The first time I visited Yorkshire, I was about 19 years old and had been in England for about a year. All I could think about was the strong urge I had to see the atmospheric moors from one of my favourite romance novels ever, ‘Wuthering Heights,’ set across the moody stretch of wild grassland that sees grey weather, rain and dark nights throughout the novel. I couldn’t have imagined the dark sprawl of York city stretching out before me instead. Even weirder, I couldn’t have imagined liking the feel of the city. Maybe its the many preserved buildings, facades and structures from hundreds of years ago that gives the city a very strong medieval feel to it. The romance and history of the city captured me instantly. But what I ended up loving most of all was a visit to York Dungeon. It revealed the painful underbelly to this city’s history and had great special effects and displays that brought history to life at a time when the digitization of images, text and displays wasn’t as widely used as it is now. If you do visit York Dungeon, remember, it’s not for the faint-hearted! You’ll get to discover the gory ways that the Vikings used to torture Christians into submission and the cruel instruments that the Christians used on the Vikings in turn. You’ll learn about Guy Fawkes’ infamous assassination plot that failed and perhaps even meet the ghost of Seamus the dog that was buried alive in the walls of Yorkminster cathedral when it was being built.
We drove through a section of the moors before driving back home, so that I could imagine what Emily Bronte must have seen when she was inspired to write Wuthering Heights.
Besides the dungeon, York city has charming tearooms, a grand opera house, a royal theatre, a cathedral and a castle. There’s even a racecourse to enjoy!
Nomadic Dreams 