We arrived in York after deciding to skip Liverpool and Manchester (too expensive to justify without much to see), and immediately fell in love with the quaintness of the city. We stayed at a homey hostel (whose building was 300 years old) and had some good Yorkian food.
We went on a walking tour detailing the history of the city and its Minster, Castle, Viking history, wives of Henry the VIII, and the local buildings. Everything there put a new meaning to the words ‘ancient’ and ‘old’. The pub we went to (and had really good rhubarb mead at) was casually built in 1185.
The ‘Shambles’ are a thin series of roads that run through York with shops from food to merch that were used as inspiration for ‘Diagon Alley’ in Harry Potter. They’re very proud of their involvement.
We loved the small-town charm of York so much that we stayed an extra night to get some more time with the city and to hang out with some friends we had made along the way. Next stop: Scotland!