A must-see trip from Paris is Mont Saint-Michel. Located in Normandy, the northwestern part of France bounded by the English Channel, it is a seaside island with an abbey and a small village. The town’s location, on an island a few hundred meters from the mainland, made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims traveling to its abbey, but defensible when the incoming tide blocked, chased away, or drowned any attackers. The island also became a prison and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 for its unique aesthetics and importance as a medieval Christian site.
Reaching this wonder by train (+ free shuttle) is possible however my friends and I preferred to rent a car with Hertz so we could spend a night out and do two days of “exploration” between Normandy and Bretagne. If booked in advance and there are at least 4 of you sharing the cost is affordable as it allows you to be very free and independent. Keep in mind that if you register a driver under 25 you have to pay an additional fee. We stayed at the Hotel Les Quatres Salines 10 minutes from Mont Saint-Michel, if you want you can also stay on the island, just book well in advance to avoid paying crazy amounts of money!
After the stop at this wonder, we moved to Bretagne and more specifically to Saint-Malo to watch the sunset and have dinner. Saint-Malo is a famous seaside town, full of historical monuments and events, especially in the summer. It is a coastal town, fortified with a belt of ramparts, the old town is built on an island connected to the coast. Its port opens onto the English Channel, and its coastline is among those in France the most exposed to the tidal phenomenon (width exceeds 10 meters). Saint-Malo is strongly linked to the sea: famous for being the city of privateers, it is now considered the sailing capital of France.
Here I recommend that you stop to eat at Le Cafe de Saint Malo and enjoy a fantastic seafood dish! It will be well worth it.
The next day we left for Granville so we could visit the Dior Museum, Villa from which it all began. Granville was built by the British to guard Mont Saint-Michel. It is divided into the “vielle ville,” built on a rocky promontory with granite houses with white shutters, and the lower town, which is said to have been built on a mountain of shells, with its maritime vocation, narrow beach, and fashionable boutiques. On June 22, 1988, Villa Les Rhumbs, Christian Dior’s birthplace in Granville, was transformed into a museum dedicated to the life and works of the French fashion designer, called simply Musée Christian Dior. The museum sits atop a cliff at the entrance to the town, overlooking the Anglo-Norman Islands, and is surrounded by a large garden.
Here I recommend trying a galette as well as a savory crêpe at La Bolée Normande!
Finally, on the way back to Paris we stopped in the beautiful city of Rouen. Rouen is among the most important cities of art in the country so much so that it deserves the appellation Ville Musée; it preserves, in fact, a large number of admirable monuments, especially Gothic, and a historic center still rich in old half-timbered houses constituting an important example of a medieval North European complex. It is also the birthplace of Gustave Flaubert and one of the few in France to be honored with the Légion d’honneur. Here you can visit Notre-Dame Cathedral, one of the most beautiful and imposing French Gothic cathedrals and one of the greatest masterpieces of Gothic architecture seen in its evolution from the 13th to the 16th century. Its 151-meter-high flèche makes Rouen Cathedral the tallest in France. The monument dedicated to Joan of Arc as well as the site of her burning and the Gros-Horloge, the city’s landmark, is a Renaissance construction erected over a low archway that spans the city’s main thoroughfare. It is equipped with a fine medieval astronomical clock that having been made in 1389 is one of the oldest in Europe.
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