Even if you were the world’s most imaginative storyteller, you couldn’t make York up. The city is stranger than any fiction. But to find its oddities and secrets you’ll need to step off the beaten tourist path and explore its footstreets and alleys, known locally as snickelways. You’ll encounter the traces of many local colourful characters, from an Oscar-winning actor to a dastardly plotter, from assorted stone cats to a rather rude ghost. You can browse the shops in the street that inspired Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley and tour remarkable retailers like  the Banana Warehouse, which sells pretty much everything – except bananas. With 2,000 years of history to discover, there is a surprise around every corner – if you know where to look….