Christmas 2022, Tue, 20 Dec 2022 | written by Simon
Jemma and Simon at a Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, France

We woke up amidst rather heavy rain wondering how the hell are we going to manage to go to Mount St Michel in that weather. But hey, we are hardcore! We were quite lucky – the rain subsided a bit as we took a long walk towards the island, after we realised that we narrowly missed a bus. In the end, we were quite happy about that, because despite the rain, the walk was great and the island slowly emerging from the fog as we approached looked magical. We ended up letting some buses pass us later, as the walk was just to nice. Also, we are no sheeple!

The island’s magic is somewhat ruined by the many tourist tat shops and overpriced cafes and restaurants. We carefully avoided them, but decided to cautiously try a couple ‘museums’ that were more of a sheeple trap – they were ok-ish, just not worth the money.

The abbey itself though, well worth it! Amazing to see so well preserved and largely unmodernised a complex where some of the most recent renovations date back to 16th c. The tour takes you through the several levels of this very vertical structure, allowing you to really appreciate how things are built on top of one another.

Out of the abbey, we explored the island some more, going to all the little passages, stairs and alleys. A cool thing was the pulley-lift system to hoist stuff up to the abbey, really interesting build.

By the time we got out, our hiking shoes were thoroughly wet, but the mist lifted a little, allowing us to take some photos. It’s amazing that even in this weather the place is pretty busy – we’re glad we didn’t come here in season!

Back on the road, we drove up to a boulangerie to buy a UNESCO world heritage baguette and some pastries, got some cheese and tomatoes, and stopped soon after to munch on them in the van. Best lunch ever!

We then still managed to get to Fougères to see the great medieval Chateau, a pretty big castle ruin with massive walls and huge towers. Not only that, we also spent a lovely evening strolling through town and found a great cafe with delicious and properly made tea! And tasty Christmas cake. Win!