Of everywhere on this trip, this place was where I was most looking forward to… one of the most amazing places on earth. I remember years ago when I first saw a picture of the dramatic place…teetering on top of a rocky outcrop, half a mile out to sea in the middle of the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, it looked like something dreamt up in a fairytale. And I wanted to see it! And planning this trip I finally had my opportunity. I knew it was a huge tourist attraction so we planned to spend the night there (not many do) to be able to wander in the evening taking in the impressive illuminations and savouring the true spirit of this magical place after the last tour buses have sailed off into the sunset… and then to do it all again at sunrise.

There is not a huge choice of accommodation and it ended up being our most expensive hotel of the trip. So you can imagine my disappointment when there was a strike… not unusual in this part of the world… but it meant there was no way for us to get there with no regional trains running. Devastated is an understatement! And to make it worse, it was too late to cancel our hotel booking… and we also were charged a fortune for the extra night we needed to spend in Paris last minute.

I was determined to not leave France without seeing it… and so all I could do (besides cry) was book a bus tour the following week on the one free day before leaving to fly home… and be one of the hordes all arriving together to crowd this amazing and magical place. As they say, beggars can’t be choosers!

Had to leave our hotel two hours before sun up to get the metro to the tour meeting point across the city by 7.15 am and we drove off into the French countryside into Normandy with a lovely sunrise on the way.

With crashing waves, rolling hills and medieval towns… there is nowhere else in France quite like Normandy. With its rich history, local produce and stunning coastline, I would have liked to spend more time exploring this region… but there’s never enough time for everything, is there? As it is, the tour is 14 hours… with only 4 actually in Mont Saint Michel. The rest was on a crowded bus with the person in front of me’s seat pressed against my knees.

1,000 years ago, in 1023, work began building this astonishing Gothic-style Benedictine abbey, known throughout the medieval world as the ‘Wonder of the West’. It took 500 years for it to be completed and drew pilgrims from across the world. And though the abbey is itself an architectural marvel, it is the combination of sea and stone that sets it apart. Perhaps, nowhere else in Europe is the aesthetic brilliance of architecture complimented so stunningly by the natural world… and it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

It’s called the “Impregnable Fortress” since, during the Hundred Years War, the monks defended the abbey against English invaders. The bay is home to Europe’s largest tidal range, reaching close to 50 feet at times. At low tide, it’s possible to walk barefoot to the abbey crossing the vast sandflats that surround it. About seven or eight times a year, the tide rises, sometimes so high you can’t drive a car… and the island appears surreal, as though it were floating on the sea like a mirage and in the right light, creates a mirror reflection. As it was low tide for my visit I would not get to see that.

Now there’s a kilometre long causeway that solves this problem of the tides but back then this would be very hard for intruders to combat because of quicksand and the very fast-rising tides.

Mont-Saint-Michel is an almost circular granite outcrop (about 900 metres in circumference) that rises sharply to 78 metres from the bay. Around its base are medieval walls with towers…

… which rise above the clustered buildings of the village…

… with the ancient abbey crowning the mount. Filled with cloisters, countless historical rooms and breath-taking views of the bay, it truly is a marvel!

I loved making my way around this beautiful little village and discovering little secrets as I wandered through… climbing the ramparts and walking around the top of the walls peeping into tiny gardens of the houses and buildings that line the Grande Rue.

If fingers could get ‘lockjaw’, mine probably would have from the number of photos I took (not that it’s unusual for me). The tiny streets are stuffed with shops and restaurants…

… and perhaps even more than so many other places I have visited on this trip it’s like stumbling into a real life fairytale… and it was just as magical as I thought it would be, despite the crowds. Would have loved to be there for sunrise or sunset though 🤷🏼‍♀️