Mont St Michel
weekly photo challenge: rule of thirds
We are sharing a photo where our subject is off-centre – Mont St Michel in France at sunset in the lower third. The colours of the sky and of Mont St Michel itself makes for a movie mystery setting. If you would like to see more photos of Mont St Michel – we have a photo essay you can check out.
If you want to see more off-centre photos – see The Daily Post
Have a great weekend!
Please feel free to leave us any comments!
Share this:
mont st michel: a photo essay
There are quite a number of places in the world that we have seen photos of and have therefore decided that we wanted to go there.
Mont St Michel is one of them. It has been on our dream travel list for as long as we can remember. Plus the added bonus that it was on the UNESCO Heritage list that we are trying to tick off slowly. We missed going to see it last time we were in France. We were not letting it slip away again this time.
It is certainly not the easiest place to get to (particularly if you don’t have a car) so we decided to stay two nights – which turned out to be a double “thumbs up” decision. It gave us plenty of time to explore and relax without feeling like we were rushed.
After travelling several hours from Paris on a train and then a bus, we finally arrived! In the distance, we could see the outline. The feeling we often get inside when we get to finally see something we have been SOOOOO looking forward to: a tingle in our stomach and the goosebumps of “we are really here!”
It’s as majestic and grand as we have seen it in the pictures. Without wanting to sound cliché, we will be cliche anyway by saying that it truly took our breath away.
Once we were inside the walls after crossing the bridge, it was like we were zapped back in time to the Middle Ages (except for maybe the hoards of tourists in modern clothes).
Crowded as it was, we looked past that and found the entire place so surreal to witness. Walking up all those old stone steps to the top before exploring the inside. And the inside? It seems to carry that little bit of mystery, intrigue and plenty of history that we love when we explore places like this.
With the tide being out, we were able to walk around the outside of the walls on the mudflats. We didn’t stray too far as we were warned that there are sections of “quicksand”. It is recommended that you join a tour group before venturing too far.
To finish off our time there, we sat down for a local Normandy feed. We tried a soufflé omelette with bacon… let’s just say, it must be an acquired taste!
The other local dish we tried was creamy chicken cooked Normandy style and that was DELICIOUS 🙂
Mont St Michel was listed as a
UNESCO Heritage site in 1979.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited,
visit our unofficial bucket list
Have you been to Mont St Michel? Tell us your experiences/thoughts.
Share this:
weekly photo challenge: signs
Looking through our photos, we had a good laugh at this picture as it was just so “busy” with signs of all types!
Why did we even take this photo? Thankfully, we saw “Mont St Michel” amongst them so remembered we took this on the bus on our way to Mont St Michel in France.
We felt this was perfect for this week’s photo challenge.
How many different signs can you count in this picture?
Have a great weekend!
Share this:
our first month in review
We have been away exactly a month now and we have enjoyed every moment and experience! We have seen some mind-blowing, spectacular and confronting things. And we have learnt soooo much more about European history from the countries that we have visited.
Here is our first month in a quick review:
Our first stop was Russia where we visited Moscow and St Petersburg. There we saw some amazingly opulent palaces and got a sneak peak into the lives of the past royals. Our standout moment from here would be setting eyes on St Basil’s in Red Square for the first time.
The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were next on the agenda. We learnt about the Singing Revolution which we had no idea about and also learnt about the Baltic Way – 2 million people holding hands across the 3 countries to make a 600 km human chain to stand up for their independence. A few of our favourites in this area would be visiting the Hill of Crosses and experiencing the old towns of each capital city
Poland was definitely a little surprise package for us. We enjoyed what the country had to offer; its history, food, people and culture. Here we experienced awe as well as sadness. There were moments of joy and wonderment as we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines, walked around the Old Town of Krakow and be impressed at the restoration efforts of Warsaw. Then there were moments of heart-break where we shed tears for those who lost their lives during World War II especially when we visited the concentrations camps.
We had a small taste of Czech Republic back in 2006 when we visited Prague for a few days. This time, we had an opportunity to visit Cesky Krumlov as well. One of our highlights in Cesky Krumlov was definitely getting a tour of the Zámecké Divadlo (Castle Theatre). One of the last few remaining wooden theatres still with costumes, props and stage sets. Prague was nothing like we remembered, probably because we came this time with “older” eyes and a different mindset to travel. A highlight would have to be seeing the Astronomical Clock again and really appreciating it for what it was this time.
Now we are in Bordeaux, France and we are loving France all over again. Despite common belief, the French people are very friendly and always willing to help. Two memorable experiences amongst the many so far (as we still have all up another 10 days or so) was watching Moulin Rouge and seeing Mont St Michel. Next stop Carcassonne 🙂
Have a great week ahead, folks!
Feel free to leave us a comment here
wise monkeys abroad 