The Aroma of York–oh my

So…ever wonder what a ghost smells like? How about rotten eggs? You know, sulfur. Ah. So if you smell rotten eggs your home is either haunted or–at least in the States–you have a natural gas leak. Fire and brimstone (that’s often cited as the origin of the belief that one smells sulfur when visited by a ghost), or potential explosion. Neither terribly appealing.

What does this have to do with York? According to today’s Guardian, the York tourist board has published a guidebook that features the scents of York: “Among the aromas contained within its pages is the smell of York’s antiquities – “a musty infusion of leather, old books, gold, silver, wood and dust”; the city’s Railway heritage – “a nostalgic infusion of coal, steam, engine oil and iron”; and rural Yorkshire – “the scent of fresh wild heather as it grows on the moors”.” And, as I featured, the sulfuric miasma of ghost. Oh, la, I wonder who researched that one!

Think I’m kidding? Here’s the link: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/mar/07/york-smelly-scratch-and-sniff-guidebook

I hope they simply failed to mention in the article the truly delightful scent of chocolate, one of York’s biggest industries in the recent past. Now, that’s a scent to lure tourists.