Paris1972-Versailles2003

After my sons’ school trips, I took the whole family there to see it and indeed it was nice. And as the saying goes ,this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship ! We came back several times and love it ,even if getting overcrowded with tourists ,coming here is a must, I ,again, found me older pictures from my cd roms and would have to include them in my blog for you and me, Therefore, let me to tell you a bit more on the inner wonders of the Mont Saint Michel !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

The Grande-Rue, a narrow street that takes on the assault on Mont-Saint-Michel, is lined with 15C and 16C mansions. with evocative names from medieval times. Mythical addresses such as the La Mère Poulard whose omelette makes the world run, and numerous souvenir stalls dot this street, invaded by a dense and multilingual crowd which, for some, evokes the assemblies of pilgrims of long ago. The Grande Rue  is an unique street of Mont Saint Michel, it turns around the rock to lead the visitor to the foot of the large outdoor step. In summer, the ascent of the street is made, between the shops of souvenir merchants, in the middle of a compact and cosmopolitan crowd. Under these conditions, it becomes very difficult to appreciate the constructions bordering this street and it is better to leave it without regret. So, taking the alleys and other passages deserted by tourists eager for trinkets makes it possible to plunge back into an era when the beauty of things makes us forget the vicissitudes of current life.

Once inside there is a laberinth of narrow street,like the Grande rue,  rue Principal, and blvd de l’Avancée ,step stairs, and hilly terrain which you must be in shape to do. It is semicircular and if you go to the ramparts you have great views over the sea. The Grande rue street goes in layers upwards to the next loop of streets or the chemin du ronde abbatial and another layer known as the Grand Degré de l’Abbaye to the abbaye or abbey church. On the side to the left there is a gorgeous terrace or Grande Terrasse de l’Ouest with great views to the stream of Le Quesnon the great debate between  Normandy and Brittany for ownership settle by the French revolution and France on the side of Normandy. Upon entering to your left go to the échauguette de la pillette or pillbox watchtower up Montée aux Poulains street near the tour Gabriel for great views of the sea.

The Church Notre-Dame-sous-Terre Choir rests on a low church, called the Crypt of the Gros-Piliers, made necessary by the difference in level between the high church and the external soil. It was originally a question of the Romanesque absidal crypt, for which a new much more massive crypt has been substituted, in the flamboyant Gothic style, never devoted to worship and made from 1446 to 1450, after the collapse of the Roman choir, in 1421, This room has ten cylindrical pillars, including eight huge, of a 5 meters circumference, without capitals, with octagonic or dodecagon bases and arranged in a half-black virgin, made in the 19C, responds to a Sacral recharging logic by reproducing at Mont a cult practice attached to the Cathedral of Chartres. This is an integral part of the abbey.

The réfectoire des moines or monks’ refectory occupies the third and last level of this eastern part of the wonder. The room is delimited in a single volume by two parallel walls, the longitudinal axis vaulted as a cradle, although nothing underlines, led the gaze to the place of the abbot. In perspective, the windows overlap but as the observer progresses in the room, they open one after the other, then, behind they close, forming a sort of blind that diffuses in the set of the room an indirect, soft and homogeneous light, Sublime !!!

The official Mont Saint Michel tourist office on the things to see:  https://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/en/discover/visit-the-mont-saint-michel/visit-the-mont-saint-michel/

The town of Mont Saint Michel on its history :  https://mairie-lemontsaintmichel.fr/la-commune/histoire

The Manche dept 50 tourist office on the Mont Saint Michel : https://www.manche-tourism.com/travel-to-la-manche/mont-saint-michel/

The Normandie region tourist office on Mont Saint Michel : https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/unmissable-sites/the-mont-saint-michel/

There you folks again a must to visit in France I said, and repeat. One of the wonders of our world and even if overly run by tourists today, it is for a good reason after all is famous and all should come here. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the inner wonders of the Mont Saint Michel !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels good health, and many cheers to all !!!