"History and shopping." a York Travel Page by leics

I know York well and have visited many times. I'd recommend it to anyone who is visiting the UK......it's full of history and is much more friendly than London!

Lying between two rivers (and often flooded), York has existed in various forms for over two thousand years. The Romans built 'Eboracum', the Vikings created their 'Jorvik' and building has continued ever since. The centre of York is a wonderful mixture of ancient, old and new buildings. A warren of little alleyways leads from street to street through the Medieval centre, and the Minster towers over all. This picture shows the guest house of medieval St. Mary's abbey in the Museum gardens. The rest of the abbey lies in ruins but the hospitium survives (although you cannot go in).

The Museum Gardens also contain the Multangular Tower, part of the Roman fort of Eboracum. The top half of the tower is Medieval, but the rest is in its original form. Roman York is largely buried under the town centre, but you can see some parts of it still. Visit the undercroft of the Minster and walk down through time to see Roman buildings underlying the Medieval cathedral. Amazingly, some Roman sewers are still in use in York!

The Minster itself is the most evocative of all the English cathderals I have visited, although I could not tell you exactly why. Go there and find out for yourself.

And then there's the shopping. Well, I'm not that keen myself but I can see why York is so popular. Apart from all the usual chains, there are numerous independent shops selling all kinds of things
(and the charity shops are good too). It's an ideal place for browsing, with many good places to have a break with a coffee.