Day One Hundred Twenty Eight - May 13

Our ship's arrival time was 07:00 and we booked the ship tour to Mont St. Michel in Normandy. Three buses from the ship had booked the tour and we boarded the first bus with friends, Keith, Ilona, Joy and Ed.

What was noticeable was that we were greeted by our tour guide Alain who was not wearing a mask at the time but informed us that we were only required to wear one on the bus. He in fact said us that effective Monday May 16, the wearing of masks indoors and on public transport will not be required in France and in most of Europe.

The city of St. Malo (population 47,000) is considered the seventeenth important port in France. Major industries include food processing (shellfish), shipbuilding, and the manufacture of machinery and chemicals.

There is also ferry connections to England, Ireland and the Channel Islands. When we left the cruise terminal for our tour the sign for ferries indicated St. Malo to Portsmouth. In the past while in Portsmouth I have seen the Brittany Ferries sailing into the harbour.

St. Malo is in the region of Brittany, one of the thirteen regions in France. Today we are leaving Brittany (population 3.2 million) to travel to Normandy (population 3.4 million) where Mont St. Michel is located.

I have an eerie feeling that I have visited Mont St Michel before - No I am wrong I visited St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall. The English island is linked to the town of Marazion by a causeway. I remember taking a boat to the island and then walking back between the tides along the causeway in an earlier visit to Cornwall and Devon maybe twenty years ago. St. Michael's Mount is managed by the National Trust but the castle and chapel have been home to the St Aubyn family since approximately 1650.

Enough on the English version of the chapel and back to Mont St. Michel in Normandy. Once the coach is parked a shuttle bus drives you to the village of Avranches towards the abbey. Three quarters across the causeway we leave the bus and walk the remaining distance to the island which provided for an excellent opportunity for photos of the abbey. The abbey is accessible year round with the exception of a few hours every year when full moon and hide tides co-exist which causes the abbey to be fully surrounded by water. Our guide informed us this was to occur sometime during May.

Since 2001, two bodies of monks and nuns from the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem live in Mont Saint-Michel Abbey and deal with the running of the Abbey and daily services. The guide indicated that at present there are 16 individuals living in the abbey - 9 nuns, 3 monks and 4 individuals on a permanent retreat. We learned that once a week one of the monks will drive the car into the village to collect food and should they forget anything they would need to wait until the following week to get it - a little of what we all did at the beginning of Covid.

You can see from the abbey walls how difficult it was to invade back in early centuries when the tides would cause havoc with any type of battle plans. The English in the early 1100s-1200s tried in vane to conquer the abbey.

It truly is a mystical place that receives up to 3 million visitors a year. Our tour was quite early so the crowds were bearable but as we were leaving you could start seeing the crowds arriving.

The narrow streets within the abbey walls are a collection of souvenir shops and restaurants.

Back on the bus our return trip took us along the coast to see oyster farms. Here the farmers will travel out on their boats with huge tires when the tide is out to collect the oysters. The best time to collect your oysters is from May to August but it takes between 1.5-3 years for oysters to grow to their full size.

Our bus was caught behind a farmer in his boat which was pulled by a tractor. The farmer had filled up his meshed type bags with oysters to take back home where they would be cleaned with water to clear off the mud and debris.

Back in St. Malo there was enough time to visit the old city within the castle walls. Too bad there was not enough time to shop but I had my first crepe in France.

It is then back to the ship for the sail away and another seaday as we make our way to Kristiansand, Norway 727 nautical miles away. This will be a new country for us.