Sitting just off the coast in the tidal bay where Normandy meets Brittany lies a magical looking Abbey perched atop a rock surrounded by a walled medieval town.
Mont Saint Michel was named for the archangel St. Michael when the bishop of Avranches built an oratory here following a vision. The abbey was built in 966 and has been added to over the centuries. The island was fortified in 1256 and has survived its fair share of sieges, eventually becoming a Napoleonic prison before finally being restored in the 19th century.
Apparently, after the city of Paris, this amazing UNESCO world heritage site is the second most visited place in France, and it sure felt like it on our visit today! Having become accustomed to barely seeing any traffic at all in Normandy during our few days here, sitting in a queue of cars for half an hour just to get into the 4000 space car park seemed slightly alien. The sheer volume of people trying to make there way from the car park along the mile long route over the causeway leading to the Mont is incredible. Luckily there is a very well organised shuttle bus system if you don’t fancy the walk, as we didn’t with 4 kids in tow. How all these people are going to fit inside the walls of this town is beyond me, and as soon as we make our way over the drawbridge it becomes apparent that this is due to the fact that the tiny streets are literally lined wall to wall with tourists fighting to make their way to the top.
After 10 short minutes of pushing through the crowds, this environment proved too much for Harry and Sue, whose 2 year old and 11 month old seemed decidedly uninterested in being there and they decided to call it quits and make their way back out. We, however decided to push on, and were soon rewarded with a slight thinning of the crowd as we ascended a bit further. Hour long queues for the restaurants at the bottom soon gave way to 5 minute queues and we soon found somewhere to sit and grab a bite.
The restaurants feel like they are well oiled machines, perfectly primed to extract money from the captive audience of tourists while providing adequate if slightly uninspiring food as quickly as possible. But to be honest it’s exactly what you’d expect at an attraction such as this.
If you’re feeling a little flusher there are some nicer restaurants, not least the world famous La Mere Poulard at the bottom of the town. Kate and I have sampled their famous soufflé omelettes on a previous trip and can highly recommend them, but on this occasion we thought a 45e omelette would probably be wasted on the kids!
Refuelled and ready for a climb we carried on up and around the ramparts and explored the tiny winding alleys of the town. The queue to get into the actual Abbey was hideously long, and as we have visited before we didn’t bother on this occasion, and just enjoyed a wander instead. One highlight for me was the tiny graveyard belonging to the church of Saint Pierre. There was a curious mix of old and new headstones, one with the surname Poulard, leaving me wondering if it was the actual Mere Poulard of the afore-mentioned restaurant fame?
Having had our fill, taken all the obligatory selfies with the Mont in the background, and of course visiting several of the tat filled souvenir shops that line the streets all through the town (I mean if repro medieval weapons are your thing then you’ll love it here), we made our way back to our camper and headed to our next stop only a 3 minute drive away – ALLIGATOR BAY
This place really just looks like a big shed on the side of the road, but it delivers so much more than it’s underwhelming exterior promises.
We arrived just in time for the final feeding time of the day, so hurried upstairs to the viewing gallery to watch a man slowly wandering around throwing whole plucked chicken carcasses into a writhing mass of various species of crocs and alligators below. There was even an area where you could climb down a ladder into a viewing area allowing you to be at croc eye level, albeit in a tiny space probably not designed for an overweight 42 year old man.
After seeing the crocs have their dinner we made our way out to the reptile house which housed hundreds of varieties of snakes, lizards and amphibians including some super impressive anacondas and huge boa constrictors.
There is also a large outside area here that houses tons of varieties of tortoises, including the enormous Seychelles tortoises weighing in at a staggering 300kg each. If the kids still have any energy left to burn off, and our two always seem to, an outdoor play area is also on offer. Today it was even complete with a man walking a dinosaur on a chain much to the kids amusement!
After exiting (quickly) through the gift shop we made our way back to our camper and drove back to base hungry for a slap up BBQ dinner.