Today we went to Mont Saint Michel, perched on an island off the coast of the Normandy region of France. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This most incredible place was a can’t miss stop, but we were on the waitlist to go through Viking. We tried to book private tours, but they were all sold out. So having our fingers crossed, we put in a request to escort. And lo and behold both Michael and I were escorts on this excursion today. The ship anchored in the bay and we tendered to shore.
If you have never heard of this place or seen pictures of it, click on this link to get a summarized explanation of its history. It was/is one busy place.
According to our guide, there are 700 steps, quite steep and shallow. Now that’s 350 steps going up and 350 steps going down. I will tell you that it felt like 2,000 steps going up and maybe 1,500 steps going down. Just when you thought you were done climbing, you turn the corner and there’s more steps staring at you. This is absolutely an incredible place and it’s not for the faint of heart to go all the way to the top to see the Abbey. Since I was the escort today, I helped Miss Barbara, who is a sweet tiny little lady who is 88 years old who was bound and determined to get up the steps. The guide and the rest of the group left us in the dust, but the two of us just kept plugging away one step at a time. Believe it or not, we finally caught up with the group, and the guide was absolutely blown away that we made it. It was tough going for me as I am mindful of the pain I am going to be feeling tonight. But being a stubborn mule, I had to go do it.
We had six buses full of Vikings, and we had lunch three buses at a time in a restaurant called Saint Pierre. The restaurant was absolutely packed and as one group finished, the staff cleared the tables and set them back up for the new group to come in. We had sourdough bread and a plate of some sort of pate, chicken with french fries, and a baked apple, followed by a cheese plate and then a dessert which was a custard type of tart. Most people did a pretty good job of cleaning their plates after working up quite an appetite from that climb up to the Abbey.
We were pretty lucky weather-wise as it was quite cool with a heavy overcast that threatened rain all day. We had to walk from the parking area to pick up a shuttle to drive over the causeway and drop us off short from the entrance. During that walk we did get rained on a little, but after lunch, the sun actually came out.
Return trip back to the tender dock took about an hour. We got a short panoramic drive through the town of Saint Malo.
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| Saint Malo |