Room at the Top

Housing on Rick Steves' Tours is said to be "... charming, centrally located, family run hotels that promise to be a memorable part of your travel experience … often quaint (sometimes creaky), and full of personality".  At each stop on a tour there are a few rooms with a gorgeous view and a few rooms with a view of the broom closet.  Therefore, when the tour guide assigns rooms at each stop he/she tries to keep the views  and "quaintness" as fair as possible over the course of the trip.  Ideally, everyone gets his/her share of good rooms.  We truly had the "room at the top" at Mont St. Michel.

mont st michels at night

Mont Saint Michel

Now linked to the mainland by a causeway, Mont Saint Michel is located at the mouth of the Couesnon River, the border between Normandy and Brittany.  Extremely strong tides sweep into the surrounding flats and create treacherous walking conditions; historically, an effective line of defense for the inhabitants. A small abbey in 966, it grew to a huge 16th century Benedictine monastery. Used as a prison after the French revolution, it now is a popular tourist stop.   True to the Rick Steves' avoid-the-crowds strategy, we arrived late in the day as most of the tourists were leaving. The plan was to spend the night, rise early and see the abbey and surrounding sights and then leave by mid-morning before all of the crowds returned. The on-site housing provided to our group included 4 rooms high up in the maze of walkways, chapels, and stores around the abbey complex (outstanding views). This was not only the location of our room but the location for the evening social. The hard part was getting the wine up all those stairs; the good news was we didn't have to carry very much wine back down again. Following the social hour an evening stroll was a must. One of the most spectacular views was from the causeway looking back at the illuminated buildings.
 Patryk

Patryk View

The view from our room provided a vast view in all directions revealing hikers tramping about in the mud flats - a very dangerous but popular practice.  Even here Patrick (spelled Patryk?!) has admirers (see photo of the tidal flats).

Fountain

Apparently, there have been problems with hikers returning from their walk and then cleaning their feet in the village fountain.  Note the sign discouraging this practice.

Abbey

Abby

The abbey seems to be sitting on top of the world.  It is easy to understand why this site was chosen by the Benedictine monks for safety and isolation.  A statue of Saint Michel can barely be seen sitting on top of the spire. The only war-like angel, St. Michel was the patron saint of knights and war-material making industry of the time.  This war-like angel was effectively used by the early Roman church, against English, Protestants, Cathars, and all others associated with the Reformation.

lightAbby

Abby
Bus lot

Time to hit the road

Peering down through the access window for the original construction lift, we could see the parking lot which was already filling up by midmorning.  At this point the walkways were beginning to get crowded.  Fortunately, we had already checked out of our rooms and carried our luggage to the bus.  All we had to do was climb down a few hundred steps, get out the gate, and get on the bus.  By the time we left, the car parking lot (not shown here) was almost at capacity.  

Visualize this main avenue absolutely full of people.  Fortunately, we missed that part.

streets1streets2

streets3

english walk

View from the top

group

 
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