World Landmarks Event - #12 - Mont Saint-Michel , France

Main thread for the event, schedule and access to giveaway, click here !

Welcome to the Mont-Saint-Michel !

Where is it ?
It's located in northern-western France, in a region called Normandie and famous, among other things, for their apple liquor (Calva) and for huge battles at the end of WW2 (which also lead to a ship name in Mass Effect, but that's something else !). It's a small rocky island, so close to the coast that you can go there by bridge most of the time (you already guessed from that sentence that this bridge can, sometimes, be flooded by great tides, right ? I'll tell you more on this later).
Unlike most "monts", it is not a very tall place compared to average mountains. It got this designation relatively to the see level: less than a hundred meters (around three hundred feets), without taking into account the top abbey and statue.

What does it look like ?
Look at the attached pictures. On large scale, it's a small island with fortified walls. When visiting it, it's a medieval-looking village with curvy little roads to reach the top. The last official numbers say that there are only fourty-two permanent city residents.

Is it something very old, or with any historic value ?
Quite, yes :) It has been inhabited since a very long time. After the fall of the roman empire, it was a place where gallo-roman culture could continue to exist, as some kind of bridge between UK and France. Then the Franks (my ancestors, as I've been told at school !) took the place. Something is supposed to have happened in year 708: archangel Michael (Michel in French) appeared to a local bishop and asked him to build a church there. Before that, the island was called Mont Tombe (means mound / grave in French), after that the first oratory was built, dedicating the island to St-Michel. A few centuries later (starting around year 1K, the last one without bugs) an abbey was founded, which was the beginning of a new building era.
A little bit more than a century ago, the old pathway (which can get submerged) has been raised so it can be used everytime (except during great tides), and since then the local area has been worked with, so the Mont-St-Michel is less an island, more close to the coast. But since a few years things have changed again: car park and submergeable pathway have been replaced by a long bridge (that great tides can still submerge very rarely).
There have been many problems with people trying to get there walking, thinking it was low tide while it was actually raising. It is commonly said here that tides can go to the speed of a running horse, but it's a total legend, real speed is up to about six kilometers per hour (three dot seven miles). Which can be enough for trouble if you are slow, tired, and / or far from the coast !

What to do there ?
There are many restaurants and souvenir shops, since tourism is the main activity there. But don't imagine smiling locals running their little family business, for what I've read the former mayor is owning a great part of all shops through the main one: La Mère Poulard (which means Mrs Poulard, in an old / familiar way). You may have heard of this one because they are trying to distribute their famous local biscuits worldwide. While the factory is not located in the village, there is an hotel - restaurant. The place is really beautiful, but also way too expensive for the quality of products you can eat. For example, I ate there once and took their famous omelette (scrambled eggs, but scrambled strongly and for some time, so it has a very light, airy texture). It was good, but not so different than the omelette I make at home with cheap eggs. And I had to pay thirty euros for it :(

What to visit there ?
Now we're coming to the most interesting part. The religious places, open to the public, really deserve the visit (and I'm an atheist !). From the old "Our Mother Underground", which contains the remains of the old oratory under the most recent constructions, to the great abbey-church and the "Merveille" (french word for wonder, it's the place where monks live), there are very nice things to see if you like nice architecture.
There are also four museums there. One is dedicated to history of the Mont, another one is dedicated to sea and ecology (the Mont in his maritime surroundings). The third is called Archeoscope and I have no idea what it is like (it is supposed to be dedicated to how things were built there, and to religious meaning, for what I've understood). The last one, but not least regarding history, is called the House of Tiphaine. It shows tapestries, furnitures and paintings from fourteenth century. For the record, the house was built for her by her husband, a famous aristocrat and military leader (being the former was a sine qua non requirement to be the latter at this time !)

When to visit it ?
I've been there once, during late autumn or winter, when weather is cold and night comes early. Only a very few people where walking in the streets, it was peaceful, beautiful, and the feeling of being alone made it magical. Alternatively, I know it is overcrowded in summer and I wouldn't go there at this time for my part.

Now you can try to solve this quiz !

All answers you need can be found in this post and / or in Wikipedia there and there. It's not meant to be hard to solve, at all, as long as you take the small amount of time required to read a little bit, and to discover this beautiful place.

Enjoy a few pictures from the place

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