Mont Saint-Michel was previously connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which before modernization was covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This connection has been compromised by several developments. Over the centuries, the coastal flats have been polderised to create pasture. Thus the distance between the shore and the south coast of Mont-Saint-Michel has decreased. The Couesnon River has been canalised, reducing the flow of water and thereby encouraging a silting-up of the bay. In 1879, the land bridge was fortified into a true causeway. This prevented the tide from scouring the silt around the mount.
Mont-Saint-Michel was used in the sixth and seventh centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Romano-Breton culture and power, until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in AD 460
Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called "monte 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 St Michel you can visit with one conditional, when it is an ebb. Please visit and see this great structure with it`s interesting features.
This is a castle Island, which, decline in water, you can get there by cobbled path.
The closest probably one ever gets to walking a medieval city’s streets, led us up and up to the summit where the ancient abbey sits, guarded by the archangel St Michael, whose image adorns the spire. A veritable jewel in the crown of the high watermark of Christendom.
Inside, the place is in immaculate order and even on a cold and windy day there were many hundreds of tourists sampling its delights.
Official website:
http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/index.htm
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