Le Mont Saint Michel, France - an absolute wonder of a place to visit

Todays adventure in France was to visit the stunning island of Le Mont Saint Michel (Saint Michael's Mount in English).

Its a true wonder. Its a small tidal island, with a medieval town around the base and an incredible Abbey at the top. You park on the main land and walk over to it via a bridge, although it used to be a tidal causeway, which would have been cut off when the tide came in. I love the pic above - I took it when we were leaving. The couple (with the lady in pink) were taking a pic with the island in the background, and her dress was quite stunning. The group of ladies to the right were complimenting her on it - it was quite nice indeed !

I have visited before, around 15-20 years ago, and back then you could park a lot closer (on the causeway). But these days you have to park further away and either walk, or catch a free shuttle bus. We walked, as did thousands of other people. Its a lovely walk and the views of the island are quite spectacular the whole way over.

As you get closer, the detail unfolds, and you can see just how many people are also making the trip ! It was absolutely mobbed !

Many people also come here as part of a Christian pilgrimage. Its customary for them to walk across the mud flats to the island. In the pic above, to the right, you can see that they have a special vehicle that can get across the mud flats to rescue people. They were taking someone out when I took the pic above - she was fine - but must have had to have been rescued !

When you enter the gates, it really feels like you have been transported back in time to the medieval ages. Everything is hundreds of years old and there are no cars. OK, the have ice cream machines and the like, but otherwise it feels oldy-worldy !

Being August, it was absolutely mobbed. We tried walking up the mainstreet but it was slow going.

We were heading for the Abbey at the top, and spotted a set of empty steps up the side, so decided to take the steeper route to the top !

As you begin to climb up the island, you get some great views across the maze of buildings and rooftops - it really is quite spectacular.

We passed this stunning church yard on the way up - nestled in amongst the walls, steps and other buildings - rather beautiful.

The abbey at the top really is the place to visit, and everyone goes there. The queues were quite long, but it really was worth it, and its massive inside. I'll cover it in another post.

The views from up the top are quite amazing. The view above looks back along the entrance bridge and road, and you can see all of the people making their way in and out, with the mud flats on either side.

The view above looks out to sea (the Atlantic). Normandy lies to the east and Brittany lies to the West. And you can see for miles from up at the top.

The Abbey is huge, and the views of it are quite amazing from all around the island. The abbey dates from the 10th century, but was constructed and modified over many years. Its age and construction are impressive !

As you exit the abbey, the route takes you back down along the town walls. Its quite fortified, with defences all around to protect it from attacks from both the land and the sea.

Above you can see the top of one of the defensive towers, that nowadays is a photo opportunity for the waves of tourists.

When we got there, the tide was still going out, and by the time we had done the tour, it had gone out quite a bit and lots of people were out on the mud flats sending us messages ! I think its possible to walk right around the island on a very low tide, although we didnt have time to venture out there today - plus my daughter told me that her shoes were too good to ruin in the mud !

I have to say that we absolutely loved visiting it today. We spent the majority of the day there and got back to our holiday cottage quite exhausted.

It truly is an amazing place and certainly ranks in the top 10 of places I've ever visited. And I'm lucky to have been more than once.

What an absolutely stunning place !