Mont Saint-Michel
The bay
The mont is a rock in a bay, this bay is most of the time sandy, and only fills with water during high tides.
The town of Avranches stands up on the shore, giving a broad view of the bay, where two rivers wind towards the sea. The mont Saint-Michel stands out on the shiny humid sand. There is another rock, unbuilt, called Tombelaine, in the bay.
If you want to visit the mont Saint-Michel, I’d advise you to discover it at night, and to come back the next day to visit it with a guide. You can also take advantage of spring tides to see it surrounded by water.
Walking towards the mont
10 years after the first night photos below, I crossed the bay on foot to get to the mont, a very interesting way of discovering this place. Because of the dangers of the bay, you must get a guide to cross the bay. The walk starts in Genêts, about 7 km away from the mont.
Walking on the wet sand is treacherous, and walking on drum-sand while crossing rivers is quite scary. You walk on a layer of sand with water below and over it, and it resonates like the skin of a drum under your feet.
Another interest of this walk is that you discover the mont from a different angle than the usual postcard view, walking around it to get a view of the chevet of the abbey and under its walls.
Night visit
At night, during the summer, the mont is lit and the abbey bathed in music. You’ll feel its magic and be puzzled.
You’ll wander under the eyes of the golden archangel frozen while knocking down the dragon on the top of the spire of the abbey.
And you’ll feel lost in the maze of corridors created by the extensions of the abbey.
You’ll stop in quiet places, wondering when they were built and to which purpose…
In a dark atmosphere, the light underlines architectural elements. Some parts of the abbey are empty, others are like settings.
The place tells about its past as an abbey… and a prison.
Fires burn in the chimneys, and you people big empty halls without monks… or prisoners.
The day after, you’ll get explanations… When and who… And you’ll know how some weird machines were used.
You’ll certainly stop in the cloister, an open place almost on top of the mont, to feel and hear the sea underneath.
Around Christmas, the outside walls of the abbey are also lit-up.