mont st. michel
info from wikipedia:
Mont Saint-Michel (English: Mount Saint Michael) is a rocky tidal island in Normandy, roughly one kilometre from the north coast of France at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches.
Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called Mont Tombe. According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger.
Mont-Saint-Michel used to be connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which before modernization was covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. Thus, Mont Saint Michel gained a mystical quality, being an island half the time, and being attached to land the other: a tidal island.
However, the insular character of the mount has been compromised by several developments. Over the centuries, the coastal flats have been polderised to create pasture.
Polderisation created salt marsh meadows that were found to be ideally suited to grazing sheep. The well-flavoured meat that results from the diet of the sheep in the pré salé (salt meadow) makes agneau de pré-salé (salt meadow lamb), a local speciality that may be found on the menus of restaurants that depend on income from the many visitors to the mount.
The tides in the area shift quickly, and have been described by Victor Hugo as "à la vitesse d'un cheval au galop" or "as swiftly as a galloping horse". The tide actually comes in at one meter per second.
The tides can vary greatly, at roughly 14 metres between high and low water marks. Popularly nicknamed "St. Michael in peril of the sea" by medieval pilgrims making their way across the tidal flats, the mount can still pose dangers for visitors who avoid the causeway and attempt the hazardous walk across the sands from the neighbouring coast. The danger of drowning due to coastal tides after getting caught in quicksand continues to claim lives.
Comments and faves
Jan Egil Kristiansen (60 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Island - complete and uncropped, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Maybe a bit pale in the haze, but you do communicate that the place is a (tidal) island.
ⓔⓧⓐⓘⓜ (46 months ago | reply)
Nous aimerions avoir votre photo dans notre pool de groupe. Merci de l'ajouter:
~Cette photo est invitée au groupe Paysages du Mont St Michel~
~Please add this photo to the pool~