Mont St. Michel

We had to stop about 5 miles away from Mont St. Michel so we could take a picture of the entire island and the abbey. Groups previously did this at the causeway liking the island to the mainland and, it caused so many traffic jams that police put a stop to it. Even at 5 miles away, you could see that Mont St. Michel is BIG. The second thing you notice is that it is all by itself. The island is located in a bay which goes out for miles. There is one smaller island close by but that island is dwarfed by Mont St. Michel. Our guide told us how the initial abbey came to be built. Around 700 A.D., a bishop claimed to receive a vision from the archangel Michael telling him to build a church on the island. The bishop ignored the vision. He received it a second time. He ignored it again. The third time, he saw himself in the vision with a hole in his head. He was so frightened, he promptly arranged for a building of a church on the island. This church was considerably smaller than the abbey you see now. Over the years, through generous donations and from the sale of books the abbey made, it grew it size to the colossal structure you can see now. One of the reasons Kings and Dukes of Normandy would donate to the abbey was it increased their prestige. It helped show how great they were. I suspect it didn't hurt that the abbey and island are very impressive.

One downside of seeing the abbey is that it is a major tourist attraction. Bus loads of tourists come to see it. When our group arrived, there were already 7 buses there. By the time we left, 6 more had arrived.

For this tour, we used a local guide named Helen. She was wonderful lady full of interesting facts and a good sense of humor. She offered 2 routes to get to the top of island. We could take the fast route which had over 300 steps or the short route which had 120. Our group chose the short route. The route was filled with twisting turning alleyways and small homes. At one time, over 400 people lived at the island not including the monks and sisters who worshipped in the abbey. Now, only 20 people or so live there. I thought that sad. The tides that go in and out of the bay are so great that the causeway we walked on to get to the island is completely covered by water during the night. Also, to prevent the silt from building up, the French government is allegedly considering tearing down the causeway and building a bridge to the island.

One of the highlights of the tour without a doubt is when you reach the top of the island. The views from up there are stunning. With the abbey as a backdrop, you can easily imagine yourself at the top of Minas Tirith with the exception you're looking for miles over a bay versus fields. After taking plenty of pictures, we entered the cathedral. It was stunning for its sheer size. Supposedly, in its day, it was far more ornate but, it still awes. From the cathedral, Helen showed us other rooms where guests staying at the abbey would dine or pray. Only monks or sisters were allowed in the cathedral. There were 2 massive fireplaces in the room where guests were dined. The monks figured out a way to keep rainwater from coming down their chimneys. Eventually, this system failed from wear and tear. Modern builders haven't been able to figure out how the monks did it so now rain comes in through the fireplace chimneys.

We entered dimly lit rooms with massive pillars to support the cathedral above. During the French Revolution, the abbey was used as a prison. There was a system where a wooden sled would be lower to the lower parts of the island and loaded up with supplies. Prisoners would pull ropes tied to the sled to bring the supplies up to the abbey. This would've been quicker than carrying them up all the steps to the abbey.

The abbey was generally cold. This was the way the religious orders wanted it as the monks and sisters were to live an austere life of religious study and contemplation. There was one room in the abbey however that was kept warm. This was the room where monks copied books by hand. The room had to be warm in order for them to be able to use the ink they used to write the books. The books they made at the abbey were a major source of revenue for the abbey for years.

We spent a short 2 hours at the island. By the time our tour ended of the abbey, it was time to head back to the bus. I would've liked to have checked out some of the shops to see if they had any neat souvenirs but, there wasn't time. This was one place I'd definitely like to come back to.

Once everyone had boarded the tour bus, we had a short drive to our hotel. There we had another group dinner. The next morning, we would head for Tours, the chateau country of France.