A Short Get Away To Take In York's Attractions.
Getting Away From It All... For Two days!
It's the wife's half term holiday (she's a secondary school teacher) and so it was time to journey off for a little break. Now, because this is just a short holiday we could only manage a couple of days away and on top of that we didn't want anything that would be too expensive, so a short city break was all we could manage.
Luckily, as we live in Yorkshire, we do have plenty of options for short get aways right on our doorstep. And one of our favourites - just an hour away by car - is the city of York.
Amusingly, we had to combine our wee holiday with a visit to Sharon's private dentist - well, truth be told, it was this appointment that decided on our vacation location. But, we decided to make the most of the visit and stop over and spend a couple of days enjoying the city's attractions.
Day 1 - Dentist and a Curry!
The wife's appointment was just after lunch and it wasn't a major procedure, so we were able to crack on and go for a wee wander round the shops and take in the market and The Shambles.
Not much to say about shopping - though it did include a very nice coffee and a cake - and so it was back to the nice apartment we booked to get ready for the evening's entertainment...
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| Above: A side effect of us getting older is that we don't do budget accommodation any more. Our younger days of sleeping in flea pit motels is over I'm afraid, we prefer comfort! :) |
The plan was to get a meal and then go and see the light show event at York Cathedral.
Dinner was at a restaurant that had intrigued me for a good while, the Yak & Yeti Ghurkha Restaurant. Something a wee bit different as I know nothing about Nepalese food and so we were both completely in the dark as to what to expect, but that was all part of the adventure!
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| Above: The Yak & Yeti restaurant looks a bit bohemian (!) but it definitely worth a visit as a change from the usual 'Indian'. |
It turns out - perhaps rather obviously - that Nepalese cuisine is something of a fusion between Indian and Chinese cooking (kind of). So it was an easy choice for me... Curry!
Though, what was nice was that the curries here had some rather different selections of meat that I am used to in the traditional Indian restaurant, like buffalo, pork and salmon. I have never had a pork curry before so that was an easy choice (I have my suspicions about the 'buffalo', I'm guessing it may have been just beef but I maybe wrong).
Sharon had a kind of Chow Mein and it was rather funny having the mix of Indian and Chinese at the same spot. 😊
After dinner we set off for a mini-pub crawl - unfortunately I can only manage a couple of pubs now and my booze tolerance is no longer what it used to be - and we ended up in Sharon's favourite, The Golden Fleece. This is - allegedly - the most haunted pub in York, and I think Sharon always expects to see a ghost when we visit... Spoiler: We have never seen one! 😏
And after our night cap we strolled up to York Minster to see the light show, and to be honest it was quite impressive...
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| Above: Our walk back to the apartment took us through The Shambles. Night is the best time to see these little streets now as through the day they are cramped with tourists cuing to get in those damned 'Harry Potter' themed stores. |
Day 2 - Vikings Have Changed!
We picked up where 'we' - and by we I mean Sharon - left off yesterday with even more shopping. As a bloke I might be a little less enamoured with shopping than the missus but there are a few shops in York that I do look forward to visiting when we go through, including; The Monk Bar Model shop, Travelling Man Comic and Game shop and Yok's Waterstones (as it is bigger than our local branch).
After picking up a nice new book we - again- partook in some more coffee and cake before heading to the main event of the day, The Jorvik Centre.
Now it's been years since I last visited the Jorvik Centre - I believe it was all the way back when the girls were small - and while it is a bit of a tourist trap both Sharon and I though it was time we refreshed our memory about what the attraction has on offer.
Luckily - and note this - we had booked our tickets well in advance, and Sharon got a discount as she counts as my 'carer' - LMAO - because of my disability. 😂
But, on a serious note, if you are disabled or have mobility issues to be warned about the exceedingly cramped nature of the attraction's little carts that move you through the mock Viking village scene. I am 6' 4" and I only just managed to squeeze my long legs in the buggy. Be warned!
Anyhoo, that niggle aside we were both surprise to find that - although quite a few years old now - the Jorvik Centre is still an excellent and worth while place to visit.
Some of the 'animatronics' are a wee bit hokey now, but overall it is an excellent mock up based on the archaeological dig that they carried out on this location. We both really enjoyed it.
Finally, and most amusingly - and ironically - this particular week just happened to be the week of the York Viking Festival, so the town was awash with 'Viking' re-enactors. And forgive both Sharon and myself if you think we are being cruel but we could hardly keep a straight face at some of the 'Vikings' that we saw wandering round. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, but I have to say that I was not aware that obesity was a very big problem in Viking society!!! 😆
Honestly, whole we have an image of how terrifying Vikings were I did not see a single 'Viking' on our visit that I didn't think I could see off easily with my walking stick!
The best moment was when we passed a group of these costumed 'terror' just in time to here one of them comment that 'I don't know about you but I'm ready for a sit down and a nice Latte'! To which our would be warband of marauders all agreed in unison...
It was a funny end to a most enjoyable visit.
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