Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
admission to see the abbey so peaceful (nighttime program starts at 19:00; daytime tickets
aren't valid for re-entry, but you can visit before 19:00 and stay on).
Tours: There are no English explanations in the abbey. My self-guided tour below
works for most, though the excellent audioguide gives greater detail (€4.50, €6/2 people).
You can also take a 1.25-hour English-language guided tour (free but tip requested, 2-4
tours/day, first and last tours usually around 10:00 and 15:00, confirm times at TI, meet
at top terrace in front of church). The guided tours, which can be good, come with big
crowds. You can start a tour, then decide if it works for you—but I'd skip it, instead fol-
lowing my directions below.
Self-Guided Tour: Visittheabbeybyfollowingaone-wayroute.You'llclimbto
theticket office,thenclimbsomemore.StopafteryoupassapublicWC,andlookbackto
the church. That boxy Gothic structure across the steps is one of six cisterns that provided
theabbeywithwater.Insidetheroommarked Accueil you'llfindinterestingmodelsofthe
abbey through the ages.
• Find your way to the big terrace, walk to the round lookout at the far end, and face the
church.
West Terrace: In1776,afiredestroyedthewestendofthechurch,leavingthisgrand
view terrace. The original extent of the church is outlined with short walls (as well as the
stonecutter numbers, generally not exposed like this—a reminder that they were paid by
the piece). The buildings of Mont St-Michel are made of granite stones quarried from the
Isles of Chausey (visible on a clear day, 20 miles away). Tidal power was ingeniously har-
nessed to load, unload, and even transport the stones, as barges hitched a ride with each
incoming tide.
As you survey the Bay of Mont St-Michel, notice the polder land—farmland re-
claimed by Normans in the 19th century with the help of Dutch engineers. The lines of
trees mark strips of land used in the process. Today, this reclaimed land is covered by salt-
loving plants and grazed by sheep whose salty meat is considered a local treat. You're
standing 240 feet above sea level, at the summit of what was an island called “the big
tomb.” The small island just farther out is “the little tomb.”
ThebaystretchesfromNormandy(ontherightasyoulooktothesea)toBrittany(on
theleft).TheCouesnonRiverbelowmarksthehistoricborderbetweenthetwolands.Brit-
tanyandNormandyhavelongviedforMontSt-Michel.Infact,theriverusedtopassMont
St-Michel ontheotherside,makingtheabbeypartofBrittany.Today,it'sjustbarely—but
definitively—on Norman soil. The new dam across this river (easy to see from here—it
looks like a bridge when its gates are open) was built in 2010. Central to the dam is a sys-
temoflockinggatesthatretainwaterupriverduringhightideandreleaseitsixhourslater,
in effect flushing the bay and returning it to a mudflat at low tide (see “The Causeway and
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