Behold the all majestic Le Mont Saint Michel

Even I was all embarrassed to tell my colleagues at work that I was taking Thursday off because I was going away for Easter with my fiance. I know, I just came back from Singapore and to go away again so soon?! Sheepishly, yes.

Easter is the only Bank Holiday in the UK with two consecutive holidays, ie Good Friday and Easter Monday. 4 day long weekend - how not to take the chance to go somewhere?

K and I have always been talking about visiting Mont Saint Michel in Normandy. The frequency of us mentioning it between ourselves and with friends, it almost qualifies as a pilgrimage trip. Thing is, it is not that easy to get to, despite it being the most visited tourist attraction in France. We finally figured out last month and thought "let's just stop talking about it and go already".

Behold

In case you are wondering, you can either take an overnight 8h ferry from Portsmouth UK to Saint Malo in Brittany, and bring your UK car with you along by paying more. Alternatively you could take a short 1h flight to Dinan in Brittany and start your journey from there. Bear in mind though, this is the French countryside so it is definitely better to drive to get around.

We wanted to take the overnight ferry but we procrastinated too much and the cabins were sold out but we didn't want to end up sitting upright overnight on the ferry and arrive in Saint Malo like two zombies. Despite us shunning Ryanair the best we can, they do fly to Dinan and so we decided to put our differences aside and just go with them this one more time. We picked our base to be in this small village of Pontorson, 6km away from the all legendary Mont Saint Michel. I have to say that I am now a big fan of B&Bs compared to hotels because I love the personal touch of what a B&B can offer, and this was exactly what we found in Villa Mons, run by a lovely Japanese lady Tomoko and her French husband Damien.

With the help of our trusty rented TomTom, we arrived safely and within time from Dinan, Brittany to Pontorson, Normandy, a 45min drive away. We were blown away by our room in this 3 storey house and Tomoko was simply amazing. Perhaps it's that Asian affinity I don't know but I immediately felt very at home. Our room was in the loft, with a double bed and two separate sitting areas plus a sofa to lounge in! Not to mention the spacious bathroom with two sinks so we don't have to fight over in the morning hehe. What a gem in this village. Super like!

The driver taking a break :)

One of the sitting areas in our room overlooking the petit garden

The comfy bed

The toilet with two sinks - how considerate

The shower area

The garden which we didn't venture into because it was freezing weather

Tomoko suggested dinner at this restaurant 2min walk away and also suggested us driving to Mont Saint Michel at night because that is when all the tourist buses leave and what is left is that peace and tranquility of the holy site with the yellow lights illuminating it from a distance. We decided to do just that. Only problem was that it was so cold and windy at night, we tried taking a few photos before running back to the car shivering.

The night view of MSM

The next day, finally... behold the all majestic Mont Saint Michel. We went at about 10am which was not as crowded as what we expected. We took the free shuttle bus from the mainland to the island which is a quick 5min or so ride. Today the island has 100 inhabitants and we toyed with the idea of staying one night on the island just for the experience but K didn't like the idea of moving around too much and so we dropped it. I love the street with the quaint shops leading all the way to the entrance of the Abbey.

Grey and cold

Lots of climbing. I was panting.

Inside the main cathedral

Look at the wind blowing

Hi Kenny ;)

We walked around in the abbey and was astounded by how the people could build such a massive structure years ago without today's engineering feat. That aside, I have to admit we were over the excitement and felt a little bored after an hour or so. Perhaps it was the rumbling stomachs, or perhaps we were tired out by climbing up the many stairs... and so we decided it's time to leave the abbey and have some lunch. That was also when we saw throngs of tourists coming up our way and phew were we glad to be going in the opposite direction from them.

In the crypt or something

Guess what we did after lunch? We drove 10min back to Tomoko's and had a nap! What a joy - to be on such a relaxed holiday such as this. Without a care in the world. We had seen what we had set out for, and decided to take it easy by napping first before deciding where to go next.

Fougeres was recommended by Damien and we decided to go with his recommendation. Unfortunately it was raining and so we were walking around the village with an umbrella in tow, not the most fun thing to do whilst sight seeing. Nonetheless the Chateau de Fougeres looked impressive and we were glad we walked up to the Public Jardin to have a bird's eye view of the chateau and its surrounding old town that late afternoon. In K's words, we seemed to be the only two jokers in the rain in the garden...