Où est le Mont-Saint-Michel?

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Où est le Mont-Saint-Michel? (Where is Mont-Saint-Michel?)

It’s an island off the coast of Normandy in France.  It’s served as a monastery since the 8th Century AD, and is still an active monastery today.  At the top of the mountain is the abbey; in the mid level are houses, and at the base level are shops and restaurants.

My husband and I stayed there two nights on our recent trip to France.

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Here’s the entrance to our hotel room.  The hotel’s reception office was at the base of the mountain; we had to lug our luggage up many flights of stairs to get to our room.

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Our room had a terrace!

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Here’s the view from our terrace, looking off to the left.

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The view to the right.  Many of the buildings date back to the 17th Century.

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A pedestrian bridge connects the island to the mainland, but the last stretch is purely sand.  When the tide runs very high, as during a full moon, you need a boat to get on or off the island.

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See what I mean?

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To climb up to the abbey, you start down at the lowest level, where the restaurants and shops are.

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Then you start to climb stairs.

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Some of the stairs are wide…

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…some are narrow….

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…and some are rather grand, although your thighs may not think so.

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And always, way overhead, looms the abbey.

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Final set of stairs?

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Yes!  We’ve reached the top!

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We pose for a picture…

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…then explore the inside of the abbey.

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It’s large and spacious…

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…and has some great artwork.

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The windows are austere – no gaudy stained glass.

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These gargoyles double as rain spouts.

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And here’s the guy who started it all:  Saint Michel.

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Nice view:  Night view.  Nighty-night!