Overnight trip to York, England

FAMILY VISIT TO YORKSaturday - Sunday February 22-23, 2014

In this post - a quick overnight trip to Northern England

view from the Minster tower visit

York is a lovely medieval city in North Yorkshire, England.  A two-hour train ride will get you there from London.  The coolest thing about York is that it is a walled city, and you can walk along the walls just as the Roman watchguards would have done nearly 2000 years ago.  

walking in the footsteps of the Roman guards

The rich heritage of Roman and Viking rule has left many historic sites in the area.  The York Minster, considered to be the greatest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, towers over the city.

We even encountered VIKINGS on our visit - it was the end of their annual week-long VIKING FESTIVAL

The city became a major trading centre for wool, the capital of the north for the Church of England, and a major train and railway centre.

We began by dropping off our luggage at our amazing hotel, the Cedar Court Grand.  I can't say we would normally stay at such a nice place, but it was the only accommodation we could find that would house a family of five!  And, since this was our only half-term school break get-a-away, we had to agree it was fantastic to have a pool!  Rare in European hotels!
http://www.cedarcourtgrand.co.uk/

We went directly to see the famous Minster, and on the way there grabbed some quick grub from the lovely cafes in the city.

Vikings began appearing from all corners of the city, and we were soon surrounded.  Yes, we learned it was the annual Viking Festival.  Probably one of the reasons we couldn't find any cheap accommodations!  The festive characters provided an animated backdrop to our city visit.
http://jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/festivals/

That afternoon we went on a free walking tour given by one of the friendly local volunteer guides.
http://avgyork.co.uk/
This was a nice introduction to the city and some of its rich history.

Next stop was a guided tour of the Minster.  Our kids were a bit unenthused about this back-to-back tour thing, but it was just the way things worked out.  After the tour we had a visit to the top of the Minster Towers, which provided lovely views of the city.
http://www.yorkminster.org/home.html

We ate dinner at Michael's Brasserie just around the corner.  They had a nice early dinner special.
http://www.galtreslodgehotel.co.uk/michaels-brasserie.html

The rest of the evening we wandered the little pedestrian-only streets of York Village.
Great to just meander and explore.
And of course you must visit The Shambles, apparently Europe's most visited street.

Need I say more?

We ended the day in the pool and sauna.....

Sunday morning we were lazy - we had seen a great deal the day before.  Although I urged the family to visit the York Castle Museum or the Yorkshire Museum or the Viking Museum or the Quilt Museum, no such visited transpired for us.  Instead we held to all that history from our tours the day before and decided to just take the day leisurely, walk the streets, see the York Castle (below) and walk the city.

York Castle - all that remains is Cliffords Tower

My only regret is that I didn't take advantage of the amazing deals at the Mulberry Factory Outlet.  I usually hesitate at these so-called "outlets" but this place had some truly amazing deals.  Handbags that had been 1000gbp were now 300.  But, I just wasn't in the mood.  I wish that I had been, because those were some amazing prices.....You gotta go!!
Mulberry Factory Outlet
23/25 Swinegate
York YO1 8AZ
www.mulberryfactoryshop.com

Unfortunately there are no sales on-line, but there are other UK locations.

Before catching our train, we made a quick stop at the National Railway Museum.  Oh, we needed more time.  We should have had a couple of hours for that visit alone.  

Also there are many ghost tours in York in the evenings, and that would have been fun to try as well.

So, even in two days and one night we just couldn't see it all.  I highly recommend a visit to York!!