Le Mont-Saint-Michel is quite a unique place—a huge abbey and town all built on a rock surrounded by incoming tides. It’s often featured in French text books and is a favorite tourist site for French and non-French alike. A friend and I had the chance to take a trip out to Mont-St-Michel from Paris and were even able to stay at a hotel in the old town itself, something I highly recommend if you visit in order to experience the full rolling in and out of the tide. (2004)
The abbey of Mont St Michel dominates the sky atop the hill but this shot with me out on the sands gives a perspective of how the village huddles around it.
As the tide is out, you can walk out for a view of the incredibly flat landscape of sand and silt around the village. Later in the day, however, you start to see a shimmering line out on the horizon as the waters from the ocean start to rise. Very quickly, the water rolls in until the entire area around is submerged.
You can see from this picture of the Grand Rue just how narrow the streets and walkways of the village around St. Michel are
Up at the abbey, there is some very nice architecture like the courtyard seen here
The wall surrounded the town literally rises from the rugged rocks at its base below.
Sunset by the guardhouse