Mont-Saint-Michel
The sunset that sets the shore aglow ; the rock that dates from the Palaeozoic era ; the granite silhouette sculpted out of the opaline light or the violet mist ; the four dangers of the bay with iridescent reflections ; the archangel Saint Michael, Satan's archenemy, who sparkles atop the proud spire ; the enclosure fortified because of the Hundred Years War ; the birth of the idea of nation ; the village of half-timbered houses and its friendly hustle and bustle ; the pilgrims, including kings, who flocked to it for centuries and now the millions of tourists at the third most visited site in France ; the powerful abbots of the Early Middle Ages and the building of the peerless Merveille ; the superb manuscripts produced by the scriptorium's talented monks ; the sand that pushes back the sea ; the vital works - allegedly astronomical - to remove sand ; the forlorn desert islet of Tombelaine ; the lurid image, not unmerited, of the « Bastille by the sea » prison ; the legendary Grand Degré staircases and their wide treads ; the various restorations, cheeky, wise, or respectful ; the efforts of the great Romantics to save from ruin a unique abbey in a unique setting : all this is the magic of the Acropolis of Christianity, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and much more ! The reality outshines the myth. Mont-Saint-Michel is made up of multiple layers of history and individual stories. A dream of eternity.
