Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [31]
WHERE TO EAT IN GRANVILLE
L’Echaugette.
¢ | FRENCH | There’s an excellent choice of grills and pancakes, both sweet and savory, at this quaint little creperie on a narrow street in the upper town. Pancakes au gratin and with scallops are specialties. | 24 rue St-Jean | 50400 | 02–33–50–51–87 | No credit cards.
MONT-ST-MICHEL
61 km (39 mi) southwest of St-Lô via D999 and N175; 123 km (77 mi) southwest of Caen; 67 km (42 mi) north of Rennes; 325 km (202 mi) west of Paris.
Getting Here and Around
There are two routes to Mont-St-Michel, depending on whether you arrive from Caen or from Paris. From Caen you can take either an early-morning or an afternoon train to Pontorson (2 hrs, €23.40), the nearest station; then it’s another 15 minutes to the foot of the abbey by bus or taxi. (Both leave from in front of the station.) From Paris, take the TGV from Gare Montparnasse to Rennes, then take a Courriers Bretons bus (02–99–19–70–80). The total journey takes 3 hours, 20 minutes (€40). There are three trains daily, but the only one that allows you a full day on the Mont leaves at 6:35 AM and arrives at 9:55 AM. The other options are 11:05 (arriving 3:13 PM) and 1:05 PM (arriving 5:04 PM).
Visitor Information
Mont-St-Michel Tourist Office.
| Corps de Garde | 50170 | 02–33–60–14–30 | www.ot-montsaintmichel.com.
EXPLORING MONT-ST-MICHEL
Mont-St-Michel is the most-visited sight in France after the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. This beached mass of granite, rising some 400 feet, was begun in 709 and is crowned with the “Marvel,” or great monastery, that was built during the 13th century.
Wrought by nature and centuries of tireless human toil, this sea-surrounded mass of granite adorned with the soul-lifting silhouette of the Abbaye du Mont-St-Michel is Normandy’s most enduring image. The abbey is perched on a 264-foot-high rock a few hundred yards off the coast: it’s surrounded by water during the year’s highest tides and by desolate sand flats the rest of the time. Be warned: tides in the bay are dangerously unpredictable. The sea can rise up to 45 feet at high tide and rushes in at incredible speed—more than a few ill-prepared tourists over the years have drowned. Also, be warned that there are patches of dangerous quicksand. A causeway—to be replaced in time by a bridge, allowing the bay waters to circulate freely—links Mont-St-Michel to the mainland. Leave your car in the parking lot (€4) along the causeway, outside the main gate. Just inside you can find the tourist office, to the left, and a pair of old cannons (with cannonballs) to the right. If you’re staying the night on Mont-St-Michel, take what you need in a small suitcase; you cannot gain access to your hotel by car and the parking lot is unguarded at night. The Mont’s tourist office is in the Corps de Garde des Bourgeois, just to the left of the island gates.
Legend has it that the Archangel Michael appeared in 709 to Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, inspiring him to build an oratory on what was then called Mont Tombe. The rock and its shrine were soon the goal of pilgrimages. The original church was completed in 1144, but further buildings were added in the 13th century to accommodate monks as well as the hordes of pilgrims who flocked here even during the Hundred Years’ War, when the region was in English hands. During the period when much of western France was subjected to English rule, the abbey remained a symbol, both physical and emotional, of French independence. Because of its legendary origins and the sheer exploit of its centuries-long construction, the abbey became known as the “Merveille de l’Occident” (Wonder of the Western World). The granite used to build it was transported from the nearby Isles of Chausey and hauled up to the site. The abbey’s construction took more than 500 years, from 1017 to 1521. The abbey’s monastic independence was undermined during the 17th century, when the monks began to flout the strict rules and discipline of their order, drifting into a state