Mont-Saint-Michel: the wonder of the West
It begins emerging as a gray protuberance, between the blue of the sky and the brown of the immense bay that surrounds it. And as we get closer, it ends up being majestic, enormous and at the same time, flirtatious.
Original like few places in the world, the Mont-Saint-Michel is a fabulous paradox : boasts of being one of the biggest tourist attractions in France, but hides from the world, crouched in the far reaches of northwestern Gaul , almost endearing rather than enticing with its grandiose architecture.
Temple of religious pilgrimage or victim of mass tourism Knowing him thoroughly does not leave anyone indifferent.
MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS OF HISTORY
The most attractive part of Mont-Saint-Michel is, without a doubt, the action of its tides , the largest in the Old Continent. Located in the estuary of the Couesnon River, and in the middle of a bay periodically invaded by the sea, depending on the time of day we can be on an island, or on a rock connected to the Continent through a vast terrain of quicksand. Something that always made him ideal as defensive fortress against enemy attacks.
But, to really enjoy everything that is built today on the old Mont Tombe , it is essential to go with a light history lesson learned. And it should be pointed out because, yes, we all know that it is always very helpful to know a little about the history of the places we visit, but in this case, being such a picturesque place, we will not understand why what the French built was built there. They are still called today as "l to Wonder of the West ” if we do not put before certain didactic bases.
The tides, its great natural protection
Let's start (we promise not to be too heavy): The origin of the occupation of the place It was, as we might guess, religious . The first abbey, built by Benedictine monks, stood in the year 966 , although there is evidence of a small church even earlier, and it is known that the Celts and the Romans already populated the surroundings of the mount (which, they say, made up the extinct Scissy forest).
More mythological is the justification of the regional chronicles for the construction of the first and primitive temple: they assure that, at the request of the Archangel Saint Michael, Bishop of Avranches, Aubert (to whom a tiny romanesque chapel located at one of the ends of the rock), built the original church in the year 709.
The fact is that, more than a thousand years later, the abbey and the small town on the edge of Mont-Saint-Michel have seen them in all colors. Important place of pilgrimage (along with Rome and Santiago de Compostela in their years of greatest religious boom), the mount suffered various fires and attacks during the Middle Ages and the Hundred Years' War , which is why it was walled to become an impregnable square.
Small abbey dedicated to Saint Aubert
The place came to serve as prison during the French Revolution , and was miraculously preserved intact after the German occupation and subsequent Allied liberation in World War II.
Today it has recovered its old splendor not only for tourism, but also for the gigantic reclamation project which for ten years has managed to return the tides and the water to Saint-Michel, since, for more than a century, it had ceased to be a part-time island , due to the accumulation of sand and sediment in the bay, fruit of the various actions of man.
A STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE NEW AND THE OLD
The first thing we must bear in mind when visiting Mont-Saint-Michel is that, if we are lovers of purist and spontaneous tourism , we must be prepared for fight disappointment , mainly because of the various artificialities that will welcome us upon arrival.
Little people arriving at Mont-Saint-Michel
To start, visit requires some forethought or, at least, a minimum previously established action plan.
The new access takes us through a complex of hotels, shops and restaurants called La Caserne , where we can also spend the night, depending on our intentions. Next to it, a paid car park for rid Mont-Saint-Michel itself of vehicles.
If we go by car and have decided to spend the night in one of the hotels, access to the aforementioned complex is protected by a barrier, so, at first, we will have the feeling of entering some kind of private summer resort.
Once inside, it will be inevitable to admire the shops and restaurants : we must be clear that, unless we carry food with us, we will have to buy everything there or in Saint-Michel itself, both options quite expensive . The purpose is basic and effective: to give shelter to the enormous and permanent mass of tourists always present in the surroundings of the mount, and incidentally, collect.
But, in addition, the prohibition of reaching the very limits of the mountain by car facilitates and alleviates the influx of visitors. How? with a constant shuttle bus service, which take the public non-stop to and from the rock . The general feeling of this modern 'shed' is similar to that of Disneyland Paris.
Mont Saint-Michel, 'the Rock'
VISITING THE MOUNTAIN
Before reaching the area of La Caserne, yes, we will have enjoyed a considerably long journey by road in which observing Mont-Saint-Michel from afar will begin to make us fall in love.
Absolutely nothing for miles around, in the middle of a landscape totally flat , overshadows the fortification, crowned by the famous statue of the Archangel Saint Michael , located 156 meters above sea level.
That feeling of power is greatly increased when, after getting off one of those shuttle buses, we begin the access to the mountain already walking on the footbridge , the only access that, for some years now, has permanently connected Mont-Saint-Michel with the rest of the world.
We entered through its front door: the bavole gate , the only one that welcomes us from the wall itself that embraces the small town at the foot of the abbey and, quickly, we find the tourist office and the main road (and almost the only one) of the whole place: the great street , full of small museums, shops and restaurants.
That is when we return to give ourselves a smack of modern tourism: far from finding ourselves a peaceful medieval town, we find ourselves immersed in a crowded commercial route protected by hordes of Asians, in which we can find everything: from Game of Thrones armor to stuffed animals , going through clothing, groceries, calvados, works of art or souvenirs of all kinds.
The Mont-Saint-Michel shopping area at night
Once this trance is over, it is convenient to have energy in the legs: from now on, almost everything will be stairs. And also, have our list of essentials on hand on paper, so that we don't miss anything.
A BASIC ROUTE THROUGH SAINT-MICHEL
If we follow the path marked by the throng of tourists, we will quickly find the Parish Church. It stands out for its small size, which makes it cosy, and for some really old objects, prior to the splendor of the place and the abbey itself. In addition, it is an excellent point to rest and refresh ourselves, since we will have already begun to feel tremor in our quadriceps.
Above, we will discover the first views of the entire bay, completely converted into a sandbank or full of water, depending on the time of day in which we find ourselves. the north tower, located almost at the foot of the abbey church, it is an excellent spot to take pictures.
Shortly before, we will have passed in front of the logis tiphaine house, typical medieval village where he is said to have resided Bertrand du Guesclin , constable of the French army and important character in the Hundred Years' War, who lived in the mountains with his wife when he was appointed captain of the square for his services to the King of France. And also, for the Pilgrim's House, always present figure and another of the essential sites of Saint-Michel.
welcome to the middle ages
Already at the top, after endless stretches of climbs and stairs, we found the abbey . Divided fundamentally into two parts, the Romanesque abbey church and the so-called 'Wonderful' , or residence space of the monks, with the cloister and the refectory, will take us most of the visit to Mont-Saint-Michel, and it is undoubtedly the highlight of it: a journey through more than a thousand years of history , in which we can admire the gigantic architectural work where the religious, the military and the medieval converge, as well as various artistic styles such as Romanesque or Flamboyant Gothic.
Number of rooms and rooms with high ceilings, combined with beautiful gardens and majestic patios. An empacho of stone and views.
Because, in addition to the building, ecstasy in the abbey means enjoying its viewpoints over the bay, dominated by the impressive Saint Michael the Archangel statue.
For those who are the most fond of adventure films, it will be easy to mentally transport themselves to The Lord of the rings , since the height, solitude and distribution of Saint-Michel undoubtedly remind us of the fictional city of Minas Tirith, protagonist in the sagas of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Abbey in Saint-Michel
It will be convenient not to miss its four Museums: the Historical Museum, the Maritime Museum (which will help us understand how the work to clean the bay of sediment and turn it back into an island has been carried out), the Archéoscope and the aforementioned House of Logis Tiphaine.
These offer a complete vision of the history of Mont-Saint-Michel, the evolution of its religious importance throughout the Centuries, its demographics (only 30 permanent inhabitants in 2016, according to official censuses) and its most curious details, to through a large collection of documents and objects of all kinds.
CLOSING THE VISIT
But Saint-Michel is not just the mount and the abbey. The region stands out for the possibilities offered by the bay itself, its walking routes through the sandy areas at low tide hours (with extreme care), the visit to the Couesnon River Dam and the lamb tasting , which in this region offers an extremely peculiar flavor -with a touch of the sea- due to the grass that these animals feed on. We can eat it both inside the mountain and in more authentic restaurants in the towns of the bay, a few kilometers away.
House of Logis Tiphaine
If we choose to eat in a nearby town, yes, be careful what we think of commenting to the native population. Mont-Saint-Michel is traditionally ground for territorial dispute between Brittany and Normandy (in fact, it popularly marks the border between these two regions). To the seconds corresponds its administration at present, but the Bretons have never stopped claiming it as theirs.
After that good meal and a walk around, it is essential to return to the wall at night before leaving. Finish the visit and contemplate the wonder of the West illuminated before the stars It will give us an even more magical photograph than in daylight.
It will be then that we will not be able to stop looking at Saint-Michel for a long time, thinking about whether or not to stay there forever. So we'll have to decide fast while the tides lie in wait for us.
An almost ghostly sight