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The day didn't look promising when we woke up after a restful night finally but it warm and the smell of flowers around the farmhouse were sweet. Jean-Pierre drove us to the free shuttle buses in Mont-Saint-Michel that would drop us off at the Abbey, a cold wind off the sea suddenly getting up the closer we got to this magical island topped by the gravity-defying medieval monastery. This was for centuries a major pilgrimage destination and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The usual crowds hadn't arrived yet so we were able to explore for an hour or so, walking all the way up to the very top of the mountain to the Abbey. Which was closed. Damn. Today was the 1st of May, a French holiday. We were both disappointed we couldn't see into the interior but spent some time instead in the museum which displayed artifacts used in the Abbey from various centuries, from the Carolingian period up to the more elegant forms of flamboyant Gothic art. I consoled myself with knowing I had finally experienced first hand this enigmatic sight.
The Abbey is a real technical and architectural feat that defies the rock it sits on. The story of how the mount turned into a great place of Christian pilgrimage is colourful - Aubert, bishop of the nearby town of Avranches early in the 8th century, claimed that the Archangel Michael himself pressured him to build a church atop the island just out to sea. From 966 onwars the dukes of Normandy, followed by French kings, supported the development of a major Benedictine abbey here. The ramparts at the base were built to keep English forces out and magnificent monastic buildings were gradually added through medieval times.It has been known as the
Bastille of the Sea in recent times when it was totally transformed into a prison between 1793 and 1863 and since the time of Napoleon III it has been a property of the State. Everything here is subject to the ebb and flow of the tide marking the actual border between Normandy and Brittany but the high tide we waited for was relatively low and we didn't get totally surrounded by water.
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| one of the many quiet open and treed areas on Mont-Saint-Michel |
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| view of the Bay from Mont-Saint-Michel |
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| Mont-Saint-Michel, from the church in Huisnes-sur-Mer, always drawing the eye from great distances |
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| the most beautiful smelling white rose in Jean-Pierre's yard! |
Just a short walk away from our B&B is the site of the only German crypt in France, Mont de Huisnes. This German cemetery sits on a 30 metre high hill with a view of Mont Saint Michel to the north and holds the remains of 11,956 fallen soldiers of the Second World War. It was near here in Avranches during the invasion in July 1944 the Americans made their decisive break through of the German front. These soldiers have been gathered from all over the region, including the Channel Islands and reinterred here. It was yet another peaceful and powerfully emotional place and well cared for by the German War Graves Commission. The crypt is a circular, two-storey construction with the inner front of each storey made of open gangways leading to each of the 68 crypt rooms. Within each crypt the bones of 180 dead are laid to rest The names of the dead that have been identified are set out on a bronze table in each case, some as young as 14 years old. In the centre of the inner court a high cross towers over this quiet spot. We walked slowly back on the quiet and narrow road to the farmhouse and, after dinner at a nearby restaurant, packed for an early train to St Malo the next morning. gws
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| location of Mont-de-Huisnes in green, bottom left |
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| view of Huisnes-sur-Mer from German cemetery |
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| doors of an old barn, Huisnes-sur-Mer |
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| Marie & Jean-Pierre, railway station at Pontorson |
