My trip to Mont Saint Michel

After a wonderful afternoon seeing Monet’s home outside of Paris, Nate and I were driving to the chateau near the coast of Normandy where we’d be spending the night. The sun was just about gone. We were almost to our destination when out of nowhere this mystical, medieval structure appeared off in the distance. Our eyes widened and jaws dropped as the silhouette of this fantastic structure stood several miles off in between us and the setting sun. Nate pulled the car over, “Look at that!” It took our breath away!

It astounds me what man has built over the years. This place was definitely one of those WOW fantasy structures that makes you want to pinch yourself. I thought places like this were made-up and just illustrated, but never actually built. On the contrary, places like this really exist.  They are the inspiration for all of those books and movies that leave us dreaming. The only things it was missing were fairies and dragons. Two facts: Peter Jackson used it as the model for Minas Tirith in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it was the inspiration for the royal castle of Corona in the Disney film, Tangled. You’d expect it to be a total fantasy but it is very real. You have to see it to believe it.

It was quite windy while we were there.

Rising majestically from the sea in the region of Normandy (France), it’s a monastery, medieval city, castle, commune, and island all in one! To be precise, it’s a rocky tidal island —it’s only an island during the high tide. Mont Saint Michel became a site for religious worship and in the end also a castle.

It’s been a place of pilgrimage since the 8th century, and even today. The cluster of Gothic buildings and turreted ramparts appear to be piled on top of each other. Below rests a flat expanse of salty sands by day and by night it’s swallowed up by the sea at high tide. The area near the shore has acres of lush grasslands with fluffy, grazing sheep. It’s ridiculously beautiful.

This place has a long and complicated past. It’s so cool, everyone wanted it. I’ll try to give you a simplified overview since it’s pretty fascinating.

• 4th to 7th Centuries: Christianity expanded to the area, Mont Saint Michel was called Mont Tombe being part of the Diocese of the Avranches (the commune in which it is located). Around the 6th century, Christianity grew stronger, Mont Tombe became populated by religious followers, hermits and even with Celtic monks.
• 708 AD: The first chapel was built on the rock. Click here to read about the legend (heavenly vision), Bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert.
• 709 AD: Of course after having a divine finger drilled through Aubert’s head he moved quickly and the small church was finished and Saint Aubert dedicated it to St. Michael.
• 710 AD: Mont Tombe was renamed to Mont Saint Michel au péril de la Mer or “Mount Saint Michael at the peril of the sea.” Like most places in Europe the Vikings captured the Mont in 847 which drove the monks away. This in turn made the locals drift away from their religious life. You’ve got to love those Vikings!
• 966 AD: The Duke of Normandy, Richard 1st, allowed the Benedict monks to settle in Mont to bring back religion. Mont Saint-Michel continued to expand as they built the pre-Romanesque church of the abbey.
• 13th to 15th centuries: Click here to read about the The Hundred Years’ War in England commenced with the Duke of Brittany leading the siege to Mont Saint Michel. Long story short the Mont held out for 30 years! Fires damaged some abbey buildings, but for the most part the structure remained strong.
• 17th to 18th centuries: During the French revolution, it was converted into a prison which didn’t help the structure at all. The prison closed in 1863 and after that, efforts of restoration to this amazing structure began. In 1874 it was regarded as a historical monument.

The structure of the island is a metaphor for the feudal society in the Middle Ages. On top is the abbey and monastery – representing God. Below are the great halls, stores, lodging for pilgrims, merchant houses, and finally near the bottom of the hill lived the fishermen and farmers.

When you enter, you’ll be in front of Grand Rue which is the main street of this city. You’ll see the real houses and shops dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries to service the pilgrims that would come to visit the abbey. It’s so cool because the shops are still being used today. It felt like I was in Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter books! Because we visited in early spring there weren’t a ton of tourists; not nearly what you could expect from May to August.

There are a couple of ways to get up to the abbey. The owner at the chateau we stayed at the night before recommended we skip the main tourist route and look for a staircase off to the left (not too far from the entrance) that was more private. It had the most adorable apartments, charming rooftops, quiet narrow paths and stairways up to the abbey.

There are multiple buildings built on several levels when you get to the top. Given that the abbey was built over centuries each building has its own history and style. Mass is held here every day except Monday. Evidently at night it’s illuminated and chamber music plays. Here is a link on the details of each building.

There are so many sweeping views out over the bay you can’t pass up.

We ended up taking the touristy way down passing all the restaurants and shops.

Our trip to this medieval city was absolutely magical. This place impressed me even more than I thought it would. It certainly draws a lot of tourists — that’s a fact! But don’t let that keep you from visiting. You can choose the low season months like we did to avoid the crowds.

This is my last post about France. Going through these photos makes me already miss it a ton. There’s lots more on my trip… up next will be London, then Scotland, Ireland and Iceland. I still have a ton of photos and editing to go through. Stay tuned for much more!

Have you been here? Is this a place on your must see list?

XOXO

Melessa