Mont St. Michel

Only time will tell if this trip will be coined our ‘Pilgrimage Tour’  but we arrived in the evening and Mont St. Michel looked heavenly lit at night.  This gothic abbey sits on top of a 264′ high rock formation at the edge of the sea.

It reminded me of the lit Stupas we saw in Myanmar. This gravity defying medieval monastery is still one of Europe’s #1 pilgrimage destinations.  Early in the 8^th century, a local Bishop claimed that the Archangel Michael appeared to him requesting that a church be built on top of the island.  A small group of monks still live on the sight.

Unlike most castles or chapels built upon a rocky island or outcropping, the site where Mont St. Michel was built was not flattened first making a ‘plateau,’ but instead it was built with the mountain intact and inside the structure. In one central room located in the chapel you see the underlying tips of the rocks that formed the island.

The village on the island that surrounds the abbey is mostly small hotels and tourist traps, including the oldest restaurant, La Mere Poulard, known for their fluffy omelettes which are the most expensive in Europe…about 35 euros.

In days of old, you could only reach Mont St. Michel when the tide was out or via boat.  Now there is a causeway built to the abbey so you don’t need to worry about the tides, but it is still not an easy site to visit. First, you need to park your car a couple of miles in a car park, then take a bus to the island, then walk up the mountain to get to the abbey.  On the other hand, you could drive up to the causeway at night, saying that you couldn’t read the french road signs saying ‘the causeway is only for buses’ and get really close to take a great night time photo of Mont St. Michel…not that your intrepid travelers and narrators would do such a thing [Ed. Nice shot, Lisa].  The weather was cold & blustery- we must be near the English channel.

No trip to France would be complete without spending an evening or two in a Chateau. Just 10 minutes from Mont St. Michel is Chateau de Bouceel.  http://www.chateaudebouceel.com/en/   We stayed in the Charlotte Room.  The owner joined us at breakfast and shared that the property was given to his ancestors by William the Conqueror for their participation in the Battle of Hastings and it has remained in the family since then.  The connections we make with people when we are traveling make history come alive.  The owner was old enough to remember either directly or indirectly D-Day.

Many chateau owners inherited their properties and to make ends meet and manage upkeep, have turned to Bed and Breakfast industry for income.  There is a booklet and a website listing many of these http://www.bienvenueauchateau.com/en.