Home » France » The Island Abbey March 17, 2002

L'Abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel is a giant medieval abbey with a tiny town surrounding it. All of this is crammed onto a little rocky island off a narrow causeway in a large, wide bay. We arrived during low tide, so the Mont was surrounded by flat marshlands.<br/><br/>

The Island Abbey March 17, 2002

Ttrealtravels
2005-12-26 14:40:58

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L'Abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel is a giant medieval abbey with a tiny town surrounding it. All of this is crammed onto a little rocky island off a narrow causeway in a large, wide bay. We arrived during low tide, so the Mont was surrounded by flat marshlands.

The climb up to the abbey through the village is steep and very, very touristy. Souvenir stalls and restaurants line the twisting, narrow medieval path. It's what Disneyland wishes it were, but for real. This is o.k. with me though -- I like a little dose of the touristy with my historical monuments. Not too much, just a wee bit. Mont Saint-Michel has been one of the top four pilgrimage sites in Christendom since the Middle Ages, so you have to expect it's pretty crowded. But when you get to the abbey itself, it's beautiful and serene.

Being Sunday and St. Patrick's Day, we stumbled upon Mass in the Abbey Church, right during Holy Communion. Like Notre Dame, it was deeply beautiful, yet also meaningless to this agnostic pseudo-pagan gal. We were close enough that, during the part of the Mass where everyone shakes hands with each other, the priests and monks all went through the congregation to shake hands with us too. Monks have cold hands!

From the top of the abbey ramparts, we could see two groups of people walking (or maybe wading) on the marsh flats, taking advantage of the low tide to explore all the way out to a second smaller island.

Mont Saint-Michel ranks among the most unique and interesting things I've ever seen. Literally built up on its own little mountain in the middle of a large bay, the tide ebbs and flows dramatically around it and, on a daily basis, inundates the parking lot where cars come to visit. A sign is posted with the time that the tide is expected to come in. Luckily for us, high tide wasn't until 6pm, and we were out of there by 4pm or so

I agree with Trystan in that it's pretty much a Disney-esque utopia for tourists. Certainly it was the most touristy thing outside of Paris that we visited. But its peculiarity and legendary status make it worth the stop.