The ceiling of the Chapter House in York Minster.
The plan for the day was to train back to York for a little sightseeing and a little shopping. Then it would be back to Beverley for dinner. With that in mind, we headed downstairs to the breakfast room. The Eastgate staff served the usual "full fry." But, they also served interesting variations on the traditional breakfast, like scrambled eggs on toast and macaroni and cheese on toast. I went for the scrambled eggs on toast, but the macaroni and cheese piqued my interest enough that I started considering it for breakfast the next morning.
We went to the train station and boarded the train for York. After transfers in Kingston-Upon-Hull and Selby, we arrived in York. I immediately noticed that the atmosphere was markedly different from the one in Beverley. For one thing, there were a lot more people milling around. Also, the stench of exhaust fumes filled the air. And with the extra people and cars came a lot more noise. What a difference from quiet, quaint Beverley.
The first stop was not far from the train station. We followed the city walls (which are a great way to get around the town) to the Museum Gardens. The Gardens are York's main city park. They contain the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, as well as the Yorkshire Museum. In fact, a portion of the Yorkshire Museum is built over the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. The museum curators have incorporated these ruins into some fascinating exhibits on life in the monastaries.
As you may gather, we did tour the Yorkshire Museum. The museum has some excellent exhibits on the various peoples that have populated York over the last two thousand years. I was particularly impressed with their Roman and Viking exhibits. But, the crown jewel (pun intended) of the museum's collections is the Middleham Jewel. The piece of jewelry is a solid gold medallion in the shape of a diamond with a stunning blue stone (I think it's a sapphire) at the top of it. I'm not much for jewelry; but, this was an impressive piece. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. It costs £3 for adults to enter, £2.3 for students to enter.
After the museum, we headed over to York Minster. This visit was my third to this inspiring building. Even though I had been there before, I still found new things to see. We left the Minster after a couple of hours to go get a bite to eat.
After lunch, we headed south toward York Castle. Along the way, we stopped at a couple of shops. One of those we stopped at was a bakery where some freshly baked strawberry tarts were displayed in the window. It was too much for us to resist, so we grabbed a couple and ate them in the pedestrian square in the center of town. They were absolutely delicious. Having increased our cholesterol levels substantially, we resumed our walking in the vain hope that we were actually burning off the fat we had consumed. We ended up at Fairfax House.
Fairfax House is a Georgian mansion about two blocks north of Clifford's Tower. The house was built by a wealthy businessman in the early 1700's. The interesting thing about the owner was that he was Catholic. There are several rosaries and crucifixes in the bedrooms that attest to the owner's religious preferences. I didn't think that Catholics could own enough in those times to build a fine home like Fairfax House. But, I guess I was mistaken. The house is excellently decorated with clocks and furniture from the time when it was built. Restoration work is continuing at the present time, so you might not be able to get into all the rooms. Still, the house is a hidden gem of York. It should be seen. It's open from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The cost to enter is £3.20 for adults, £2.3 for students.
After our tour of Fairfax House, we stopped at Clifford's Tower. The tower is the last remnant of what was York's castle. The tower was the site of a really nasty bout of anti-Semitism in the 1100's. 150 Jews trapped in the tower by the town fathers chose to commit suicide rather than be executed for being Jewish. Now, the tower is used to remove money from the wallets of tourists. There's absolutely nothing inside the tower. Its main selling point is the views of York that one gets from the top of the battlements. Believe me, the views from the top of the central tower of York Minster are better. I thought Clifford's Tower was a waste of time. If you want to go, it will cost £1.70 for an adult, £1.30 for a student.
We headed back to the train station after our stop at Clifford's Tower.
After a two hour train experience, we were once again in Beverley and the Eastgate
Guest House. Since it was about 6:30 p.m., I thought I'd take another look
at Beverley Minster before it closed at 7 p.m. It turned out that I was
the only one in there (other than the guides). I looked in close detail
at several of the statues in the building. I then headed back to the B&B.
We were pretty hungry by then, so we decided to try a restaurant that we
saw walking from the train. The name of the place is Valencia. It's on Trinity
Lane directly across the street from the train station. It's the only Indian/Italian
restaurant I've ever seen. That may sound like a strange combination; but,
the food that results from the combination is anything but strange. I had
a chicken tortalini dish that was simply incredible. And the garlic bread
they served was simply heavenly. Imagine a pizza crust drenched in butter
and garlic and you have some idea of what the bread was like. The really
surprising thing was that the prices were rather reasonable. My chicken
dish cost £6.95, while the garlic bread was £2.10. I can't recommend
a restaurant more than Valencia. The phone number is (01482)887-733.
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