are just so amazing. Even the ruins look picturesque. And a food stall with vegan option just adds a cherry on top of all the amazing experiences. I Totally love your travel diary.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yeah we were very happy finding El Piano, it was delicious.
DeleteAgree with you York definitely, has that old world charm we took for to escape the city hustle. Those stone buildings look pretty old. York Minster looks stunning reminds us of the Paris Notre Dam. Roman Bathhouse and its remains sound interesting to explore. York for sure would be on the bucket list of history buffs for its intriguing history.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't been to Paris Notre Dam yet. I have heard very many good things! History buffs definitely need to go to York!
DeleteI can see the old feel of York clearly visible in your pictures. Ancient architectures. Cobblestoned buildings. They all look wonderful. And it even has an old Roman bath. You just moved it up my bucket list of places to visit :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome to hear! We felt like we stepped back into history.
DeleteWhat a perfect 5 hours trip! York gives a perfect vibes of the old world and you've captured it very nicely in your pictures!
ReplyDeleteThank you. It was a lovely day.
Delete5 hours does not seem like an overly long time but you guys seemed to pack a bunch of stuff in! I love the MF Doom mask so much haha. The buildings all look so incredible as well and you managed to find really good looking food again. No matter how many times I see those old stone structures I will never get over them!
ReplyDeleteWe managed our time wisely to maximise our fun! :P The roman bath was quite fun. :)
DeleteI love visiting old world charm towns and places. Strolling around this destination and exploring is the best part of travelling to a new place. York looks great place to visit. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of fun. The most English feeling town we have been too.
DeleteFor some reason, your photos of York remind me of Salisbury, another great city English town to visit if you will be back in England. It's so cool that you had a drink in a pub with a roman bath underneath. What a great feeling must be to be standing on top of history.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising! A lot of English towns look similar. York is one of our favourites though!
DeleteI loved your photographs of York. Finding a Roman bath under a pub is so cool. The view from the castle of York seems to be so divine. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yeah the Roman bath was awesome!
Delete5 hours well spent. I really want to visit the ruins of Roman Fortress and photograph those arches. Totally my kind of place. Loved this virtual tour.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed. York is a pretty cool place to visit.
DeleteLoved the old world charm of this town. Those partially ruined archs must have their own stories to tell. One can just walk nto a different era through them.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely an experience being in York. You can feel all the history.
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