Another early day today as I headed into the Normandy area of France. My destination was the striking island of Mont Saint-Michel, which has been a fortress, prison, and abbey during its existence. It's quite a distance away from Paris (between 4-5 hours by car), and has no direct public transportation route, so I decided to join a tour for the trip. I chose the 'explore on your own' option, which basically means I just get transport to and from the abbey, and it worked out perfectly for me.
The ride to Mont Saint-Michel was long, but very comfortable. We were whisked there by a fairly new double-decker bus, and I was entertained by the French countryside scenery along the way.
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| I got to sit up top! |
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| Lush rolling hillside |
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| I think this was Caen |
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| How do you say 'moo' in French? |
Finally, we arrived at our destination around noon. The Mont Saint-Michel certainly makes a huge statement; it rises up in rocky defiance, and can be seen from miles away. The surrounding land looks completely flat, and makes the island look like something out of King Arthur's myths.
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| Still a few miles away |
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| Closer view |
Mont Saint-Michel is accessible by a 1/2 mile road that connects it to the mainland. It is surrounded, very oddly, by grassy plains (which I later found out were man-made for pasture) and huge wet sandy flats. The guidebook warns visitors to be careful if they ventured out to the sands. Apparently, the tides can come in very quickly and become dangerous.
On the lower level of the island are some narrow streets filled with tourists and shops. There are slopes and stairs everywhere, which means all visitors are getting a workout. I was surprised at how many tourists with babies were around. This meant there were a lot of unhappy-looking stroller-lugging fathers around. :P
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| Lots of crêperies |
I could definitely see why this place was a fortress! Remnants of military strategies remained; ramparts with lookout towers offered a complete view of the land below and above.
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| View of sand and mud flats, at low tide |
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| Heading up to the abbey |
The abbey was a delight to tour through; those Benedictine monks really knew what they were doing! I'm glad that I chose to explore on my own, which meant I could linger at my own pace. There was so much to see; the stained glass windows let you peep out at the tiny people below braving the sand flats, the rooms were airy with beautiful ceiling arches. There were blooming gardens and interesting architecture everywhere.
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| Cloister and gardens |
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| Bell Tower |
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| Peek-a-boo? |
I found the abundance of arches in the ceilings and entrance-ways beautiful; the light and shadows coming in from the stained-glass windows created so many different layers as I walked around a room.
There was one room that contained a giant wooden wheel. It looked vaguely familiar... and then I realized that it reminded me of a hamster wheel. And it turned out that I wasn't far off! When the abbey was used as a prison, prisoners were made to run inside the wheel so heavy items could be lifted up.
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| Run, hamster, run! |
Soon enough, it was time for me to make my way back to the tour bus. I headed down via some surprisingly empty back streets.
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| But pretty, no? |
Okay, okay. Mom and Dad, you get a picture of me. :)
The ride back to Paris was quick, as half the bus drowsed off. We were back a little past 9pm, before it got dark! I have to say that seeing the Mont Saint-Michel in person was just as impressive as I imagined. And now I get a day to rest before heading out for more out of town trips this week!
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