We left at 8:30h this morning and went en route for Mont Saint Michel. To be honest, I had never heard of the place before Christophe told me about it. He’s the one that researches the region where we are and has a list of things to do and places to visit. I just tag along. Very relaxed 🙂

It was nearing 10:30h when we arrived there. We parked the car in Beauvoir, 2 km from Mont Saint Michel, and cycled to our destination. Yes, Christophe had even brought the bicycles. Hurray for Christophe and our Vivaro-bus!

Fortunately, we didn’t have far to go, and it was all on level ground. For I wouldn’t have liked a repetition of our earlier bicycle tour. We left the bicycles at a bike-parking and did the last 2,5 km on foot. With many short stops to take pictures, because the view was breathtaking and the light perfect.

Mont Saint Michel

We entered the village proper and slowly mounted the rock. There’s an abbay at the top and we paid € 10 p.p. to enter it. Which was well worth it. You have to be in at least moderate physical condition, because there are quite a lot of stairs to mount. But everything we saw, inside and out made us stop in awe.

For how on earth did they succeed in constructing such an enormous building on a rock in the ocean? The first buildings were realised approximately 1000 years ago. All building materials had to be transported to the rock over the water. That’s no small feat.

We were surprised to find a mass in progress in the abbey. There were 6 monks and 5 nuns. When we entered, they were singing, with one of the nuns in charge. Beautiful! And contrary to custom, they were all dressed in a creamy white in stead of black. Amazing to think that those people live on the rock and probably don’t get off very often, if at all.

Upon our arrival, the tide was out, but by the time we left, it was almost high tide. Not as spectacular as it can be, for there was a difference between low and high of only 55 cm. When it’s 100 or more, all the surrounding sand floods, and when it’s more than 120 cm, even the road floods and the rock becomes isolated from the main land.

Saint Malo

At 15:20h, we were back at the car. After securing the bikes, we took to the road again and made our way to Saint Malo. We took the route that follows the coast and very much enjoyed the beauty of the land, the lovely houses, the variety in architecture, the views, and everything else.

In Saint Malo, we drove on to the city centre, which is a very well preserved walled city. We found a parking spot not far from the entrance and mounted the rampards to enjoy the magnificent view of the ocean. And a bit of the city too, of course.

There are a couple of big rocks just out of the coast of Saint Malo and many of them have buildings on them. The nearest one can be reached on foot when the tide is low. It’s a walled structure with what seems to be a house and even a garden. I wonder if anybody is living there…?

Far out at sea, there’s a light house. From the distance, it seems to rise up out of the sea, but I guess it was constructed on a big rock. I wonder how old it is, and how it was constructed…

Wanted: house sit in/near Saint Malo

We visited Saint Malo for just one hour, but agree that we could spend more time around there, so if we can arrange for a house sit in or near Saint Malo in the future, that would be lovely. It would have to be in July or August though, because we require warm weather. Today wasn’t really warm, because there was a fierce wind blowing in from the ocean. Still, it was dry and sunny, and whenever we could find a place that was protected from the wind, it immediately got warm.

It was another lovely day with lots of beautiful things to see. Today, we played tourist, tomorrow we’ll be good civilians again and work hard.