It is on the north coast of France, near the border of Brittany and Normandy. In fact it belongs to Normandy nowadays, but used to belong to Brittany.
It is home to the unusual Benedictine Abbey and steepled church (built between the 11th and 16th centuries) which occupy most of the one-kilometer-diameter clump of rocks jutting out over the waters of the English Channel.
The Mont Saint Michel and its bay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979 because it is seen as one of the holiest places in the world. It is also surrounded by a very historical and extraordinary bay.
The tides in the area shift quickly, and have been described by Victor Hugo as "à la vitesse d'un cheval au galop" or "as swiftly as a galloping horse". The tide actually comes in at one meter per second.
When we arrived the tide was high so we could not walk around the bay therefore we decided to hanging around the village.
While standing in front of it I couldn’t help thinking it had fallen from the sky, as it is one really big piece of rock standing alone in the beach, surrounded by a plain of sand and water to one side and grassland to the other
I thought it would be a bigger rock, when you see it on TV or on Pictures it looks bigger than it is. In some hours you can see everything.
The streets were narrow and looked like in Carcassonne castle.. really nice...
We ate in Restaurant Du Guesclin ** (Mussels + roasted potatoes + Omelette de la mère Poulard + Caramel Dessert + rosé wine)
After visiting it, it came as no surprise to find out that it's actually the second most visited place in france, after paris, and in particular by japanese tourists.
Departure from Mont Saint Michel at 5pm to Saint-Malo.
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Britanny.
It is the most visited place in Brittany :
- The walled city (La Ville Intra-Muros)
- The château of Saint-Malo
- The tomb of the writer Chateaubriand on the Ile de Grand Bé
- The Cathedral of St Vincent
Saint-Malo was the birthplace of Jacques Cartier (explorer of Canada) and Chateaubriand (1768-1848), writer and diplomat...
A bit of history: In past centuries it became notorious as the home of a fierce breed of pirate-mariners, who were never quite under anyone's control but their own; for 4 years from 1590, Saint-Malo even declared itself to be an independent republic, taking up the motto "not French, not Breton, but Malois". The Corsairs of Saint-Malo not only forced English ships passing up the Channel to pay tribute, but also brought wealth from further afield
I really enjoyed the large beaches at low tides with a fantastic sunlight, the sky was blue as i'm used to see it in Spain.
The building along the walls are rathe big (5 floors on average). The city is really charming.
Back to Rennes at 9pm by train .
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