El Mont St. Michel is an island located in a huge estuary of the River Couesnon in the Normandy region of France. This is one of the most visited places in this region and one of the most visited in all of France. This place is connected to the mainland by a walkway and when the tide rises it becomes an island again.
We are going to see what can be visited in this place, which receives its name due to the abbey of Saint Michel. If you go to the Normandy region, this is a must-see, and without a doubt one of the most famous sites in France.
What you should know about Mont Saint Michel
This mount is located in the Normandy region, about ten kilometers from Brittany and is a must see. It can be seen in a single day, in a few hours, although the tidal phenomenon is worth waiting for. This place had its origin when a church was created in honor of San Miguel on Mount Tombe in the year 708. With the passage of time it became an abbey protected by walls as a fortress, in a place that was protected thanks to to its excellent location. The medieval charm is still preserved and in 1979 it was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Until the XNUMXth century it was an island, but today it is connected to the mainland by a wide walkway that allows vehicles to pass through. To get to the mountain, you can leave your car in a parking lot and walk along the footbridge or take a shuttle bus.
Barracks
Before venturing to Mont Saint Michel, you usually see the area that is touristy and is full of infrastructures to house and offer all the visitor amenities. In this area is where we will find a parking lot to leave our vehicle. There is also accommodation here, with hotels and a campsite. In this place there are also shopping centers, restaurants and places where you can take the shuttle bus or horse-drawn carriages to travel the more than two kilometers there is to Mont Saint Michel.
Stroll through the streets
Once you get to the gateway to the walled area of Saint Michel, what you can do is walk slowly through the medieval style streets, since they are really beautiful and have incredible corners that will make for many unforgettable photographs. You can walk along the wall to skirt the mountain or go down the main street to the abbey. On the tour you can stop at a cafe, buy some typical souvenirs and enjoy the medieval atmosphere. They are covered in a short time, so we can then go up to the abbey, taking our time.
Saint Michel Abbey
To enter the abbey you have to have a ticket, and you have to be far-sighted, so you should buy it in advance. It's a place very visited daily, especially during holidays, so that if we do not have the entrance in advance we may not enter. It is better to go first thing in the morning, so you have to take into account the schedules, which usually change in summer. So we can visit it without stress.
This abbey began to be built in the XNUMXth century And it is without a doubt the jewel in the crown in this place. In it there are different styles, such as Romanesque, Gothic and Carolingian. It has many places of interest and you can take guided tours. You must see the beautiful ceiling of the main nave, the crypts in the lower part, the Notre Dame Sous Terre chapel, the classical façade or the beautiful open-air cloister.
The tides in Saint Michel
Almost no one leaves this place without being able to see the tidal phenomenon and how this place becomes an island again. There are times when the tide does not cover the lower part, so it is not worth staying. You have to see what the tides are like and the hours when there is high tide in order to know when we can take the best photos of Mont Saint Michel. It is important to know that it is dangerous to walk on the nearby sandbanks, although it is somewhat tempting, because sometimes the tides rise quickly depending on the time of year. It must be said that if the works of the dike had not been carried out, this place would have become over time a mountain surrounded by meadows.
If the coefficient is greater than 110 then we make sure that the tide will cover the dike and we will see this place turned into an island again. There are many points from which to view this phenomenon of the tides, such as Grouin do Sul, Roche Torin in Courtils or in Vains-Saint-Leonard.