Mont St. Michael

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A big trip to The French Rock! Today can be divided into three parts:

  • Arrival and ascent to the Abbey at the summit;
  • Tour of the Abbey
  • Wandering around town

Arrival

Mont St. Michael is clearly visible from our hotel (a renovated farm building originally built around 1780) and is about a fifteen minute drive away. The countryside is flat and green, though muddy from the overnight rain, allowing us to see the Mont all the way to the large tourist parking lot, located a mile and a half away from the Mont itself. After parking, we took the free shuttle bus out to the Mont itself. This was much faster than walking, but obscured the otherwise excellent views of the Mont you would get if you walked the causeway.

We had prearranged morning reservations to tour the Abbey, so we hustled up the main road pretty quickly. This was good, as we were able to walk through the abbey with smaller numbers of people, but we certainly wanted to linger in the amazing streets!

Walking the abbey….

There really isn’t any way to do justice to the Abbey, photographically. There’s a certain atmosphere and age that you feel as you tour through it.

Lots.of twisty passages and ways in the Abbey.
View of the mudflats / tidal area from the Abbey
The Abbey has many rooms, chambers, hallways, stairs, platforms, towers and passages, built, modified, or removed over the centuries.
A coue items from the treasury.
A.peak through the medieval lock of a closed door.
There are many places where the bedrock is visible.
Incredible stone work in many places.
There were many large fireplaces through the Abbey. This was not the largest.

Walking Around The Mont

After finishing our visit in the Abbey proper, we found lunch a La Fringale:

After lunch, we split into pairs (use the buddy system!) to further explore. There’s not much of a narrative, but there are a bunch of pictures:

Cobblestones
Jim thought this door was funny: multiple layers, but with a very modern electronic lock
Walking the ramparts
Curved slate roof
New(er) roof meets older buildings
The Abbey towers over the lower section of the island.
Interesting quartz veins in the bedrock of the Mont
Looking down at the lower town. People live here; the cemetery is in the foreground.
A final look back at the Mont as we walk away

2 Responses

    • Translation: I was profoundly affected by this visit on emotional, academic and personal levels. My understanding and appreciation of humanity, history and western civilization grew markedly, I now feel more engaged with people around me, and have a desire to create great things over the course of my life. Therefore, I recommend visiting this place to others. Also, mayonnaise is good on sandwiches.

      Reply

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