September 30 - Le Mont Saint Michel

If someone from France tells you Canada is a cold country, look them straight in the eye and tell them they are crazy.  This morning there was frost on our windshield.

Today we reached the western most point in our trip.  We drove from Honfleur to Le Mont Saint Michel.  Mont Saint Michel is a very iconic tourist attraction in northern France. This holy mount is now a UNESCO world heritage site,  It has a very dramatic abbey, fortress and medieval village on an island in Mont Saint Michel Bay which is fed by the tides of the English Channel and the Couesnon river. It is located between the French provinces of Normandy and Brittany.

Mont Saint Michel

Grand Rue

We booked a hotel here for the night.  The Mouton Blanc is located in an ancient building that is located in stone alleyway off the main route from the village gate to the abbey.  The room is rather small but it has lots of character Unfortunately the room is a bit shabby, with the wallpaper torn and the toilet lever cracked.

The village itself is a bit of a disappointment.  There is one street leading up from the village gates to the abbey.  It is filled with restaurants and cheap souvenir shops.  Also the alley is very narrow so it becomes quite crowded during the day.  The ramparts are the place to walk if you want to see the sites and not be pushed.  

Abbey of Mont Saint Michel

The story of how the mount turned into a must see for Christian pilgrims is colourful. Early in the 8th century, Aubert, the bishop of the nearby hilltop town of Avranches claimed that the Archangel Michael himself pressured him into having a church built atop the island.















During the middle ages Mont Saint Michel was one of the four most important Pilgrimages for Christians.  The other three were Jerusalem, Rome and Compostela, Spain.  The abbey became a renowned centre of learning in western Europe, attracting some of the greatest minds and manuscript illuminators.

It was built in the 11^th century and modified for the next several hundred years.  It was styled with a combination of Gothic and Romanistic architecture.  

The church was built on the summit of the island and the abbey was built on four crypts that were used as the foundation for the expanded church, the rectory and the residence for the monks. 

The chapels were built on three levels.  The lower chapel was used by the pilgrims, the middle chapel by the knights and the top chapel by nobility. 

After the French Revolution the structure was converted to a prison for political prisoners.

Ramparts of Mont Saint Michel

As I was standing on the ramparts of the fortress, I couldn't stop but thinking of the famous scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the French are hurling insults at King Arthur.

We took a tour of the abbey.The tour made our trip all worth while.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and explained the history and the architecture of the structure.  

The visitor car parks have been relocated away from the shoreline, to preserve the Mont-Saint-Michel’s environment. The car park is two kilometres away from the island. Once you have parked your car, head for Place des Navettes bus station where specially devised, ultra-modern shuttle buses called Passeurs take you from there to the village.

At low tide the island is connected by a causeway to the western shore of the river.  The tidal basis is very similar to the Bay of Fundy, although the tides are no nearly as high.  Tonight the high tide came in around 9pm.  The water level rose at incredible rate.  Literally within fifteen minutes the water level had risen several feet and had covered most of the causeway.  It was hilarious watching people running out of the village gate in order to get to the other side of causeway before the island was isolated from the mainland.

For dinner we ate at the Mouton Blanc.  We both had lamb with a wonderful wine from the Cote de Bourg region of France.

So we would recommend Mont St. Michel, if you want to visit an icon religious site or are interested in medieval history or just want to experience staying in a really old hotel.  Other than that I would give it a pass.