Day 13 CAEN - LE MONT SAINT MICHEL 18.08.2022

This morning we had a rich breakfast at our hotel Univers. Of course, as always, 3 kinds of cheese and sweets, cornflakes, applesauce and yogurt. We had a whole baguette and 2 croissants. We couldn't finish the bread and made it for the journey.

According to the navigation, we only had to drive 125 km and would be there quickly. Everything went well, as the highways are not so crowded and there are fewer trucks on the road. That's why we were very surprised when the navigation suddenly announced a 27-minute traffic jam on the country road, we had already left the highway. We only had 5 km left to our destination. Well, in stop-and-go we arrived at an intersection and Google told us to go straight. However, the road was only for authorized personnel. Since we had received a code from our hotel yesterday, we felt authorized. Unfortunately, there was no way to enter a code at the barrier. I went to a guesthouse next to the barrier and the landlady showed me that we had to drive a giant loop in the traffic jam to reach our destination! We had to turn around and merge back into the traffic jam. It was a bit difficult because there were a lot of people walking around. Eventually, we arrived at another barrier, entered the code, and nothing happened. An automated voice contacted us. We didn't understand her and suddenly the barrier opened. Before that, we had some exchange of words in the car. Anyway, we arrived at our hotel and found out: check-in at 5 p.m. We could at least leave the car in the parking lot for free, surprisingly. Our attempt to continue working on the travel blog via the hotel's Wi-Fi failed miserably, despite asking twice. But while circling the hotel, looking for the optimal Wi-Fi point, we realized that we were only 200 m away from the futile barrier?? Madness, but these immense crowds of people can probably not be controlled in any other way!

On the street, there were already a huge number of people walking in one direction. All towards the monastery. We had already seen and photographed this magnificent building from a distance during the journey.

According to the legend, Bishop Aubert stood in disbelief in front of the granite rock, which was cut off from the mainland by a storm surge. He built a church there, which later became a place of pilgrimage. The island has a circumference of 830 m and a construction of 92 m in height. So it is very impressive. Today, the island is connected to the mainland by a bridge. As the national rock is a must-see for all visitors to Brittany, it is always crowded. About 3.5 million people visit this national sanctuary every year! But we were not prepared for such crowds. An infinite stream of people headed towards the old walls. We did too.🙂

We managed to get through the entrance gate and climbed 3 more turns higher. Then everything got stuck. The further admission was in batches. We didn't want to get involved in these dense crowds of people and headed back. We had already walked 4 km and Dittmar had knee problems.

At the base of the monastery, we were somewhat puzzled as there were some police vehicles and police officers with rifles at the ready. It was spooky.

The tidal range at this point is said to be 13 m. At low tide, the water recedes 18 km!? We had just ebbing water. Around 3 p.m., we were back in the town. We had to realize that many restaurants were closed. Our idea of logging into the hotel's internet also failed. So we spent the time until check-in at a bar. Then we bought a few small things at completely overpriced prices and ate and drank in the room.