Bring On The Holidays #montsaintmichel

And finally... a holiday for just the six of us: Normandy.  Or actually, since we were passing (!), Mont-Saint-Michel:

The story of how the mount came to be a great Christian pilgrimage site dates back to the early 8th century, when Aubert, bishop of the nearby hilltop town of Avranches, claimed the the Archangel Michael himself had pressured him into having a church built atop the island just out to sea.

From 966 onwards the dukes of Normandy, followed by the French kings, supported the development of a major Benedictine abbey on Mont-Saint-Michel.  Magnificent monastic buildings were added throughout the Middle Ages and the abbey became a renowned centre of learning.  Vast numbers of pilgrims visited, despite endless cross Channel conflict; in fact, the ramparts at the base of the island were built to keep the English forces out.  Other fine buildings line the steep village street, now converted into museums, restaurants, hotels and shops. 

The Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel has been prone to silting up over the last couple of centuries.  Man-man activities, including farming and building a causeway to the mount, have added to this problem.  However, a major conservation project back in 2015 has helped restore island status to the Mont-Saint-Michel.  The main river into the bay, the Couesnon, has now been left to flow more freely so that sediments are washed out to sea, the 15 ha car park at the base of the mont has been moved back on to the main land (and now has a Disneyesque feel in it's structure, organisation and efficiency, and a bridge has replaced the former causeway enabling the sea to once more fully surround the mount, particularly at high tides.