Travelog: St Therese Lisieux + Mont Saint Michel (April 2009)

We headed out early to travel a long way to Mont Saint Michel. More 4-1-1 on Mont Saint Michel but first, we stopped by the Basilica of St. Therese of Lisieux.

St. Therese of Lisieux is also known as Sainte Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus et de la Sainte Face. She was a Roman Catholic Carmelite nun canonized a saint and is recognized as a “Doctor of the Church”– one of only three women who received that honor. She is also known as “The Little Flower of Jesus”.

After a nice visit to St. Therese, we rode for another 3 hours before we saw Mont Saint Michel.
Mont Saint Michel is close to the beaches of Normandy (though some claim the island is already part of Bretagne), and is near Avranches. The island is a UNESCO World Heritage- listed island, best know as the site of the well- preserved Norman Benedictine Abbey of St. Michael at the peak of the island, surrounded by the convoluted architecture of the medieval town (info from Wikipedia). Before the landbridge was fortified into a causeway, the island is inaccessible by car or by foot when there is a high tide because it gets surrounded by water.

Here’s an amazing aerial shot with the view of the mudflats surrounding the islandfrom El Guanche (of flickr).

If you happen to go to France, you cannot not visit Mont Saint Michel. The Abbey itself can be reached through very narrow winding streets and several hundred flights of stairs (I’ve lost count).

The first restaurant we saw was La Mere Poulard, best known for their oh-so-fluffy omelettes. They beat their eggs til they’re all light and airy. Then the mixture gets poured onto a pan, which is then heated directly by wood- fired flames
The result is a fluffy and light omelette! We didn’t have omelette because the night before, we had way too many eggs (Ladureé)!

I had lamb with beans (I loved the lamb, hated the beans), DM had duck, and DSIL had salmon.
After our meal, we braved the cold and rain and walked up to the Abbey. This was the view from the top.
And here’s the Abbey.
The view from the courtyard at the peak of the Abbey.
Back inside, there were stairs, stairs, and more stairs.

Here’s Saint Michael, the Archangelwho, according to legend, appeared to St, Aubert, then bishop of Avranches and instructed him to build a church on the island. But the bishop repeatedly ignored this instruction until St Michael burned a hole in the bishop’s skull with his finger (this is depicted in that photo).

We would’ve enjoyed Mont Saint Michel a lot more if it weren’t raining, but then again, we enjoyed it immensely anyway. I was shivering from the biting cold though 🙂 I decided against bringing my coat and only had a wrap with me (since the day before in Paris was really warm). Smart move, eh? NOT!

x
Mrs.T