My Solo Spring Holidays in Yorkshire

York: the ancient capital of England's north

Since I can remember I have always wanted to visit Yorkshire. I wanted to visit York and Haworth. I wanted to go to the moors. My special affinity with Yorkshire emerged when I was a teenager still living in Poland. When I was 18, I read Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, then I watched the film based on the novel with mesmerising music by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The soundtrack composed by the Japanese genius is hauntingly beautiful - it perfectly captures the spirit of Brontë's 1847 novel. The book and the 1992 film adaptation of the novel fascinated me so much that I decided to study English language and literature. 

My first encounter with Emily Bronte's literature motivated me to study the writer's native language in depth so that I could read her novel in orginal language one day. It was my big dream and aspiration. It took me years of studies but it was worth it. One day I was able to read and understand Wuthering Heights in original. Then I reached for the novels written by Anne and Charlotte. I read Jane Eyre, the Professor, Vilette and the Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I read stories written by the Brontë sibilings when they were children. I read the biography of the talented family. And as you can imagine, I began to dream of visiting Yorkshire. It took me almost 13 years to fulfill my dream. I have finaly visited Yorkshire - this spring, in April. 

I have lived in the south-east of England for almost seven years now. I am surprised that I had not gone to Yorkshire earlier!

I stayed in Yorkshire for three full days. My break in the land of dales and moors had been very successful. I left my hometown on Sunday morning. I travelled to London on National Express, then had to change for Mega Bus going to Leeds. Leeds bus station is big, clean and spacious. You can relax listening to music being played at the station and the station rest rooms. Last change at Leeds to Cityzap double-decker bus which took me to York city centre.If you travel to York on couch it is good to know that there is no bus station in the city. The bus stops are located across the city at regular intervals. My Airbnb accommodation was situated twenty minutes walk from the city centre and I got off at Clifford Street - conveniently located opposite the train station. The bus stops at Clifford Street and other streets operate long-distance buses, as well as local buses. 



Day 1

Monday. I woke up early - 07:00 o'clock in the morning. I was excited. I could not wait to go out and explore the city. I did not take the bus, I went on foot. It took me approximately 25 minutes to get to the city centre. Because I work full-time, five days a week teaching, I do not have much time to plan my travels. Besides, I just wanted to go with the flow. I wanted to take in as much as possible, absorb the vibe of this lovely, historic city.On my first day I admired the bridges and gates along the ancient walls. There are nine bridges and four gates or 'bars' in York. I walked through Micklegate Bar everyday on my walk from Regent to the centre.

York has a great number of attractions, including museums, the longest medieval walls in England, charming, cobbled alleys, stone towers and the cathedral - York Minster. York is a magical and friendly city, rich with culture, where cobbled medieval streets and Georgian architecture tell the stories of the people and its history. I started my first day from walking around the walls. The city or ‘bar’ walls of York are the most complete example of Medieval city walls still standing in England today. They are the longest Medieval walls in England. Beneath the medieval stonework lie the remains of earlier walls dating as far back as the Roman period.

The Roman walls survived into the 9th century when, in AD 866, York was invaded by the Danish Vikings.  The Vikings buried the existing Roman wall under an earth bank and topped with a palisade – a tall fence of pointed wooden stakes. The wooden palisade was replaced in the 13th and 14th centuries with the stone wall we see today.

If you are planning to spend a few days in York it is worthwhile to buy York Pass. If you are staying in York 1 day you can purchase York City Pass. It gives you access to 26 York most popular attractions and is suitable for short stays - valid for one day only. It costs £45.I decided to purchase a 2 day York and beyond Explorer Pass. York and Beoyond Explorer Pass gives you access to 50 attractions in York and Beyond, a 24 hour City Sightseeing bus ticket, extra value offers, pizza or pasta at ASK Italian and a 45-minutes cruise along the beautiful river Ouse. You can buy your York Pass online or at the Tourist Information centre. You can choose between a 2, 3 or 6 day pass. 

Having walked around the walls for at least two hours on my first day (Monday) I went to the Tourist Information Centre and bought a 2 day York and Beyond Pass. When I looked at the long list of all attractions my Pass gave me access to, I started to feel a little panicky. Here is the lesson for me: the importance of planning. All attractions in York open at 10:00 am and close at 17:00 pm, some even earlier at 16:30 pm. It is good to start exploring the city walls early in the morning. It takes some time to walk round them and you can do it any time. The walls and their hidden towers are open from dawn to dusk for free. If you start at 08:00 am, give yourself two hours for leisurly walk round the walls.  Early morning is best time: less crowds, a better opportunity to see the features of the walls and to take nice pictures. You will finish your walk at about 10:00 am. Perfect time. Having finished your self-guided tour you will be in the heart of York and all attractions will be open at this time. 
The second place I visited on Monday was the York Minster. 

Allow yourself plenty of time to explore York Minster. It is one of Europe's largest cathedrals. It is a masterpiece in stained glass and stone, with over 2000 years of history to discover. Whilst in Minster, you can take the Tower Challenge, climbing the 275 steps up the Central Tower. You will enjoy the best panoramic views in York from there. You can also explore Roman ruins in the Minster. The York Cathedral is the home to interactive Undercroft museum. You can also join a free guided tour, which run throughout the day. 

Next place I headed to on Monday afternoon was York Castle Museum. The museum is quite big and features almost 400 years of everyday life. It is famous for its collections of costumes, toys (amazing collection of Victorian dolls houses), textiles, military and social history. 

However, the biggest attraction of the museum is definitely the Kirkgate Victorian Street. The experience of wandering through the recreated Victorian street is unique and unforgetabble. It is a very sensory experience too: dingy, cobbled street, gas lighting, the sound of dogs barking coming from the distance, the sound of the drumming of hooves, the ammonia smell coming from the nearby stable, pungent odor of urine radiating from Victorian public toilet and then the lightnings and sinister thunders heralding a coming storm. I remember I sat there on the bench and absorbed all stimuli: the sounds, the smells, the images and textures. I felt like taking a step back in time. Sometimes a mysterious lady dressed in a corset and voluminous Victorian skirts, would walk past the recreated shop displays and look at me suspiciously :-) 

 

When I left York Castle Muesuem I still had approximately two hours to explore York's attractions. I decided to go to Treasurer's House and the Shambles. I wanted to finish exploring York  before 17:00 pm so I could go to ASK Italian Restaurant and try one of their dishes. As mentioned before, York Pass entitles you to exclusive meal deal at ASK Italian. The offer is limited to one of three pasta dishes or one of three pizzas. The offer excludes drinks and can be used between 15:00 pm and 17:00 pm only. All you have to do when you go there is to show your York Pass to server when ordering. 

Treasurer's House - A house of contradictions.

 When you are in the vicinity of York Minister, go to Treasurer's House. It is open between 11:00 am and 16:30 pm. The house is a quirky hidden gem tucked behind the York Minster. The house boasts a stunning collection of fine antiques, art and furniture. The house was first given to the National Trust by the wealthy industrialist Frank Green in 1930. When Frank Green donated the house over to National Trust he agreed on it under one condition: nothing could be moved or taken away from the house. He even gave a spooky warning: if something was moved or altered he would haunt the house. According to the stories, Frank Green was an eccentric man. He ordered his servants to wear slippers at all times. 

One of the most interesting items one can find in the house is the unusual pendulum clock. The clock's pendulum shoots out through a hole cut into the floor so that the upper part of clock hangs in the gallery and its pendulum swings on the ground floor - the central medieval hall of the house. 

The house boasts stylish garden full of interesting trees, bushes, plants and sculptures. 

The Shambles

The Shambles is  a charming, impeccably preserved market street with timber-framed buildings, some buildings dating as far as the 14th century. The Shambles is a very popular tourist destination (hordes of tourists). It was once known as the Great Flesh Shambles, probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels (literally 'flesh-shelves'), the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. As recently as 1872 twenty-five butchers' shops were located along the street, but now none remain.  

Although the butchers have now vanished, a number of the shops on the street still have meat-hooks hanging outside and, below them, shelves on which meat was displayed. The shops currently include a mix of restaurants and quirky little shops, for example Harry Potter shop, antique shop, Nutcracker Christmas Shop, A Shop that Must Not be Named, as well as a bookshop and a bakery.

Shambles Market

The Shambles Market is open seven days a week from 07:00 am. The market is a very vibrant place, with a great number of stalls offering a diverse selection of goods ranging from Nepalese statues and clothes, bric-a-breac, to books, cosmetics and fresh fruit. 

One of the stalls in the Shambles Market offers a variety of coffees and cakes. You can buy Kurdish coffee and Turkish coffee. I bought Turkish coffee and Victoria sponge cake. The coffee was small, but very strong.

 After my visit to the Shambles, I hopped on the City Sightseeing red bus and hopped off next to Clifford's Tower. 

 

  
Clifford's Tower is York top spot - it offers a great 360 degree views of the city. There is plenty to discover at the tower, standing proud on amound raised by William the Conqueror. The Tower was begun in 1245 on the orders of King Henry III. Originally, the tower contained two floors linked by spiral staircases in the thickness of the walls. Though some of the interanal walls and the roof have been lost, you can still see fireplaces, windows, arrow slits and original latrines. You can climb to the top of the tower to reach open-air wall walk.

Spiral staircase will lead you to the top of the tower. 

Day 2

I started my second day in York from the exploration of the city on the open-top sighseeing bus. The journey was not only informative but also very entertaining. Thanks to the tour I learnt some interesting facts about the history of York and witnessed some un-noticed gems ( for example statues of black cats).  I learned why some windows in old building were bricked up and why statues of cats have been placed on buildings of York for over two centuries.  I got off at Exhibition Square and headed towards York Art Gallery. 

York Art Gallery sits in the centre of the city and includes the Centre of Ceramic Art, home to the largest ceramic collection in the UK. The gallery is home to a wealth of drawings and paintings, including pieces by Turner, Rusking and Lowry. 

Yorkshire Museum and Gardens are situated a stone's throw away from the Art Gallery. The museum houses some of the finest collections of archeological and geological finds. It takes 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the Yorkshire Museum and Gardens from York Railway Station, and there are entrances into the gardens from both Museum Street and Marygate. 

Franz Kafka Museum in Prague

  
 Crop of Charles Bridge (2009), by Paul Cook.  Charles Bridge (Karlův most) lies over the Vitava River in Kafka's hometown of Prague.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

The museum was an interesting and very revealing experience to me. Kafka Museum is  postmodern and interactive. It is different and unsettling. Through its labirynthine structure (dark narrow corridors, spiraling staircases) and the use of interesting visual and sound effects the museum creates truly Kafkaesque atmosphere: eerie, tense, complex, surreal. It perfectly recreates the sense of entrapment and enclosure so prevalent in Kafka's writing. The museum gives one a very good insight into Franz Kafka - the man and the writer, the things that influenced him: his childhood, his historical and cultural background, his friends, his relationships, his family. As the story of Kafka slowly unravels to us in the form of his letters, photographs, manuscripst we get to know him as an aliented writer, aspiring and ambitious artist (yes, I was surprised to discover that Kafka took up drawing as well, and produced many touching works) a sensitive loner and a genius. Selected museum exhibitions draw attention to Kafka's uneasy and complex relationship with the city of his birth: "Prague won't let you go, the little mother has claws," Franz Kafka once wrote. 


Kafka Museum is situated a stone's throw away from Charles Bridge, alongside Vlatva River in the Lesser Quarter. It was open in 2005 and boasts a vast collection of historical photographs and film recordings, manuscripts, diaries, drawings, sketches, newspaper cuttings, original letters, documents and publications relating to Franz Kafka's literary works, life, and cultural surroundings. 

The exhibition comprises of two sections: Existential Space and Imaginary Topography. The first part examines the impact Prague had on Kafka's literary imagination and writing. "Prague contributes myth, obscure magic and provides a magnificent backdrop" as the exhibition informs us. The second part of the exhibition, seeks to establish connections between Prague and its literary represantions in writer's novels. For example, there is a possibility that the anonymous cathedral which appears in the key chapter of The Trial, could have its origin in St Vitus Cathedral or that the mysterious river which flows in The Judgement narrative could have corresponded to Vlatva River. Kafka was rather enigmatic about the locations he incorporated in his creative discourse. He was not interested in producing an accurate portrayal of Prague. As the museum suggests, he sought to transform Prague into an "Imaginary Topography". He wanted to transform it beyond its physical self. Enigmatic descriptions of the urban architecture in Kafka's novels render the locations anonymous. His characters are not encircled or confined to a particular region, location or a city. They are confined to stifling emotional states, oppressive processes and inescapable situations. They are the states and processes everyone experiences and can identify with at a certain stage of one's life.

    
 
As mentioned before, the museum is arranged around Kafka's literary themes. Diverse items as photographs, audiovisual installations, letters, and music allow the exhibition space to simulate Kafka's or K.'s existential space. "Key passages from Kafka's diaries, novels, and short stories written in white block letters on dark, "muddy" walls, wooden pallets, or an ascending staircase leading nowhere interrupt the eye as one passes from exhibit to the next"(source: a review of "The City of K.: Franz Kafka and Prague," The Jewish Museum, New York, August 11, 2002 to January 5, 2003,Victor E. Taylor, York College of Pennsylvania, click on here to read the whole article). 

Writer's Biography

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech-born German-language writer whose surreal fiction vividly expressed the anxiety, alienation, and powerlessness of the individual in the 20th century. Kafka's work is characterized by nightmarish settings in which characters are crushed by nonsensical, blind authority. Thus, the word Kafkaesque is often applied to bizarre and impersonal administrative situations where the individual feels powerless to understand or control what is happening. The first recorded appearance of "Kafkaesque" in English was in 1946 (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).