Hey guys,

Today I would like to tell you about a really beautiful sight, one of the most impressive I have seen so far - the monastery mountain Mont Saint-Michel.

"La Merveille", UNESCO Heritage of Humanity

The monastery mountain is located on the border of Normandy with Brittany. If you drive from Paris, you can reach it within three and a half hours. The mountain is not for nothing one of the most visited sights in all of France. The first time I saw the mountain and the castle, I was just fascinated. Sure, I had seen castles on mountains before. But none so huge, which almost resembles a castle and stands on a mountain in the middle of mudflats, where far and wide nothing else is to be seen. A long bridge leads to the castle over the mudflats. Mont-Saint-Michel is often called "La Merveille", meaning "the miracle". Very true, isn't it?

How a dream led to the construction of one of the most important buildings in the world

How did such a monastery come to be in the middle of a mountain in the mudflats? Around 708 AD, the Bishop of Avranches built a sanctuary on the rock. According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared to him three times.

The archangel Michael demands that a chapel be built in his honor on the granite rock off the coast. The bishop, after his first dream of the angel, still believes it is a nightmare. However, during the next two nights the angel appears to him again. The bishop feels compelled to make the dream come true. He really had a chapel built on the rock, which at that time was seven kilometers off the coast. And this is the story of the origin of one of the most important buildings in the world. Would you have been tempted by a dream to build such a building?

Today you can still see the skull of Bishop Aubert. It is located in the church of St. Gervais of Avranches. This is located within sight of Mont St. Michel. The skull has a noticeable dent on the forehead. This is probably due to the tenacity of the rude archangel.

Do you believe in this ? I rather do not, but I still find such stories exciting ;)

In 1995, the plan to restore the sanctuary at Mont-Saint-Michel was born. It was important that the monastery hill should regain its maritime character.

How the mountain becomes an island several times a year

What I find very fascinating is that the mountain becomes an island several times a year. When we were there, as you can see, it was not an island. However, we were there a bit spontaneously. If it is important to you to visit the mountain surrounded by water, you could find on the internet, for example, an overview of the days when Mont-Saint-Michel becomes an island again. I must say, I like the mountain extremely well as it is. And it looks a bit like an island to me, because there is nothing around it and it is partly surrounded by mudflats.

I do not even know what I liked better, the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, the bay, or once to deviate from the long bridge to the mountain and walk on the mudflats and admire the castle from there.
If you wish, you can also take part in guided mudflat walks.

Formerly part of Brittany, now part of Normandy - still the sacred mountain of the Bretons

Do you also think that the castle looks very similar to a knight's castle? And it also looks very similar to a castle. Here are a few facts about the mountain and the castle: Mont St. Michel is a whole 157 meters high. A long time ago, the built-up granite rock was completely washed by the sea. So he was once not only temporarily an island ;)
Originally, Mont St. Michel belonged to Brittany. The river s Couesnon is the natural border with Normandy. Because this river changed geographically in the course of time and its course became another one, Mont St. Michel belongs officially to Normandy today. However, this does not change the fact that the monastery mountain is still their sacred mountain for the Bretons.

Crossing "the new footbridge" to Mont Sain-Michel

And this is how you get to Mont-Saint-Michel: There is a parking lot and the information center about two and a half kilometers away from the monastery mountain. From the parking lot, we walked directly over a long footbridge, "road", which you can also see in the pictures, to the monastery mountain. But you can also just take a shuttle bus. The bus will take you up to 400 meters in front of the mountain. I find, however, so you can enjoy the view of the mountain again from different vantage points and the anticipation was also always greater the closer we came to the mountain. If you want to have a special feeling you can also take horse-drawn carriages, but they cost something. But to be driven on a carriage to such a great castle I also imagine cool;) To get to the Klosterberg mna as already said about a road, better said about the "new bridge".

And that's how this new bridge, the stilt bridge, was created:

In 1879 a dam was built, which since then connects the island with the mainland. What was previously a difficult undertaking for the numerous pilgrims who came to the monastery, was from then on easy for tourists: To get to the castle. As a result, the MOnt Sain Michel lost more and more of its maritime character.
Due to the strong change of the tide, masses of sand are washed up, which can no longer flow back into the sea. The bay silts up and it is more and more something special to experience the mountain as an island.
In the mid-1990s, the French government responds to this change. The plan: The nearby Couesnon River is to be dammed by a tidal dam, and the dam and parking lots on the coast are to be demolished. This will allow additional water masses to flow into the bay at low tide and wash the sand back into the sea. In 2014, the project is completed and from now on visitors can only reach the mountain via a stilt bridge. Under this bridge, the water masses can flow undisturbed again at high tide.

How did you like the post? I was very impressed by the castle and the mountain. A castle that stands on a mountain and from time to time becomes an island I have never seen. Have you ever been there? Maybe when the mountain was actually an island? Feel free to write your feedback in the comments. See you next time!