Mont-Saint-Michel

After taking the overnight ferry through the English Chanel from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo France, we spent the next day visiting a few sites in the area, and also toured the old walled part of this fun resort town.  We overnighted there at a hotel on the shore and then off to Mont-Saint-Michel in the morning. 

I first learned about Mont-Saint-Michel way back in high school in my French classes.  I always thought how cool it would be to actually go there. It is also one of the most visited places in the whole of France. That is one of the many reasons I signed up for this trip.  I was not disappointed!  Even though there were no interesting energetic happenings there, it was a totally interesting day! 

Mont-Saint-Michel is what is called a tidal island off the coast of Normandy, and is made of granite. The high point is about 300’ above sea level.  There is an ancient abbey at the top.  The high and low tides here are extreme, and up until the causeway was built in 2014, pilgrims and travelers had to walk across the sand flats for about ½ mile to get there from the mainland.  Many were caught by the incoming high tides and drowned, so that walk could be perilous indeed.  Walking on the sand flats surrounding the island is still a popular pastime, as we saw many people doing that. 

So our journey there involved the following, which would come into play later in the day.  We drove to the car park where the bus was parked.  Then a walk to the visitor’s center of about ¼ mile.  At the visitor’s center we took a shuttle most of the way across the causeway where we got out and walked onto the island itself.  The distance from the car park to the island is about 1 ½ miles. 

Once there, the real climbing began.  I have seen figures of 350 steps to get to the top.  About 200 as you walk up the steep street where what were once residences have now been turned into tourist shops and restaurants.  Very gothic!

Then the rest of the climb is on approximately 150 stair steps to get to the abbey at the top.  All very steep.   Several people in our group were not physically able to do that, so they stayed behind at the base of the main street.  All of the effort was totally worth it, as the views were fabulous.

There were more up and down stairs once we got into the abbey itself.  Lots of fabulous arches to be seen.

On the way back down I had lunch with a few fellow travelers, which was a welcome rest from all of the climbing.  It was very crowded there, and we were lucky to get a table in one of the many restaurants. 

So now we gathered together and went to where we were to catch the shuttle on the causeway.  We waited and waited, and then word came that the shuttles were not running because of a parade!  What???  So the decision was made that we were to walk all the way back to the bus at the visitor’s center car park, which was about a 50 minute walk.   The distance was not that far, but after all of the climbing, we were pretty tired and it was pretty warm outside that day.

Off we went and soon found out what the parade was all about.  Mont-Saint-Michel is not far from where the allied forces landed on D-Day during World War II.  The parade consisted of what I assume were army reinactors riding in jeeps and other military style vehicles.  Of course, this was D-Day week!  The shuttles had been stopped because the military parade was driving across the causeway to the island and back.  Talk about another interesting coincidence on this trip.

Our final destination that day was the city of Vannes, Brittany, which is on the Atlantic coast. We were to stay there for 3 nights.  Time for some down time after quite a long day.