TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

It’s two in the afternoon yet I am not hungry. I am blaming the full English breakfast I’ve had in the morning. At my age (officially 41 as I type) it seems impossible to digest food quickly even after hours of walking, quite a dilemma I suppose. So I thought, I will just wait for another hour or two before I have a proper lunch—some English scones and tea. However, tired from my discovering-York-on-foot-tour, I am searching for a nice pub or café restaurant where I can relax and have some spirits to cheer me up. I need something strong. Stronger than wine. Harkers Pub Restaurant on Saint Helen's Square. It was great timing when I strolled into Saint Helen’s Square, a square that you cannot miss when in York when I saw Harkers. Actually, Betty’s Café Tea Rooms dominates the panorama of the square but I promised myself to have my share of English scones and tea later. Harkers is actually a pub restaurant, so just perfect. From the outside I can already see the bar fill...

Without a doubt, I have seen so many churches, perhaps in the hundreds already in my lifetime, maybe more, that somehow I have come to the breaking point of enough is enough (I now can relate to the Dutchman). I have made a pact with myself that I will only check out a church if it is special or it has something unique to offer. Now this church, the Holy Trinity Church Goodramgate, I came across while I was roaming the pretty streets of York. I thought she was one of a kind. This is Stonegate, a busy shopping lane. I was just done walking the York ruin walls and I am now heading back to the centre. I still have time to wander off a bit before I take a quick lunch break. Not really hungry yet but I was looking forward later in the afternoon to some traditional English scones with clotted cream and jam, and of course tea. While walking on the street I saw an out of sight wrought-iron gate with a signboard in front that says: ‘A rare seventeenth-century survival, box pews like these we...

When I am travelling alone I can cover many things quickly mainly because I love walking. When you walk a lot, you see a lot. However, I also tend to spend my late lunches really slow, like at least 2 hours. Another perpetual habit is sitting down in a cafe terrace with a spirit in hand watching the world go by. Anyway, after visiting the York Minster Cathedral , I went to check out the Roman wall ruins. I was not really sure which part of the city wall ruins to start exploring with, however, I noticed that it doesn’t really matter because all over the city I can find the ‘bars’ connecting the ramparts. In England, bars are portcullis, a fortified gateway usually made of stone. Nowadays they are a medieval attraction but in the past they served as the city’s defensive stronghold from invaders. I climbed the portcullis of High Petergate and walked on the stone walls to the rear direction of York Minster. Although I did wander a bit in the gardens of the cathedral I was quite curious wha...