York: Day 3

We got up again at 8:00AM to meet our 9:00 breakfast reservation in the hotel’s dining room.

A Cruise Down River Ouse

After breakfast we thought we’d like to take a boat tour down the River Ouse (the cruise was also covered by our York Pass). We made our way to the dock and caught the first boat tour of the day at 10:30. The boat was slow to fill up with passengers as it was still fairly early in the day (for tourists, at least). The river cruise was short (about 45 minutes) but quite pleasant and relaxing:

Flapjack: It’s Not a Pancake

After returning to the docks and disembarking from the boat, we walked around central York, stopping at Caffé Nero for coffee, tea and a flapjack.

A little note on flapjacks: in the UK, a flapjack is not a pancake: a flapjack is what the Brits call an oatmeal-brownie square. They are made with oats, butter, sugar, golden syrup, and sometimes chocolate chips. They have a deep caramelized flavour. The first time I saw a British flapjack I pointed to, and asked for, that brownie-looking thing and was firmly corrected by the server as to its proper name.

The Shambles Market

Finishing up at Caffé Nero, we wandered through the Shambles Market (the Shambles Market is not to be confused with The Shambles, which I’ll talk about shortly). The Shambles Market is a daily market held in the city centre of York. Some stalls are temporary, but many are permanently located in the Market. Shambles Market was created in the 1950s after the clearance of a large area next to The Shambles, when large sections of The Shambles were demolished:

The Shambles

Moving over a block or so into The Shambles, we toured through many of the fun shops there for the next few hours.

The Shambles is one of York’s most famous landmarks and one of the best-preserved medieval shopping streets in Europe. With its cobbled streets and overhanging buildings, it is believed to have been the inspiration behind Diagon Alley from the movie adaptation of the Harry Potter series:

Although none of the original shop-fronts have survived from medieval times, some properties still have exterior wooden shelves, reminders of when cuts of meat were served from the open windows. The street was made narrow by design to keep the meat out of direct sunlight, and the offal and discarded bones from the animal slaughter were simply thrown in to the street. Apparently the smell was utterly disgusting and the chance of contracting a disease was high. In the flagstones of The Shambles there are two troughs which were used to drain away the animal blood; these troughs currently remain in place (see street in photo below):

Today, the beautiful old buildings have been restored and now house cheerful cafés, quirky boutiques, and even a coin and stamp dealer. The smells are rather more pleasant with aromas from the chocolate, fudge and sweet shops:

The Afternoon

Leaving The Shambles behind, we took a long pause for a (surprisingly) delicious lunch at Pizza Hut at 10 Pavement. It was much better than you may think…

After lunch we wandered over to a lively plaza known as King’s Square. There was a fire juggler doing his thing while his companion sang, providing a somewhat incongruous soundtrack to his performance:

Clifford’s Tower

We made our way to Clifford’s Tower (the admission also covered by our York Pass). We got a little lost on our way to the place and ended up taking the LONG way around, but eventually reached the Tower around 3:30.

The now-ruined keep of the medieval York Norman castle is commonly referred to as Clifford’s Tower. Built to subdue the rebellious north by William the Conqueror, Clifford’s Tower has been a royal mint, a medieval stronghold and a Civil War garrison. In 1190, one of the worst antisemitic massacres of the Middle Ages took place on the site of the tower when York’s Jewish community were trapped there by a violent mob – many Jews chose to commit suicide rather than be murdered by the mob outside.

Today, a new roof deck gives excellent views over York’s historic skyline, with its medieval buildings and famous Minster. Inside, new walkways and staircases have opened up parts of the tower that have been off-limits for centuries.

The stairs of the Tower were WAY, WAY too high for me with my wrecked knee, so Vince went up the Tower alone and took some interior shots as well as panoramic shots of York while I waited (and rested) below near the Castle Museum:

Leaving Clifford’s Tower we headed back to the hotel as we were both flagging. We each had a little nap and rested for an hour and a half.

Evening

At about 7:15 we went out for our evening meal. We walked around a bit looking at many of the dinner possibilities. We ended up at a restaurant called Byron, which specialized in making “proper hamburgers” (as they call them on their front window). The burgers there were indeed “proper”: utterly, absolutely delicious. We each had one, and Vince added a Salted Caramel milkshake to his order – reportedly, it was also awesome:

We returned to the hotel around 8:30, and spent the rest of the evening resting and catching up on this journal (me). Another successful day in the amazing city of York!

Off to bed at 9:30.

Today’s step count: 12,614