At low tide you can walk all the way around the island of Le Mont Saint Michel in the sticky silt. There are tiny details, from chains & pipes to dead creatures revealed only when the sea is out.
france
Dreaming in the Tall Grass
in explore
travel diary:
I imagine myself laying in the waist deep grass of the normandy marshlands. it rolls out in every direction until it simply ends on the coast with the creeping high tide. the end is not the hard line the map makes it out to be, but rather it is a place where greenyellow blurs into slowly rolling grey. I watch as my boots slough mud on the trampled blades.
Only at High Tide
Recently made the trek from Paris to Le Mont Saint Michel in north western France. The sometimes island is a fascinating site to spend a day exploring.
Narration full text:
Located about a half mile off of France’s North Western coast, Le Mont Saint Michel has served as everything from an abbey, to a fortified city, to a prison in its many centuries of life.
Known as a “tidal island” the mount is isolated by water at high tide, but at low tide the floor of the surrounding bay is reveled. Once connected to the mainland by a tidal causeway, the mount is now accessed by a lightweight bridge completed in 2012.
The island has been the seat of the Monastery of Saint Michael since the 8th century, but was populated for much longer, its original structures predating the roman empire. Local lore cites an Irish hermit as the original inhabitant of the island.
The mont’s unique position made it one of the few villages not conquered during the hundred years war. Even allowing a small unit of French soldiers to defend the island against the English in 1433.
Now a Unesco world heritage site, Le Mont Saint Michel receives more than 3 million visitors per year.
Music:
"Frozen Star" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
I first learned of this cool sometimes island as a teenager, but never really imagined I'd find myself one day standing on the marshy shoals on the north western coast of france looking at it live & in person.
the mont is awe-inspiring to look at up close. rising out of the water like some kind of science fiction fantasy city. it's said to be the inspiration for minas tirith in the lord of the rings movies. it also has a long & fascinating weird history, including spending some time as an offshore prison.