Mont St. Michele

Friday was my first day not working here so I wanted to take full advantage.  I left the house in St. Fraimbault at about 8:45AM and arrived in Mont St. Michele about 10AM on an overcast day.You have probably seen pictures of Mont St. Michele somewhere--a church on a granite island in the bay.  But you really can't be prepared for when you first see it from the road.  It just rises from nowhere.

You can see it from quite far away and it gets more impressive as you approach.

It used to be that pilgrims could only walk to St. Michele at low tide and had to be back before high tide, but now there is a parking lot quite close on a man-made causeway.

The view from where I parked.

You enter the island from a small entryway a bit to the left in this picture.  And what you see was a bit surprising, at least to me--a small commercial street.

Most of the stores sell souvenirs or food and there are a few hotels and many restaurants.

There is even a storefront where the writing is Chinese or Japanese, I think.

The road winds up the hill--or you can take a more direct route.

When you get to the top of the street, there is the church of Saint Peter, for the citizens of the island, I guess.  The big church was for the Benedictine monks.

I'm not religious, but I lit a candle here for my mother.

There are still many steps to climb to get to the abbey, which costs about $12 to visit, and worth every penny.

Here is what it looks like at the start of the visit.  Just a few of the steps ahead.

At the first landing is a terrace from which you can see the area and the way you came.

The first stop in the church--very beautiful.

From there you go out into the cloister.

You can look down from here, but don't get too close to the edge.

Actually, there is a pane of glass there.

Some other views from inside the abbey.

At the end there is a statue of St. Michael--a copy of the one at the top of the abbey's spire.

So I went down the way I came back in my car and went off to St. Malo.  I'll report on that visit next.