Places to go and see in York #6

Today I visited one of York's premier tourist attractions. My destination was a place which I have not visited before. It was also a place that involves heights, churches and a man who lives at the top of some stairs. Can you guess where it is yet?

Today I visited The Tower of York Minster, the entrance to which can be found just on the left as you go in through the main entrance of the Minster. One vital thing that any tourist oriented city needs is a tall thing to climb. Paris has an Eiffel Tower, Toronto has a CN Tower, New York has an Empire State Building, and (old) York has a York Minster.

To get to the top there are 275 fairly steep and narrow spiral stairs. They are narrow enough that you can't have people going up and coming down at the same time, which means you have to wait at the bottom for a bit until everyone that went up last time has come back down. There is no lift.

When you get to the top, this is what you see straight away:



It looks more like a prison than a church tower top. But at least there's little danger of accidentally falling to a quick and painful death (unlike the city walls which are highly dangerous). Also, there are some top of the range comfy chairs to sit on for a bit, should you be tired from the climb. A little man sits in a booth at the top of the stairs. His job is to answer the question "Can we go down yet, little man?" when people ask him. Based on what I saw today, this is roughly every 30 seconds. Eventually he starts saying yes and people start the descent.

You get some pretty decent views from up the tower. This isn't hugely surprising since it is the highest point for many miles around. And due to a strange local law, it will stay the highest point, since other buildings are not legally allowed to be higher.



The view (south? south-east?) above is interesting since on it you can see the point where I took a photo last week of the place where I took a photo from today. If that makes any sense. I reckon a decent computer could take the two photos and combine them to produce a full three dimensional model of York. And all its residents. I don't have time to do that myself and in any case I have easy access to the real York and so don't need a computer model of it.



This view is even more interesting since you can see my flat. Clearly I'm not at home, but I bet any prospective burglars had no idea I was spying on them.

Access to The Tower of York Minster is just three English Pounds, even if you have a special Minster Card (like I do) that lets you get into the main part of the building for free. It's not suitable for people in wheelchairs, people on crutches, babies or Blind People. I'd hoped that the day I went up would be a bit sunnier and hence give clearer views. But since York is in England, it is always hard to guarantee sun.

The Tower of York Minster
Time spent in attraction: 25 minutes
Does it have a bar? No
Fun: 6/10
Suitable for a rainy day? No