We were promised a rough ride with rolling and pitching on our way to St. Malo, France as we crossed the English Channel in rough weather. We needed to make good time in order to arrive at St. Malo before the tides made it impossible to stop. Fortunately, despite the warnings of rough seas, we didn’t feel it, and we arrived in St. Malo in plenty of time. Rather than anchoring, we were moored between what looked like two huge tires. Not sure of the reasoning, but it worked.
Our shore excursion which would take us from St. Malo in Britanny to Mont St. Michel in Normandy, wasn’t scheduled to leave until 2:00. We decided to go into St. Malo and wander around for awhile because all excursions were scheduled to leave from the pier rather than from the ship. Our friend Ange came with us because his wife Sally had opted for the panoramic tour and he was taking the same walking tour we were doing.
The three of us enjoyed the walled city of St. Malo. We explored several of the streets. I would have enjoyed stopping at a crèperie for a crèpe, but we didn’t have time. We decided that if we were ever in St. Malo again, we’d spend more time exploring because there was a lot to see and it seemed like a charming village. We’d have walked the walls of the city, but we were saving our climbing for Mont St. Michel.
When we returned to the pier, they were already handing out stickers for the excursions. We hung back a little because we could see that the bus they were sending out was already full. Our strategy worked because we were the first three to get stickers for the next bus so were the first three on the bus. The drive to Mont St. Michel took about an hour, and we had to stop briefly so our bus driver could give directions to drivers behind us as we were taking a more scenic route. I was really surprised to find canals and polders much like what we’d seen in the Netherlands. A lot of Brittany is farmland.
Our excellent tour guide explained how they were planning to move the parking areas away from Mont St. Michel so that people would have to park farther away and take shuttles to get there. We oculdn’t imagine the inconvenience and were glad that this is planned for the future. Our bus drove us right to the entrance. Masses of humanity seemed to be coming from all directions and swarming in both directions (up and down) as we entered the village at the foot of the Abbey. Our guide promised to move slowly so that people could keep up, and we were very pleased that she did just that. We made several stops on the way up the steep hill. While I have to say it wasn’t as bad as the Acropolis or the Fiji Rainforest Walk, it was definitely quite a climb to the top. We enjoyed seeing the Abbey and listening to the guide’s descriptions, but the throngs of people made it difficult to hear and see. We kept remembering our trip to Ephesus, where we had to keep a constant eye on our guide to try and find him. Our French guide was very petite and easily got lost in the crowd. She did put forth a lot of effort to keep her eyes on all of her charges though!
The abbey is perched atop an island that’s often affected by the tides. They’ve managed to build dams that help to regulate the tides so that there’s always land access to the abbey. Our guide pointed out a “sister island” in the bay that was so small it was hard to imagine that Mont St Michel was built on an island of the same size! The views from the top of the abbey were really something – there was sand and water everywhere, and people were walking out onto the sand bars. Apparently there’s some quicksand there, but it’s not bad enough to be threatening. Our guide said that you can feel it and get out if you happen to step into it.
The tour of the abbey took us through the nave and choir as well as the cloisters and other areas. It had been used for awhile as a prison, and in one case prisoners were used to turn a huge wheel that worked with a pulley to operate an elevator. This elevator brought supplies, including stones, up to the abbey. Pretty impressive operation!
Our trek down from the abbey would have been great fun had we had time to enjoy poking into some the shops that lined the route. However, we were scheduled to be back on the bus at 5:15, and it was a challenge to get there on time. Between watching footing, keeping track of where we were going, and dodging people who were heading up, others who were heading down, and still others who were popping in and out of the shops, we barely made it back to the bus. At one point I saw something bouncing down the stairs and realized it was my ship ID card. Someone else had noticed it and picked it up, saying, “Does this belong to someone from the ship?” I checked my lanyard, and sure enough, the plastic sleeve had broken off and it was mine. At least I didn’t have to deal with that when I got back!
We shouldn’t have worried. We had to sit and wait for two people. Our guide had counted and two were missing. We waited and waited, hoping a fall on the cobblestones hadn’t befallen those poor people! It didn’t help that two people just decided to change their seats, causing a fruit-basket upset on the bus so nobody could identify if their neighbors on the trip out were present or not! Finally after another check, the numbers appeared to be correct and we were able to head back to St. Malo. But by that time there was a terrible traffic jam. That one lane road leading away from Mont St. Michel reminded me of afternoon rush hour on the Dan Ryan! We were stuck and could do nothing but sit there and watch the minutes tick by. Finally we got out of the mess, and we arrived back in St. Malo about an hour late. Then we had to jump in line for the tender ride back to the ship. Not only had all shore excursions gone out at the same time, but they were all getting back at the same time, so we were relieved that we’d been able to get to the front of the line quickly. I was also very happy that I wasn’t trying to explain that I’d lost my ship ID! I would not have been happy!
I’m very glad that I was able to make the climb to Mont St. Michel! In all my travels to France, I’d never been in this area, and as our tour guide said, this is the third most visited site in France behind the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles.
Barb
No comments:
Post a Comment