Mont Saint-Michel!

After we finished walking around Dinan, we headed to Mont Saint-Michel! Mont Saint-Michel is an island in Normandy with this beautiful abbey on a hill, and it looks like a castle. The abbey dates back to the 8th century, when the story is that the archangel Michael/Michel spoke to a bishop and told him to build an church on the island. It used to be that the road going to the island was submerged at high tide, so you could only get to it at low tide, when the sea is swept out, leaving just sand and mud around the island. However, now the road going to the island is elevated enough that it is almost never flooded, so you can drive right up to it.

Visually, Mont Saint-Michel is really striking. It looks like this towering stone castle on an island fortress, like something out of a fairy tale! It is not really that far from the nearest city full of souvenir shops, but the expanses of wet sand and small channels around it make it seem pretty isolated.

When you go through the ramparts and onto the actual island, you see that the main street is filled with souvenir shops, touristy restaurants, and a couple hotels. I believe Rick Steves described it as "grotesquely touristy," but it wasn't that bad. It reminded me a little bit of Carcassonne (the walled medieval city I visited in Ocotber). The streets are really narrow; my dad and I couldn't imagine what it must be like in the middle of the summer when it's absolutely packed! (Mont Saint-Michel is the second most-visited tourist site in France!)

After we got past the main entrance street, we kept walking uphill and following the signs to the monastery. It was quite the climb! Hopefully it counteracted some of the pastries I've been eating because sometimes I'm afraid I'll return from France as a squat little croissant. Which would be totally worth it but less than ideal. Anyways, we saw some really pretty views of the bay and the fields surrounding the island. When we finally got to the monastery at the top, we bought tickets to tour it. The monastery is much bigger than it looks; there were a lot more rooms than I thought there would be! And they were all amazing! Even the monks' old cafeteria had beautiful wrought iron windows and interesting tiles on the floor. There was also a garden and a pretty courtyard. Pictures!

Omg so artistic.

A model of the statue at the top of the spire - it's Saint Michel himself!
Slaying a dragon, naturally.

There he is!

When we emerged from the monastery, the sun had miraculously come out, and Mont Saint-Michel looked even prettier! I could not stop taking photos. Naturally, I had to re-take all the ones I had already taken so I would have sunny and cloudy versions of each. Oh, digital photography!

Sadly, not long after the sun came out, it started setting. We were pretty tired and getting really cold, but we stayed and sat in the car for a little bit so we could see the island lit up in the dark. It was so pretty!!! See, Dad? I told you we should stay! 

 

À bientôt!