It was founded in the first century by the Romans. They built a big stone wall around 50acres of land. When they left in the 400s the Saxons took over. Ivan the Boneless the chief of the Vikings captured and renamed the city Jorvik. The minster is built (1220-1472). It is a huge Gothic cathedral and stands tall against the skyline.
We arrived after a long drive from north Wales, past Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. The afternoon sun glistens the wet stone and brick walls.
The wall has been left to stand alone. More interest is paid to the minster and the Shambles. People jolly along, attending to the markets and cafes dotted along the ancient alleyways. Ghost tour guides wait hopefully for takers and crooked walls lean over the uneven cobblestone paths.
York is a funny mixture, a chuch and ghost tours, one pound shop and designer shoes and wedding gear, antiques and plastic baubles, Yorkshire Pud and hot dogs; not uncommon in any city, but here they sit squashed next to each other, more obvious than usual.
Did you do a ghost tour? How long did you get in York? I had a brief evening and very short morning before dashing back to the airport.
ReplyDeleteNo to the ghost tour, easy one. We had an afternoon and a morning. Time to do a few walks, reading and exploring. We dashed across to the west coast through three national parks and on to Beatrix Potter's farm.
ReplyDeleteI love how far you can get with one good stretch of driving :)
ReplyDeleteWe drive and walk so far in a day. The summer nights are long and we are out late and up early. We only walked a little way on this day, just around the old town. It was wet at times but pleasant still. We made up for the lack of walking by driving. 1200 miles so far for the England part pf the trip and that does not include London.
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