The Island of Stairs

 

We're back in France, in Normandie. After we had visited Honfleur, we had a bit of a longer drive until we reached that day's destination: Mont Saint-Michel. I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of it or seen pictures of it. It's one of the most visited cultural sites in France and since 1979 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

It was the spring of 1976 that I first visited it. At that time, Mont Saint-Michel was only accessible during low tide. There was a causeway leading to the island, and if you forgot about the time, you could be stuck on the island if the water had covered the causeway. Because of environmental reasons the causeway now has been removed and replaced by a long bridge that you can either cross by shuttle or on foot.

A huge parking lot has been built about 2.5 km (1.5 mi) away from the island. From here you have a first view of the Mont.

There were a lot of people waiting for the shuttle, therefore we opted to walk the 2.5 km. I'm glad that we did. It takes about 35-40 minutes to walk from the parking lot and it's nice to see the Mont getting closer and closer.

The big walls below...

... and the abbey on top.

We were greeted by a very vocal gull.

Let's go in, shall we?

After getting through the first two gates, you find yourself in the narrow alley, and you're certainly not alone.

We climbed up to the wall and got a first impression of the Mont. Little towers with intersting roofs, beautiful windows...

... and a foretaste of what was to come - stairs. Lots of them.

It's also an island of old doors, and since I love doors I took way too many pictures of them.

So let's climb those stairs, but take it slow.

No matter how many stairs you climb, the abbey is always looming over you. Does it every get closer?

The gulls have it a lot easier to get up.

But at least there are always little nooks to discover. It certainly isn't boring here, and since you have to stop and catch your breath, you have ample time to take in the sights.

More stairs, up to the abbey now - or so we thought. The is the Grand Degré staircase with the church on the right and the abbey's living quarters on the left.

Still not there! But close.

Finally we found ourselves at the West Terrace in front of the entrance to the abbey. I stopped to look around and really enjoyed what the shadow of the abbey looked like on the flats.

Then we entered the abbey church. Work on the church began in 1023, built on the rock (that is the Mont) and rests partially on four crypts built into the slope. There was a mass going on when we stepped in, and the beautiful singing gave the room a very special atmosphere.

I liked the "plainness" of the church.

The part I usually like best about abbeys is the cloister. This one was no exception. Yes, that is Kaefer on the other side.

From the cloister you get into the refectory where the Benedictine monks ate their meals in silence while one of them read from the pulpit. Here I especially like the beautiful windows. Aren't they gorgeous?

And we're still not done with the stairs!

Now we're in the Salle des Hôtes which was used for hosting kings and noblemen. The shadows that the windows created fascinated me (the left one is in the Salle des Hôtes, the right one in the abbey church).

Another part of churches I like is the crypt. As mentioned above, Mont Saint-Michel Abbey has four crypts and I certainly loved the Crypte des gros piliers (Crypt of the Great pillars) including the creative way of getting light and air inside.

These windows are not particularly spectacular, but I loved the old vaults.

More stairs...

The Scriptorium was probably my favorite room (this is not the entire room).

And still more stairs... I think I reached my annual stair-climbing quota.

Then it was time to leave. This time we took the shuttle because we were all a bit exhausted. Au revoir, le mont!

We stayed the night in nearby Pontorson where we had found an entire vacation home. In the evening we went to the small Crêperie du Couesnon - it only has about six tables. Thankfully we were early, because not even 30 minutes after we had arrived, the sign "complet" (full) was put in the door. The food was wonderful - crêpes are the sweet ones and galletes are the savory one, usually made with buckwheat. I first had a galette with ham, mushrooms, egg and cheese followed by a crêpe flambée. Both were so delicious - the Geek and Kaefer were very happy with their choices as well. You can also see our glasses of water in the picture, they are my ticket to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

Hopefully after reading this long post you are not quite as exhausted as I was after climbing all those stairs!