I finally made it to Mont-Saint-Michel.
Fantastic.
It’s a little known treasure visited by a scant 3 million tourists a year.
Still, I didn’t find it all that crowded. It’s a huge site.
The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. …
… just a few hundred metres from land — made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey, but defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned would-be assailants. The Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years’ War; a small garrison fended off a full attack by the English in 1433. …
I had expected to wade out to the Abbey. But you can only do so now with a guide.
I stayed in an excellent hostel in the nearby town of Dol-de-Bretagne famed for the weird and wonderful Saint Samson cathedral.
