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Next stop was two overnight specialities..... Honfleur and Mont St Michel
It took forever for us to find our accomodataion in Honfluer. When we finally found it we discovered it was a Bed and Breakfast that was in it's beginnings. Run by an english couple that welcomed us into their homes and were very friendly but for the price we paid the room was very basic and could not be reached without a car. Honfluer didn't really live up to my expectations. I had read about it in Conde Nast Traveller (a magazine I usually only read for the only if's) and although it was a pretty town I felt it lacked the charisma that came so warmly through the glossy magazine pictures.
Honfluer was built around the lives of seaman which is reflected in every nook and cranny of the town. The Old Dock is the heart of the city. It is the most symbolic place of Honfleur with very typical high houses all around the dock. The Sainte-Catherine church is the largest church made out of wood in France. It is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria as evidenced by a wooden sculpture above the porch of the bell-tower which separates the two naves. She is shown holding a wheel and a sword. The first nave is the oldest part of the building, dating to the second half of the 15th century, constructed right after the Hundred Years War. It was built on the model of a market hall, using naval construction techniques, which gives the impression of an upside-down ship's hull. We had a really nice dinner at a restaurant reccomended by locals and after our day of driving across the North of France collapsed in bed for an early night.
The following day we drove about 3 hours to Mont St Michel. It is a rocky tidal island and a commune in Normandy, France (Le Mont-Saint-Michel). It is located approximately one kilometer off the country's north coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. The population of the island is 41 but the town is constantly filled with tourists throughout the day. Mont Saint-Michel was previously connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which before modernization was covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This connection has been compromised by several developments including a car park and cement foot path leading to the island. Over the centuries, the coastal flats have been polderised to create pasture and the distance between the shore and the south coast of Mont-Saint-Michel has decreased. In the 11th century, the Romanesque abbey church was founded over a set of crypts where the rock comes to an apex. In the 12th century, the Romanesque monastery buildings were extended to the west and south. In the 13th century , a donation by the king of France, Philip Augustus , in the wake of his conquest of Normandy, enabled a start to be made on the Gothic section of the "Merveille ": two three-storey buildings, crowned by the cloister and the refectory.In the 14th century, the Hundred Years War made it necessary to protect the abbey behind a set of military constructions, enabling it to hold out against a siege lasting 30 years.
In the 15th century, the Romanesque chancel of the abbey church, broken down in 1421 was replaced by the Gothic Flamboyant chancel.With Rome and Saint Jacques de Compostelle, this great spiritual and intellectual centre, was one of the most important places of pilgrimage for the Medieval occident. For nearly one thousand years men, women and children went there by roads called 'paths to paradise' hoping for the assurance of eternity. The Abbey was turned into a prison during the days of the French Revolution and Empire, and needed to be restored before the end of the 19th century. It is a UNESCO world Heritage site.
We had a great night actually spending the night on the island. All accomodation was expensive and it's hard to know if you were been sucked in by their deals or included dinners and breakfasts but the beds were comfy and I was glad to be able to rise in the morning to a beautiful sunrise and lots of photo opportunities.

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