Rick Steves’ Europe: York, the capital of England’s North

We have New York, but England has old York, one of the country’s top tourist destinations outside of London. The town offers a captivating tour of historic sights mixed with an easygoing pedestrian ambience – all lassoed within its formidable medieval wall.

York has a rich, long history, serving as a Roman provincial capital in AD 71, capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria after the fall of Rome, and as a trading center called Jorvik from the 9th through the 11th century. Like counting the rings in a tree, you can count the ages of York by the different bricks in the city wall: Roman on the bottom, then Danish, Norman, and the "new" addition – from the 14th century.

Later, Henry VIII used the city's fine cathedral as the northern headquarters of his Anglican Church. The magnificent York Minster – Britain's largest Gothic church – is easily the town's top sight. To experience it in musical and spiritual action, attend the glorious evensong service. The Minster is also famous for its Great East Window, with painted (not stained) glass: It's the size of a tennis court and one of the great treasures of medieval art in Europe. The Minster’s stately towers serve as a navigational landmark as you explore the town – or you can follow the strategically placed signposts, which helpfully point out all places of interest to tourists.

While only traces are left of most Viking settlements, "Jorvik" was an archaeologist's bonanza, the best-preserved Viking city ever excavated. When the archaeologists were finished, the dig site was converted into the Jorvik Viking Centre. Visitors ride a "Pirates of the Caribbean"-type people-mover through a re-created Viking street, complete with jabbering animatronic characters. The ride then rolls through the actual excavation site – the time-crushed remains of a once-bustling town. While innovative in 1984, Jorvik seems gimmicky today.

For straightforward Viking artifacts, beautifully explained and set in historical context with no crowds, tour the nearby Yorkshire Museum. Built into the ruins of what was once north England's wealthiest abbey, its exhibits tell the story of life here for the monks, how that all ended, and much more. The ancient Roman collection includes slice-of-life exhibits from cult figurines to the skull of a man killed by a sword blow to the head – making it graphically clear that the struggle between Romans and barbarians was a violent one. York soldiered on, amassing a large collection of weaponry throughout the ages. One of the museum’s highlights is an eighth-century Anglo-Saxon brass helmet.

Nearby, the York Castle Museum is an old-school, sedate Victorian home show. English memorabilia from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries are cleverly displayed in a huge collection of craft shops, old stores, and bygone living rooms.

As towns were being modernized in the 1930s, the museum's founder recognized the need to preserve elements of English heritage before they disappeared entirely. He collected entire shops and reassembled them here. On Kirkgate, the "street" that's the museum's most popular section, you can wander through life-size recreations of a Lincolnshire butcher's shop, bakery, coppersmith, toy store, and barbershop. The shops are stocked with the actual merchandise of the day. In the confectionery, I once eavesdropped on English grannies giggling and reminiscing their way through the mouthwatering world of "spice pigs," "togo bullets," "humbugs," and "conversation lozenges."

Just outside the city walls, near the train station, is the National Railway Museum, showing two centuries of British railroad history. In the Industrial Age, York was the railway hub of northern England. The museum hosts an array of beautifully preserved historic trains fanning out from a grand roundhouse. A steam engine is sliced open, showing cylinders, driving wheels, and a smoke box in action. Exhibits trace the evolution of steam-powered transportation from very early trains like an 1830 stagecoach on rails to the aerodynamic Mallard – famous as the first train to travel at two miles per minute, a marvel back in 1938.

The focal point of York's half-timbered town center is the medieval butchers' street called The Shambles, with its rusty old hooks hiding under the eaves (the street's name is derived from "shammell" – a butcher's cutting block). Six hundred years ago, bloody hunks of meat hung here, dripping into the gutter that still marks the middle of the lane. This slaughterhouse of commercial activity gave our language a new word. And what was once a "shambles" is now a busy Tudor lane of tourist shops.

To get away from the bustle, try the two-mile walk along the Ouse River and over the handsome Millennium Bridge. Following the riverside tow path back into town and setting your sights on the mighty towers of the Minster, contemplate how understanding the inspiring story of this intriguing city makes it even more rewarding to visit.

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(Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) writes European guidebooks, hosts travel shows on public TV and radio, and organizes European tours. This column revisits some of Rick's favorite places over the past two decades. You can email Rick at rick@ricksteves.com and follow his blog on Facebook.)