The Abbey the Sea Turns Into an Island

Travel Onion · 1:48

Off the coast of Normandy there's an abbey built on a rock in the middle of a bay — and a few days every month the sea comes in and turns it back into an island. The bay of Mont-Saint-Michel has some of the biggest tides in Europe: at the lowest the sea pulls back as far as fifteen kilometres, then comes in at the pace of a brisk walk (people used to say "as fast as a galloping horse"), and the water can rise fourteen metres. The story goes that in 708 the Archangel Michael told a local bishop in a dream to build a church on the rock. Monks followed, and for centuries they kept building upward. The English attacked it more than once in the Hundred Years' War and never took it. After the Revolution it was a prison for seventy years. And the island was nearly lost: a road built in 1879 silted up the bay, so in 2014 it was replaced by a bridge the sea can flow under. Save this one for the trip you actually take. Follow for more places worth the trip. 📍 PLAN YOUR VISIT — MONT-SAINT-MICHEL ✈️ Getting there: train from Paris to Rennes or Pontorson, then the bus; or about four hours by road. Park on the mainland and walk or take the shuttle across the bridge 📅 Best time: any season — but time it to one of the big tides (the spring and autumn equinox tides are the biggest) 🎯 Don't miss: the abbey and its cloister · the ramparts walk · the bay from the bridge at high water · a guided walk on the sands at low tide