Our journey took us to Durham, a relatively small university town located in a bend of the river.
River Wear We parked outside and took the bus into the city center. This brought us first to the marketplace, which is surrounded by some beautiful buildings.
Marketplace
We walked through the old town up to the cathedral. It is very well preserved and the largest cathedral in the Norman-Romanesque style in Great Britain.
Cathedral in Durham Outside at the door, we saw a door knocker, the “Sanctuary Knocker,” before entering. In the Middle Ages, anyone guilty of a serious offense could touch the knocker. They would then be granted refuge for 37 days. During this time, they could consider whether to face trial or choose voluntary exile instead.
Sanctuary Knocker Inside, we were greeted by an impressive house of worship.
Cathedral in Durham Scenes from two Harry Potter films were filmed in the adjacent cloister.
Cloister The chapter house was also used in one of the films as Professor McGonagall's classroom.
Chapter House After our visit to the cathedral, we went to the nearby castle.
Durham Castle Usually, it can only be visited with a guided tour, as the University of Durham uses the premises.
Durham Castle However, at the moment there was the opportunity to explore it independently on a designated tour - perhaps because it was currently semester break.
Norman Chapel This allowed us to see the Norman chapel from 1080, which is also the oldest building in Durham.
Great Hall In the Great Hall from the 13th century, students dine during the semester. A pretty impressive dining hall…
Black Stairs Depictions of food could be found in the staircase “Black Stairs”: replicas of pineapples. The fruit was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries but very expensive. One could even rent them by the day to place them on the dinner table in the evening and show off one's wealth.
Bar in the Vault Also in the vault under the castle, students regularly gather during the lecture period: here is the bar for students located in one of the oldest parts of the building from the 11th century.
River Wear After so many historic buildings, we gradually became hungry and found a nice restaurant by the water. We ordered pancakes, but didn't expect the portion to be so large… (I hardly managed to finish half, but you could pack the rest for later.)
Banoffee Pancakes To conclude, we strolled along the River Wear around the old town before leaving Durham again.
