“Le Mont Saint-Michel”
Mont Saint-Michel. France. May 2019. (11 photos)
This is Part 5 of my France 2019 photo series, and also Part 12 of my Europe 2019 photo series.
Recently I spent a month visiting France and Portugal, with a short visit to Singapore for good measure.
I’ve previously posted about le Mont Saint-Michel, the UNESCO World Heritage island abbey off the coast of Normandy. As a follow up to that previous post, here are a few more photos, including some taken in and from the abbey.
One of the benefits to staying overnight at Mont Saint-Michel is being able to take photographs of, around and on the island before/after the crowds have arrived and during the best light. I took the photo above at 6:30am.
“Aglow”
This one was taken at 8:40pm.
“The view to Normandy”
There are a couple of routes to the top to visit the abbey.
“The Cloisters”
Mont Saint-Michel gets more than 3 million visitors a year. I deliberately didn’t visit the main abbey until about 40 minutes before closing time. By then the abbey was close to empty, just a handful of visitors here and there.
“He’s an angel, not a saint”
That’s the tagline from the 1996 movie, Michael, which featured John Travolta as the archangel.
According to legend, the archangel St Michael appeared twice to Aubert, the Bishop of Avranches and commanded him to build a sanctuary on the island of Mont Tombe in his name. Aubert thought it was a dream and ignored it both times. The archangel then visited Aubert a third time to reiterate his command and this time, struck Aubert on the head, burning a hole in his skull. The relic of Aubert’s skull, complete with a hole in it, is on display at the Saint-Gervais Basilica in Avranches.
“Salle des Chevaliers”
The Knight’s Hall.
“Finding the light”
“Walking the mudflats”
I joined a 3 hour tour across the mudflats of the bay around Mont Saint-Michel. At low tide it is possible to walk almost completely around the island. We walked across dried mud, through calf-deep rivers and across wet mud. I almost slipped over a couple of times but didn’t. It’s not recommended to make the walk on your own, though.
“Quicksand”
We walked into a large patch of quicksand. The more you move, the more you sink in. We also learned how to escape quicksand. Essential survival skill #946 learnt.
As the tour ended we could see the tide rushing in. At Mont Saint-Michel the difference between high tide and low tide can be up to 15 metres. I watched a kayaker ride the tide in. You wouldn’t want to be caught in the bay at low tide when the tide comes in so forcefully as it does. Another reason you need a guide.
“Saint Michael”
He’s everywhere in the details.
“Sunset”
Here’s a gratuitous additional photo of Mont Saint-Michel to end this post. I’ve got hundreds more; quite literally. Please see my previous post le Mont Saint-Michel if you want to see some of my other landscape photos of the island site.
…
In May and June 2019, I visited France, Portugal and Singapore.
This is Part 12 of this photographic series and Part 5 of the posts about France
Etcetera Etcetera Etcetera 
Mont St. Michel is such a fascinating and mystical place! Thank you for taking me there with your wonderful pictures.
My pleasure. I’ve wanted to go for so long. It’s a beautiful place.
3 milion, my god.
Quicksand? You don’t say. I just wrote about it. There’s sth fascinating about it.
Despite the 3 million, I could not recommend more highly a place to visit.
I survived, and I didn’t need a rope or help. I feel like I’m ready to conquer the next challenge.
Love the photos and love Mont St Michel. I never tire of it! Thanks for the share.
Thank you so much. It’s beautiful any way you look at it. Very magical.
A hole in the skull is a hard way to learn a lesson, Draco, but you don’t need anyone to teach you to take photos. These are glorious! Can I pinch this for my walks next week? You wouldn’t mind? 🤗💕
A hard way to learn a lesson, but the lesson was learnt and we’re eternally grateful.
Thank you very much, Jo. It is such a beautiful place – I’d gladly go back just to take more photos. You’re very welcome to make use of this post, as befits your needs.
The early morning and evening shots are wonderful. 🥰 You don’t very often ‘walk’ as such, but I couldn’t resist the romp across the sands 🏖️💕
Thanks, Jo. You’re right, my posts are mostly around a theme/location rather than a specific walk. We each have our own styles.
We do! That’s why my legs are getting shorter 🙂 🙂
LOL 🙂
Your photos are amazing, especially because they were enhanced by your commentary that provided a lot of fascinating information and “color.” It kind of makes me feel like I was there along with you. From a perspective of personality as well as photography, I too like to avoid overly crowded place and seek out times when I know there will be fewer people around.
Thank you very much. I was aware that Mont Saint-Michel gets very crowded so I planned ahead to optimise my experience by avoiding the crowds when possible, and mostly that worked out well. At sunrise and late sunset, there were very people out and about. If you get there, I strongly recommend staying overnight on the island for the best experience.
Thanks for the advice. I love France, but have spent most of my time there in Paris and the surrounding area, though I did spend some time in the Loire River valley around Tours almost forty-five years ago.
Same here, on my trips there I spend most time in Paris (time never wasted) and fit in an overnight excursion out of town and a day trip or two. I would like to see more of the smaller towns and rural parts as well.
MSM is among those places which look good under almost any light. But you had some wonderful light; especially inside. Great shots as usual.
Thank you. Indeed it does, and in almost any weather condition I suspect. Thanks to the late sunsets, I had light streaming in through the western windows at the abbey. Very ambient and beautiful.
You obviously do not want to ignore those angels! Punching a hole in someone’s head is not what I consider to be angelic behaviour! You have some lovely shots here of the castle and a reminder that I should visit our ‘Mont St Michel’ early in the morning. I will not be walking around it though…
Thanks so much, Jude. Never mess with an archangel.
Beautiful. I had read the original post also. Splendid.
Thank you very much.
Enjoyed each image, and easily began to ponder island life.
Thank you, Sally. Mont Saint Michel should definitely be on the to do list.
“Finding the light” is a stunning study of light and texture. I’d love to share this photo on my blog sometime with credit/link back.. is that ok with you LD? And.. is it part of The Knight’s Hall?
Thank you very much. Putting this post together, that was one of 2 photos that HAD to be included. The other was my quicksand photo. Yes, it was taken inside the Knight’s Hall. It was completely silent in there after a small group left, with a wonderful ambience.
Thanks for asking. Of course you may.
Cheers LD. I can imagine the complete silence.. I can feel it in the photo. Very profound and good on you for seeing the opportunity and making the most of it!
Thanks. I made it a point to see the abbey very late in the day for the ambience. From about 10 to 4 the narrow streets on the island and halls such as these in the abbey would be shoulder to shoulder with people.
Beautiful photos always, Lignum, but I especially enjoyed these as I don’t think I’ve every seen photos of inside Mont Saint Michel. It’s beautiful enough from the outside, but the inside is quite something as well.
janet
Thanks, Janet. Best to visit the abbey after most other people have left, when it is so quiet and when the nuns start to come out to pray. Out of respect I deliberately haven’t shown any photos of the nuns praying. The warm afternoon light was just beautiful streaming in through the windows.
Thank you for this very entertaining virtual trip. And I cannot help but giggle at the idea of John Travolta as the Archangel Michael.
You’re welcome. And he does dance in the movie. One of the best scenes in the movie! 🙂
Amazing!
Thanks.
Magnificent! The sunset shot is a masterpiece 🙂
Thank you very much. The hard part was deciding where to be as the sun set.
Bless you for sharing and supporting my sweet little blog. Thanks so much!
You’re welcome. Thanks for the visit.
I’m not sure I’ve seen pictures of the inside of the abbey before – quite interesting. And the sunrise shot is beautiful.
Thank you. There’s a lot to see on the island and in the abbey, but photographing the island abbey itself is definitely the main attraction.
Stunning photography and great summary.
Thank you. Tempted to just let the photos do the talking but a bit of background information never goes astray.
That last photo is magnificent but quicksand????? Yikes!
Thanks. I think I could teach Indiana Jones a thing or two about escaping quicksand. 🙂
Wonderful photos Mr Draco … I can understand why it is so popular. Your image ‘find the light’ is magical .. I don’t think I would have put my hand up for the mud walk though .. 🙂
Thank you very much, Julie. Come on, you’d love walking through that thick damp mud. The feel of it oozing between your toes with every step and getting under your toe nails. I think it took me a few days to get the last bits off me. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Nope I would not love that sticky, damp and muddy walk! All yours 😃
LOL 🙂
Oh, these are so beautiful, tranquil and serene (maybe not the quicksand…) – When I was young I so wanted to go to this place, but 1976 we traveled the whole eastern part of France in 33 days. Instead. The west will have to wait for a while, we said. And now 43 years have passed…without us going. I am so grateful for your magnificent tour and fantastic photos, Draco. Clever to stay overnight to get the most silent hours. I have to read your post again – now, and show my husband.
There’s a lot to see in France. A month in eastern France sounds so wonderful and I would gladly love to do that. A shame you haven’t been to MSM earlier though, for the reason that tourist numbers are increasing.
I know – I should have been. Now I believe it will never be. I will keep enjoying your images though.
Thank you.
I never did make it here during my time in France. If I had known you could learn how to escape quicksand I would have made it priority numéro un! 😁
Sometimes you don’t realise you need a particular lifeskill until it’s too late. 🙂
That last photograph is spectacular, although I do love the very first one too. It is clearly a place where one should linger and which should be photographed at different hours of the day.
Indeed, Mont Saint-Michel for many people is a day trip, but that is a disservice as you will miss out on its beauty at sunrise and sunset if you are limited to daylight hours.
Definitely a place I would love to visit one day. Thank you for wetting my appetite.
I hope you get the opportunity to go some day.
Wow nice 😀 I really want to be in this place someday. It has been one of my dream to visit here. Love this so much
Thanks. It’s a beautiful and special place.
Lovely shots of Mont Saint-Michel around sunrise and other times of the day. So did you find escaping quicksand easy? I heard the more you struggle, the faster you will fall in.
Thank you very much. You heard right. Best not to struggle. Getting out was easy but none of the group got too deeply stuck. That would have been interesting if the Guide sank to chest level. 🙂 🙂 🙂