Monday 18th March
Today has been an all day travel day.
We started early, sadly waving goodbye to Bordeaux and started our long journey to Mont Saint Michel!
Mont Saint Michel is extremely hard to get to and there is no direct route so we had to make our own.
Our day was as follows:
40min Tram. 4hr Bus. 2.5hrs wait in Nantes. 1.5hr Bus. 1.5hr wait in Rennes. 1.5hr Train.
This brings us to Pontorson which is the closest town to Mont Saint Michel that we can stay in!
We arrived at the station and started to walk across town to our Airbnb, when we hear a lady shout out to us, it was our host! She had come and picked us up from station because it was late! It was such a lovely surprise!
The Airbnb was absolutely beautiful and we slept well that night.
Tuesday 19th March
Today was not real. I still can’t believe it.
We made the walk across town to the bus that would take us to Mont Saint-Michel.
A short while later after driving through fields and farm land, we turn a corner and it comes into view. I cannot describe it. The moment that we saw it, it was overwhelming, it didn't seem real, and yet it continued to get closer to us, or rather us to it. We were in awe. It was magnificent! This rock is sitting proudly out on planes of tidal flats for as far as the eye can see. Flat sand all around, and on this rock, behind the fortified walls, stands an abbey reaching for the heavens. It was a sight to behold.
As we drive up to it, gazing out of the bus window, it looks like a picture, it really doesn't look real.
The thing about Mont-Saint Michel is that it is an island commune. It is 17acres in size and home to 50 people. It has been important since ancient times as a seat of the monastery which it draws its name from, as well as a strategic fortification that remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War. It is also a site of pilgrimage for those visiting its abbey.
Being a tidal island, it is accessible at low tide, while at high tide, the water rushes in, cutting it off from the main land. Although, now a bridge has been constructed that only goes under in extreme high tides.
We hopped off the bus and played with the drone on the bridge for a bit, just taking in this unique structure.
We wanted to walk on the sand flats but had read and been warned that there are pockets of quick sand all around the island, so to be very careful and suggested to only go out with a guide. So we wandered into the walls of this island town to see what was inside. Well the little town, and by town, I mean one small cobblestoned street lined with housing and shops just like what you would see out of Game of Thrones type of thing. It really felt like you'd stepped into another life, another time.
We climbed up onto the town walls and stood looking out at the expanse of sand.
We followed the town walls all the way around the front of the island until we started to climb up to the abbey.
It had reached peak low tide, and we had been told that the tide rushes back in extremely quickly at high tide and that because of that, low tide was the best time to go on the sand. We decided to be brave and made our way back down off of the rock and tentatively stepped out onto the sand. Firm. Firm. Firm. Opp a bit sinky, better not step there. We carefully walked out on the sand flats and gained another incredible view of Mont Saint Michel. We felt so small standing on the gazing up at the abbey on the rock.
We then wandered back into the walls and climbed the steep steps up to the abbey. We spent the next few hours inside the remarkable abbey. We didn't realise from the outside how much of the island it encompasses. It was huge inside, like a town all of its' own. There were open terraces, patios, prayer halls, eating halls, grand rooms, sleeping quarters, eating halls, and gardens. It was beautiful.
We spent a good while standing in an open space staring out at the sand planes, and looking along the coast we could see the cliffs of Normandy.
The abbey was something really special and I can see why it is a pilgrimage for so many people and why an island is dedicated to it. It commands respect and awe, and invokes a sense of peace.
We eventually made our way back down and out of the abbey to find a very late lunch. The famous crepe restaurant we had planned to go to was full, so we settled for the next best option (and perhaps the cheapest) hotdogs, which didn't include mustard as we had recently come to distrust this french condiment!
We went back down to the sands after lunch and had built up a little more courage. I had seen a large puddle of water a little further out that I thought would make a really interesting reflection shot of Mont Saint Michel, so we ventured out a little further than we did before, being careful of the quick sand pockets. I saw some rocks that I assumed meant there was solid ground underneath, so I confidently leapt across to them, well lets just say they sunk a little and I was off it before I could find out how far it would actually sink! We made our way out though and most of the sand was fairly solid out here.
It seems we had started a trend and soon there were a fair few people wandering out!
Upon wandering around earlier we had spotted an arch way off the left of where we entered the town, so decided to go and have an explore through there. It was beautiful through here as well, there was a rocky outcrop and more sand flats.
It was well past peak low tide and we had expected that the high tide would have started to come in by now. We'd been told about the quickness and strength of it, but we couldn't see any water and started to doubt it. How quickly could it come in? Well I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it. I started to see the shimmer of water getting closer, then in the space of about five minutes it had reached up to the sand flats we were looking at and fully submerged some rocks within another three! It was unbelievable to watch. I have never seen a tide rush in so quickly and completely cover the ground. We raced out to the front of the island so we could see both sides of the water rushing in. It was so incredible to watch the rock become an island again. On one side of the island we saw the flats get completely covered within a matter of minutes, it was just unbelievable. Nature is so amazing. The other side of the island took a little longer, and while we saw the majority of the sand go under water, we just missed out on seeing the whole thing become a true island. Unfortunately the last bus out and back to where we needed to go had arrived and it was sadly time to go.
It was such an incredible day, and as we drove away, staring out the back window of the bus, it all just looked like a post card. It's honestly mind blowing, it is definitely something you have to see in your life. It was beautiful and breathtaking, and such an amazing structure especially considering when it was built.
We arrived back into Pontorson and made the walk across town, making a detour to pick up something for dinner.
We had a lovely evening in our beautiful apartment, reflecting on such an incredible day, eating pizza and drinking a local French Rosé.
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