Standing the test of tide
The Bay of Mont Saint-Michel and its ancient abbey lie at the heart of Normandy's well-trodden tourist trail. Referred to as the Monaco of the North, it has a dramatic coastline and brooding countryside steeped in religion, legend and history, writes Joyce Hor-Chung Lau.
Twice a day, the waters of the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel recede to the Sea of La Manche, where the Atlantic meets the English Channel. Low tide reveals jagged cliffs, swirling quicksand and surreally bright green pastures that, only hours earlier, were soaking under salt water. Six hours later, the sea comes crashing back - 'faster than a horse can gallop', as locals say - flooding everything in its path. The coastline here, on the border of Normandy and Brittany, can shift up to 15 kilometres a day with the ebb and flow of the tide.
At the centre of this activity is the millennium-old Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, one of France's holiest places, surrounded by the country's most dramatic natural phenomenon. At high tide, this Unesco World Heritage site can be seen amid the grey mist perched on a craggy rock overlooking azure waters. At low tide, it sits on a strangely drained ocean floor and becomes a beacon for thousands of pilgrims who travel to it the old fashioned way.
On a few chosen days a year, they start from the hamlet of Genets and walk 10km over wet shifting silt, led by a guide, the low ring of the abbey bell and blind faith that they will make it before the waves sweep in again. While most of Mont Saint-Michel's million-plus annual visitors drive across the modern flood-proof road, pilgrims equate their spiritual experience to walking on water; after all, they are taking advantage of low tide to tread on the sea bed.
The easiest way to reach southwest Normandy's tumultuous coastline is to take a three-hour train trip from Paris to Granville, an ancient walled city on the northern bank of the bay. Referred to as the Monaco of the North because of its popularity among affluent Parisians and Britons looking for summer homes, Granville offers sophistication in a province otherwise known only for cows, orchards and D-Day beaches.
Christian Dior, for example, was born and raised here, in a fairytale-perfect seaside mansion. Complete with a manicured flower garden and cliff-top view, it has been turned into a museum dedicated to the couturier's designs. With typical Granvillian discretion, however, the museum is not promoted, unless you count a few black and white posters showing the young Dior in a sailor's outfit. Even on a beautiful afternoon in peak tourist season, there were only a handful of visitors along with the usual well-coiffed madames walking their equally well-coiffed dogs. Miraculously, news of the original House of Dior hasn't reached the general tourist circuit yet; see it before it does.