Book tickets at the best rates!

Mont Saint-Michel
Mont Saint-Michel and surrounding
Castles, Fortresses, Towers,  Temples, Churches,  Islands
Castles, Fortresses, Towers, 
Temples, Churches, 
Islands
...

What would you think if an angel came to you in a dream, showed you an impregnable rock, and told you to build a church on it? Bishop Aubert thought it was just a dream. The Archangel Michael came to him two more times and, enraged, pierced the bishop's cloak with a flaming sword. It was only when the bishop had woken up in the morning and noticed the scorched edges of the hole that he understood the sign of God and began to build.

Mont Saint-Michel was not always an island. The tidal waters gradually eroded the narrow isthmus, forever separating the 92-meters-high rock with an area of a little less than a kilometer. Now, the island is located 2 kilometers away from the mainland. The only way to get there is by a new elegant bridge. Mont Saint-Michel is a commune, an abbey, and a fortress. But first of all, it is a miracle, a dream come true, and a mirage that slowly appears on the horizon as you approach it. It is the second most visited place in France (after Paris), attracting up to 3.5 million tourists annually.

The main short street with half-timbered buildings, which are at least 500 years old, gradually ascends from the very foot to the abbey, where it finally breaks into dozens of narrow alleys and stairs. Therefore, Mont Saint-Michel can be quite secluded regardless of crowds.

At the top of the island, there is the "wonder," the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, built for more than 500 years by dozens of generations. It is a special architectural world that unites different styles and destinies. The abbey had ups and downs: for 200 years, it housed a prison and a factory for the straw hats production. Today, the "wonder" is once again inhabited by Benedictine monks. So all interested can attend services or walk through the cloister. It's amazing how the one-kilometer area of an island can house so many attractions and infrastructure facilities. There are several hotels and restaurants, museums of the sea and the history of the construction of Mont Saint-Michel, the Tiffany House displaying rugs, tapestries, and paintings of the 14th century, the Church of St. Peter (in honor of the patron saint of fishermen), the chapel of St. Albert, watchtowers, and formidable bastions.

Address: Bp 22 Au sommet du village

Published by

Praskovia Ko

All content and media files are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Rating based on 0 reviews
Favoured:
0
Already
6 images
of the Mont Saint-Michel
on 7toucans
See on the map

Travel stories about France!

Show all stories

By Kat

08 August 2018

Situated at the border between Italy and France, the majestic Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Western Europe and the tallest in the Alps with a height of 4,810 meters. Technically, the height of the mountain varies by year depending on the depth of snow at its summit. It is a popular...

Book and buy tickets at the best rates!

Best hotels in Mont Saint-Michel!

We use cookies to improve our website and your experience when using it. Cookies used for the essential operation of this site have already been set.To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them, see our privacy policy including cookie use

 I accept cookies from this site.