Monday, September 10, 2012
Sightseeing Le Mont Saint Michel
The easiest way to get from Pontorson to Le Mont Saint Michel is by bus.
The busstop is at the SNCF railwaystation, just a few hundred meters from
my hotel.
La Gare SNCF Pontorson with the bus to Le Mont Saint Michel
It takes only a short ride with the bus to Le Mont Saint Michel and the
busrides looks even shorter because I chat with a nice couple from
Australia.
The bus stops about a hundred meters from the entry gate of Le Mont Saint
Michel and from the busstop, you have a great view on Le Mont Saint Michel.
Great view on Le Mont Saint Michel
Everybody from the bus walks to the entrygate to admire this old city in the sea.
The first thing I did was getting a information map at the tourist office near
the entry and then I walked into the narrow streets Le Mont Saint Michel.
The old gate with the drawbridge
Ofcourse there are a lot of bars and restaurants in the streets but there are
also people living in the beautiful old houses and there are some hotels too.
A lot of bars and shops
Next to the usual souvenirs like t-shirts, towels, postcards and books, they also
sell medieval arms like swords and shields.
Medieval arms on display in a souvenir shop
Beside the abbey on top of the rock, there is also a smaller church outside
the abbey that is also very beautiful.
The entrance of the church
Inside it is very nice
I bought a ticket for 18 Euro for four museums that I all visited. Some were
more interesting then others but it was worth the money.
Room in the first museum I visited
The exit of the museum was in a very nice garden with a great view on the
surrounding area.
The exit of the museum in a garden.
In the garden
The Musee Historique has a lot of wax figures to show how people lived and work
and some were in prisoned, in the Middle Ages.
Wax monk figures at -work- in the Musee Historique
Then after I climbed a lot of steps, I bought a ticket to see the abbey on
top of the rock. It realy impressive that people build a building like this
without modern tools and machinery
The abbey
Inside the abbey
A beautiful gallery
These monks sure had a house with a view.....
While walking around in this magnificent building I made a lot of
pictures. Too many to show on this page but here and a few more pictures of
the abbey:
Ofcourse, like any good tourist attraction, the tour ended in a big giftshop.....
The giftshop
I really enjoyed the tour through this building and now I wanted to see a little more
of the rest of the old city so I wandered around the old streets any many stairways.
A friendly Dutchman I met was so kind to take a picture
of me with my camera so Yara, Amy and Tygo can see where granddaddy has been
 .
That is me in the old streets of le Mont Saint Michel
Then it started raining, not very hard but hard enough to get wet so I decided
this was a good time to look for a restaurant. Fortunately, I not only found a
restaurant but I had a seat at the window too.
The restaurant where I had lunch today
I ordered the menu that consisted of a fresh salad, then french fries with a
- stew - and as a dessert, I had an apple pie.
The salad was very good and the french fries were not to bad either. The apple
pie was OK but stew looked like it had pieces of dead animal in it and it smelled
like that too. I did try a bite but I really did not like it. That is the risk you
take when you order something you do not know. Most of the time it is a nice
surprise... but not always.
The french fries were OK
After lunch I strolled through the old streets a littgle more. I had bought a
cheap plastic poncho to keep myself and the camera dry.
While exploring some backstreet, I saw this cat on a roof. I think he did not
like me because he walked away when I wanted to take his picture......
Cat on a roof
I had bought that four museum entry ticket and I had not yet been to the
Archeoscope. Here they have a presentation about the history of Le Mont Saint
Michel. Unfortunately, it was French only so i missed most of the text but
I did like the pictures.
Part of the show in the Archeoscope
Since Le Mont Saint Michel is a kind of an isle in the sea, you see quite a lot
of seagulls and that came make a nice picture......
Seagull flying past le Mont Saint Michel
There is a big outer wall around the old city bellow the abbey and this wall is
also open to the public. Sometimes you can dee the nice backyards of the people
who live here and on the other side you can see the sandbanks and the sea that
surround Le Mont Saint Michel.
The city wall
When you look up, the magnificent abbey risses above all other buildings. It is
very impressive now so I wonder how impressed the people in the old days must
have been.....
The abbey
But after a few hours on le Mont Saint Michel, it was time to hop on the bus
to get back to the hotel in Pontorson so I went to the exit of the old city
and to the busstop.
The road were the busses come from the mainland
At the busstop, I met the same Australian couple I had talked with in the bus this
morning, Rhett and Sandra. We chatted some more and I gave them a few tips where to
go when they are visiting the Netherlands.
One look back at Le Mont Saint Michel before leaving
After a short busride, we were back at the trainstation in Pontorson. Rhett and Sandra
had missed their train and had to get another one and I went back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel and happy to see my bike again
When I was back at the hotel and I wanted to have dinner, I asked the hotel owner of
his restaurant was open now but the answer was - non -. That was al. No suggestion where
I may get something to eat. Not very friendly....
I did wanted to have dinner so I walked into the mainstreet of Pontorson and found
bar-restaurant Le Grillon.
I ordered the menu of the day and got very good meat with a nice sauce, some vegetables
and french fries. I ordered a local beer with it and had a strong little coffee as
dessert.
Le Grillon
The - plat du jour - and a nice beer
Tomorrow I will ride home. The next couple of days will be rainy so I rather make
another trip when the weather is better again.
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