Medieval towns

Historic sites have a unique charm, most of us agree on that and if you are like me, pretending that you can actually travel in time when you stand on the very same spots where people have stood hundreds and -even better- thousands of years ago, is something you enjoy as well. This is something you can try in almost any historic site in the world and it would never cease to amaze. Now imagine doing so in an island so small you can circle in less than a day, with an official population of 43 inhabitants and a rich history that goes back one thousand six hundred years. This is what you can expect when you visit Mont Saint-Michel, in Normandy, France.

Getting there was already quite an experience. I felt as if the hectic rhythm of the rest of the world had not been able to permeate the various little sleepy towns and villages, as I passed them by. Beautiful medieval houses built with dark stone and some wood surrounded by wide green meadows full of sheep and cows seemed the perfect setting for a dark fairy tale. All of the sudden, when I had begun to wonder how it would be like to just leave the world as I knew it and stay for a couple of days- or years- living in such a calm, yet eerie atmosphere, the fog started to fade out as a glimpse of the majestic abbey in the horizon came to be.

As I crossed from the mainland to the island I started to wonder how it was like for the prisoners who were sent to this island for nearly a century. Nonetheless, most of the history around Mont Saint-Michel has to do with the abbey as a site of pilgrimage, not always Christian, though. Mont Tombe is known to be the original name of Mount Saint-Michel and it used to be a religious site for the Celtic druids and the Gallic tribe of Abrincatui. In 710, it changes its name to "Mont-Saint-Michel-au-péril-de-la-Mer" to honor the archangel Michel, who, according to the legend, appeared three times in the dreams of bishop Saint Aubert de Avranches and ordered him to erect an oratory on top of Mont Tombe. The archangel is said to have left his finger mark on Aubert's skull, which is displayed at the Saint-Gervais d'Avranches basilica.

Despite the massive affluence of tourists, this town and the abbey have managed to keep its aura almost intact. As I climbed the stone stairs from the main entrance of the island to the abbey on top of the mount I passed by the cemetery and paid a visit to "La mère Poulard", famous for baking omelets for he passing pilgrims.