Mont Saint Michel is one of those places you see in a photo and immediately think I must go there one day. That’s partly because it is hard to believe what you are seeing. Can such a place – an isolated castle-like-fortress emerging from the sea – really exist? And you wonder, who built this and why? These same thoughts and feelings popped right back into my mind as we approached Mont Saint Michel on May 18.
WOW! Right? You can see why this is a “bucket list” place to visit. Enchanting, yet ominous in its remoteness. Mont Saint Michel has an almost perfect mix of awe-inspiring views, monumental history, medieval architecture, and kitsch. I say almost perfect because the touristy kitsch can be overwhelming in the village area.
Mont Saint Michel is an island, about 1 km off the northwestern coast of Normandy, that is not solely a holy place of pilgrimage, but also a defensible strategic outpost. It has a long history dating back to 708, when a bishop had a sanctuary built to honor the archangel. It used to be accessible only at low tide (or by boat), but today you can walk (or ride by horse-drawn carriage or tram) along a man-made causeway. It seems even more fairy-tale like as you get closer:
In the 10th century, Benedictine monks settled into the abbey and over the centuries it expanded as builders wrapped the buildings around the granite rock base of the mount. The architecture is fascinating. Here is the abbey church, tower, and cloister:
Here are the views from the west terrace towards the sea and from the Saut-Gaultier terrace down towards the mainland, across the mudflats:
We were able to avoid the huge crowds that converge each day by arriving early and heading straight up to the abbey. The village at the base of the mount is tacky and full of one souvenir shop after another selling the same schlock.
It would have been interesting to walk the mudflats surrounding the mount (there are tours), but it looked like a sticky mess and was less enticing on the gray day we encountered. Instead we headed to a nearby town for a memorable lunch in a restaurant filled with locals where our host was a very amusing woman with blue hair, but not before taking a photo with one of the artistic Normandy cows on display.
Au revoir,
Shana & Jeff
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