Le Mont Saint-Michel

Ok, let me be a little more factual now.

Walking up the hill to the abbey is quite a walk, so make sure you wear good shoes and have a lot of water with you, especially in summer. The narrow and crooked lanes tend to get really busy and crowded packed by people on their way up or down, checking the souvenire shops, taking pictures or just enjoying the sights.
I have seen litle children, people on wheelchair and disabled people to crawl up so it probably is accessible to everyone eventually, but I got bit short of breath on the way.

Little bit of history
The abbey has been founded somewhere in the 8th century AD when the Bishop of Avranches built a small church dedicated to Archangel Michael. The very first building underwent quite many re-builds during following centuries and finally during the Hundred Year's war of England and France the little town on the hill has become a bit of a fortress and in the early 15th century the great gothic cathedral as we know it nowadays was built. A dark era in its history came during the times of the Great French revolution in the end of the 18th century when the abbey served as a prison to enemies of the revolution. Nowaydays Le Mont Saint-Michel has been under UNESCO's protection as a part of the world heritage. Inside the abbey you can see an exposition about its history and how it was built and reconstructed during the centuries.

Life above the sea
The little town beneath the abbey is marvellous to wander through even if most paths, strais and streets are steep and narrow, the atmosphere is hard to describe. The place swallowed me and I wouldn't find it difficult to stay around for more than a couple of days! It's beautiful, small old white-brick houses with wooden roofs stuck to the hill as if scared the wind could blow them off and into the sea. Small often battered-looking low walls surrounded by bushes growing over and trees providing a little bit of shadow to sit in so that you can watch the sea, feel the presence of timeless history locked in the ground around you and savour being a part of it for a while.

Accomodation and tourist attractions
There are a few hotels behind the town walls, however the rates are quite high (close to 100 euro per person and night) and it wasn't even my intention to stay overnight even if I would have loved to. If you plan to spend a night of more at Mont Saint-Michel, don't forget you have to park your car in a tide-less area. Eating out is very expensive as well, prices of bottle of water and sandwich like double than usual.