Our First Full Day in York
We got up at 8:00AM today, in good time to catch the breakfast at The Queens Hotel. This hotel functions on reserved breakfast times for its guests, I assume to avoid the clustering and chaos inherent in self-serve/buffet style. Upon check-in to the hotel we set our breakfast time for 9:00AM every morning of our stay.
We made our way to the breakfast room and indulged – a VERY hearty, tasty breakfast with lots of variety. Finishing up we made our way back to the room to get ready for our day out. On our way out of the hotel I stopped at Reception and asked where I could buy a cane, which would help me limp around York a little better (and safer). Luckily, the hotel had a number of canes on hand, so they loaned me one for the duration of our stay. Nice.
It was a beautiful sunny morning as we made our way into central York to wander about. It was still somewhat early and the city a little sleepy, so streets and shops were not yet that crowded:
What is a York Pass?
If you’re planning a trip to York I highly recommend getting something called a York Pass. Basically, it’s a prepaid card that admits you to a large number of attractions in York (i.e. York Minster, etc.) and beyond the city (i.e. Castle Howard). You buy the pass on the York Pass website before you leave home, then load it on to your mobile phone for later use in York.
The York Passes come in 1, 2 and 3-day periods and are good for a year after purchase. At the time of this writing (mid-October 2024), the Adult passes cost £59.00 (CAD $106.00), £75.00 (CAD $135.00) and £90.00 (CAD $162.00), for the number of respective days. We bought the 3-day pass for our trip and we really made good use of it.
York Minster
Our main objective today was to tour the fabulous York Minster. The Minster is an Anglican Cathedral and the seat of the Archbishop of York. The Minster is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument – a historical masterpiece of architecture, art and design.
The first record of a church on this site dates back to the year 627. but the bulk of the current building was constructed between 1220 and 1472. The Cathedral has Britain’s richest collection of stained glass. The famous Five Sisters Window is in the north transept and the Great East Window, larger than a tennis court, is the biggest stretch of medieval glazing in existence.
We arrived at the Minster at about 10:15, using our York Pass for prepaid entry. What an awe-inspiring place! The size, cultural, historical and political significance of the place simply astounded me:
We joined the free 11:00 guided tour, which went beyond the realm of excellent. It was quite a long tour but every minute of it was so interesting – our guide was a woman who knew the Minster inside out:
We finished the tour at about 12:15; it was so engrossing I didn’t want it to end. Post-tour we spent another hour exploring the Minster on our own. We also went down into the Undercroft (museum) and Crypt to explore those areas:
The York Minster Crypt
Departing the Minster
Our stomachs were telling us it was lunch time, so we left the Minster at 1:30. We found a random (very cute) restaurant called Lucky Days, located at 77 Low Petergate. It was 1:40PM when we sat down and ordered our delicious sandwiches with side orders.
After lunch we wandered around central York, checked out Clifford’s Tower a bit, then found the entry point for walking the old City Wall around the city. We got on to the City Wall and walked as far as Monk Bar, where that section of the city wall ended (in York, a gate is called a “bar”):
It was around 4:00PM by this time and we were both getting tired from the events (and walking) of the day, so we agreed to return to the hotel and have a respite.
We had a little lie-down for about an hour and a half, then went out for dinner at a little Italian restaurant around the corner from the hotel called Enoteca – it was fantastic!
This was without a doubt the best meal we had while in York. I had a fixed two-course dinner with an amazing brownie/ice cream thing for dessert. We were so impressed, Vince booked a table here for our last night in York (Friday night).
Night Falls in York
York Ghost Walk
We decided to do The Original Ghost Walk of York that night at 8:00PM, so we made our way over to the meeting spot: the King’s Arms pub on River Ouse:
There was no need to reserve on this walk; we were instructed to simply show up if interested (the walk was £10 each). There was a huge mob of participants when we got there. The guide showed up at 8:00, and what a guide he was: feisty, wired, full of fire and passion!
The walk was just shy of two hours and thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended if you’re in York and want to try the city’s best ghost walk. There are several competing ghost walk companies in York, but this one is the oldest and the best. They are very highly rated on TripAdvisor.
At the end of the Ghost Walk we parted company from the group and slowly made our way back to the hotel. It was incredibly lively on the York streets and everywhere there were a lot of club kids milling about. It was only Tuesday night – it must be incredible here on a Saturday night!
We reached our hotel room at about 10:00 and practically fell into bed, weary from the day’s activities. We had covered a lot of ground today!
Today’s step count: 17,370
