Pic Spocket

Here is the 3rd installment of my trip to France last March.

I ended that travelling weekend with a stop to the famous Mont St-Michel, (St Michaels Mount) which is the second most visited tourist attraction in France after the Paris area. It is a tidal island in the North of France.

The tides vary greatly around this rock island, by about 14 meters at times, and sometimes the Mount is an island, sometimes it is surrounded my a huge marsh. The speed at which the water retires (and come back) is notoriously astounding.

I left early in the morning hoping to get good light for my arrival, and maybe some light fog to have a mysterious look to my pictures. Be careful what you wish for. There was so much fog when I got there, that I could not even make out the outline of the Mount while I was standing barely 100 m from it. So no pictures of the overall St Michels Mount that morning. Here are a few of the fog pictures. The first one is taken on my drive there, the other ones are taken on the site.

Most of the rock is covered by the Abbey, which offers a really medieval feeling.

Later that day, the fog lifted and I could take more compelling pictures of the exterior of the area. Around the abbey, there is a small village with hotels, restaurants, gift shops, etc.

The marshes are surrounding the rock formation during my visit.

Finally, on my way out, I finally had the chance to take pictures from further away showing the area.

See more of my pictures of Mont St-Michel.

All the pictures from this trip are available in the album below.

France, March 2009