Mont St Michel

Written by Donovan January 13, 2019 Category: Europe, France Tags: , , , , , , , , Comments

The Mont-Saint-Michel architecture and its bay are the most visited tourist site of Normandy. Classified as a historical monument in 1874, the place is part of the UNESCO world heritage list since 1979.

Built between sand and sky, the Mont-Saint-Michel represents one of the most amazing middle ages creation. You will fall under the spell of the beauty of the landscape. Considered as a great feat of monastic architecture, the Abbey is built upon the bay’s lonesome rock and becomes completely isolated at high-tide when the tiny island seems to emerge out of the water. During the day trip, you will discover the medieval city, the Abbey, and all tourist places of the site.

We took the TGV (high speed train) from Paris to Saint Malo.

Having arrived in Saint Malo in the morning, we set off in our rental car to Mont St Michel after lunch. It was a bright, sunny day and the drive took about one hour. We parked our car at the public car park and walked to the bus stop to catch the shuttle bus. Only authorised vehicles are allowed to cross the bridge heading towards Mont St Michel. By the way, the shuttle bus is free of charge and frequency is every 15 minutes.

Taking the shuttle bus from the parking to the island.

Upon crossing the bridge, we could see the island zoom into sight and everybody was happily snapping photos away. When we alighted from the bus, we had to walk for another five minutes before reaching the main entrance. Entrance to the island is free as well; there were some construction works going on, so there was a detour in the pathway to head up to the castle.

A mandatory shot just in front of Mont St Michel

A little bit of geography : the new elevated causeway and the new dam on the Couesnon River, with its controlled filling and release of tidal sea and river water, are designed to reduce silting, protect the maritime environment, and return the sea at Mont St-Michel to its customary tides.

Tickets to the Mont St Michel Abbey cost  10 €, and exploring the grounds of the historic structure can take anywhere from under an hour to several hours, depending on how closely you want to look at the architectural details and views. Besides the Abbey grounds, you can walk around the hill top, admire the coastal areas, rest or picnic in parks and shop in souvenir stores. I would say that half a day would be more than enough time to explore Mont St Michel. Some tourists, however, choose to stay overnight at one of the hotels so they can catch a good sunrise or sunset over the island. When the main tourist crowds leave the island in the evening, it is more peaceful and you can wander along the cobblestone streets and take all the pictures that you want.

Walking along the streets of Mont St Michel and shopping for souvenirs.
There are many spots with dramatic views of the coastline and quaint little houses in the Mont St Michel surroundings.
Inside the church-abbey. The rapid growth of wealth of the church-abbey Saint-Michel became an obstacle to its function and nature. The religious used their wealth, coming from the piety of the rich surrounding princes, to satisfy their pleasures. Local nobles tried to obtain the favors of the Mont’s religious inhabitants to spend it on meals, travels, and hunting in their company, which became their main occupation.
The cloister. Contrary to the tradition, this cloister was not built at the center of the monastery, and thus does not link with all the other buildings. Its function was purely spiritual: to bring the monks to meditate.
The “Belle Chaise” building and the lodging wing hosted the administrative section of the abbey. Abbot Richard Turstin built, on the East side, the Guards room (that became the abbey entrance) and a new officiality, where judicial decisions were made (1257).

There were many Japanese and Spanish tourists during our visit. When we were walking around the abbey, I kept hearing Spanish being spoken. It was a group of Spanish students who had come to France with their teacher on an immersion trip. It is interesting to see such cultural ties and reminds me of the time when I brought my students overseas. They were equally chatty and happy to be learning out of the classroom.

With 2.5 million visitors annually, the abbey is among the most visited cultural sites in France.
A bird rests on the ledge overlooking the English Channel and the Couesnon River.

Mont St Michel receives the most tourists during summer time, so we were fortunate to be visiting during winter when there are not too many tourists. I am glad to have visited this place finally after having been in France so many times. After visiting Mont St Michel, we took a scenic coastal route back to Saint Malo. This is the flexibility of renting a car as we can go anywhere based on our own schedule.

Is Mont St Michel part of Brittany or Normandy? It lies on the boundary but actually it belongs to Normandy. The northwestern coast of France is more rugged and so different from the south. I hope to come back to Normandy region again to explore the other towns and also for fresh seafood such as mussels, oysters.

Getting there

Mont Saint-Michel is accessible by car (it’s about a four-hour drive from Paris, though traffic can be bad), chartered bus or an all-inclusive tour. Several private companies offer fourteen hour day trips directly from Paris, but for a more budget-friendly excursion, take a train from Paris and transfer from Pontorson to the town of Mont Saint-Michel . Tourists can’t drive directly onto the Mont, but easily accessible parking costs 11.70 € for 24 hours and a free shuttle (7:30 a.m. – midnight, daily) or short walk on a footbridge brings you directly to the site.

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