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Published: October 13th 2009
Day 5 (Tuesday, September 1, 2009)
Much to my disappointment, we awoke to a cloudy morning in Bayeux. After getting ready and packing our bags, we walked over to a nearby grocery store and then a patisserie in order to stock up on some food.
Our first stop of the day was a small town called Balleroy, where we had wanted to visit it’s
chateau. The approach to the chateau was via a grand avenue that had identical trees lining the street the entire way. The chateau was commissioned back in 1631, and was owned for several centuries by the Counts of Balleroy. In 1970, the famous Malcolm Forbes purchased the palace and restored it. He also decided to create a museum within the chateau dedicated to ballooning, an avid pastime of his. Upon arrival, we noticed on the entrance sign that the chateau was closed on Tuesdays. I wasn’t too disappointed with this news though as we would soon be visiting many chateaus in the coming days when we headed over to the Loire Valley. Instead, we decided to just walk up as close as we could to the exterior of the chateau and snap a
few pictures. Along our short walk, we met a very friendly black cat, whom followed us along the path. We also met what we assumed was one of her kittens, an extremely cute black and white cat. I was in absolute heaven as I missed my own kitties dearly and was in need of some kitty loving. After obtaining some great shots of the beautiful exterior, we walked next-door to a church, took some photos, and then said goodbye to the cats. I thought it might have been fun to take the cats with us, but Mike thought otherwise!
Next, we drove over to a town called
Coutances. While unknown to most foreign tourists, this town of about 10,000 people is well-known in France for it's cathedral and it’s many botanical gardens. Our first stop was naturally, the Cathedral. Apparently, the famous painter Victor Hugo had once said that the church was the prettiest he had ever seen (not including the one at Chartres). While I wouldn’t agree with his opinion in terms of the interior of the church, I did find its exterior to be quite interesting and much different than most other churches of comparable size.
From the church, we walked two streets over to the
Jardin des Plantes. This 19th century landscaped garden is free for all to enter and was filled with countless colorful and very beautiful flowers. After enjoying the pretty flowers and taking lots of photos, we headed back to the car.
Our third stop of the day was to a city called
Granville, which apparently prefers to be known as “the Monaco of the North”. During our short visit, I was unable to determine why it was such a popular place to visit in Normandy, especially with so many other towns whom have so much more charm and personality. Unfortunately, our visit occurred on a mostly cloudy day, so my assessments and opinions may not have been entirely accurate. I suppose it’s location directly on the water has a huge draw for the holiday seekers, but it’s not a place I will ever be running back to in the future. During our short visit, we saw a great view of the ocean from a military lookout on the very northern part of town. We also passed by a waterless marina (yes, you read that correctly) that was filled with dozens of boats
drudged into the sand; very strange but certainly interesting to photograph!
Afterward, we drove towards another small town, this one called Villedieu-les-Poeles, which is famous for its manufacturing of copper pots and pans. We didn’t do too much in this small but pleasant city except for walking around many of its back streets and photographing some of the interesting things we saw along the way. Towards the end of our walk, we stopped in at a bakery to purchase some bread, and then walked over to the nearby grocery store to buy some meat in order to make sandwiches, which we munched on during our way to Mont St. Michel.
I had dreamed of seeing
Mont Saint-Michel for 14+ years since learning about it during my first year of French class in high school. Years later, I found out that there were several small hotels on the actual island, which intrigued me greatly. Once we had decided to visit France for a month, it was an absolute requirement that we not only visit the island, but that we also spend the night.
As we approached the abbey from a distance, I let out a small sigh from the
excitement within myself; I couldn’t believe that I was finally viewing the island with my own two eyes instead of via a video or photograph; it was a very special moment for myself. As soon as we found a good point to pull over, we stopped the car in order to take some photos.
Originally, Mont Saint-Michel was connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge. At high tide, the bridge would be covered by water, so people could only cross it during times of low tide. However, through the centuries, development to the surrounding land had decreased the amount of space between the shore and the island. These changes resulted in less water flow, and thus, the eventual build-up of the causeway due to silting-up of the bay. Currently, there are a new bridge and dam that are being built along the Couesnon River, which should be completed by 2012. When this construction work is finished, water will be able to flow completely around Mont Saint-Michel, allowing it to once again be an island.
When we finally arrived at the island, we were directed into a massive parking lot that had to have had literally
thousands of spots. Luckily, since we were staying on the island, we were allowed to park in the very first lot. Even luckier, we somehow managed to snag a spot in the very first row, which was awesome since we had to bring our luggage with us!
As we walked up to the hotel with our luggage, we had to navigate around the hundreds of people that crammed the winding and narrow street on Mont St. Michel. I had read and had been warned that the crowds were ridiculous, but until I saw it and experienced it for myself, I really had no idea! Fortunately, our hotel,
Le Mouton Blanc was only about a ten minute walk from the parking lot. Our room, while simple, had a ton of character, especially with the wood beams and the great view of the street from our window.
After settling into the room, we walked up through the swarm of people to the abbey. Unfortunately, in addition to having to contend with the massive amount of people, we also had to walk up a ridiculous number of stairs; we were both quite warm by the time we got to the entrance of the
Mont Saint-Michel
Our first glimpse of the amazing island.abbey!
The area upon which the abbey is built has been famous for centuries since 708, when the bishop of Avranches was said to have seen a vision of St. Michael the Archangel, who instructed him to build a church on the rocky island. Throughout the centuries, the very small abbey slowly grew into the massive complex that it is today.
One of our first stops on the tour of the abbey was the west terrace, which provided an amazing view of the surrounding countryside and ocean; I had only wished that that weather would have been a tad bit better so that I could have obtained clearer photos. I also found the cloisters and it's gardens beautiful, especially with the sun streaming in on the bright green grass and flowers. The rest of our tour however, was quite rushed, as one of the workers was literally on our tails, shutting the doors behind him since the abbey closed at 18:00 that day.
From the abbey, we walked back to the hotel along the ramparts, which also provided great views of the countryside. Along the way, we checked out many of the posted menus at the restaurants
in order to decide on a place for dinner. We also made the mandatory stop at
La Mère Poulard in order to hear and see the famous omelets being whipped up. This restaurant has been cooking up giant omelets for "pilgrims" since 1879. While it probably would have been fun to eat at the restaurant, the prices were so beyond ridiculous (30 Euros/$45 USD per omelet) that we didn't even give it any thought. I mean, seriously people, come ON! Who in the world is willing to spend THAT much money on an omelet? Do you have any idea how much you are being ripped off? I consider it to be a travesty, especially considering how much profit the restaurant is making off those eggs!
We walked back to the hotel to freshen up for a bit, and then headed immediately back out for dinner. We selected a restaurant called Chez Mado, which happened to be located directly next to our hotel. We both decided on the three item course; I selected the jambon (ham) as an appetizer, the poulet (chicken) for the main, and profiteroles for dessert. Mike also choose the jambon for an appetizer, but decided on the local
specialty omelet for his entrée and crème brulee for dessert. All of the food, while a bit more expensive than what we normally prefer to spend (20 Euros per person) was quite good and beautifully prepared. My favorite part of the meal was definitely the profiteroles, which were filled with the most delicious vanilla bean ice cream.
About 45 minutes after finishing dinner, we headed out to the causeway in order to take pictures of the island lit-up at night. It was a simply stunning sight, and I felt so fortunate to have finally been able to see the famous island for myself. In hindsight, I would have preferred to drive further off the causeway in order to get photos of the island from different perspectives, but we weren't sure how easy it would be to leave the parking lot, and we definitely didn't want to give up that first rate parking spot!
When we finally walked back up to our hotel, we were both amazed at how quiet and empty the streets were compared to how it had appeared just two hours prior. Those wanting to visit the island and spend the night should really aim to
arrive in the early evening and head out first thing the following morning. This will enable you to enjoy the island without experiencing the insanity that exists during the daytime.
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liliram
liliram
Nice blog.
I have often wondered about La Mere Poulard's omelets too. You bet I won't part with my 30 euros for an egg dish , even if there were real truffles there! Lucky you. The last time we were there, the Abbey was closed because of a nationwide strike!!!