Le Mont-Saint-Michel

The highlight, of course, is the Abbey at the top of the mountain. It is amazing to look at the sheer size of it and to think of how they built it. They hauled the rock from the archipelago quarries by barge at high tide. They winched the stones up the mountain using 6 men walking on a “gerbil wheel”, then cut the stones precisely and laid them on a pointed mountain. First they had to make a base around the point, and build it up from there. It was built in the 11th-13th centuries, and then in the 14th century it was fortified for the 100 years war. Because it resisted all English assaults, it is France’s symbol of National identity.Read more