My first impressions of St. Malo were of being flung back in time and trying to fit modern technology into a place it was never made for. We approached the town first by high-speed train. The station and the trains look modern and sleek. We took a taxi from the train station to the hotel, so had to go from the modern town outside the walled city into the small quaint remnant of yesteryear. We entered through a large gateway in a daunting wall, and it was indeed like stepping back through time.
There really was no place for cars there. Oh, there was parking on the streets, and repurposed carriage houses or stables turned into garages, but the streets were for people, not drivers. Each street was filled with people walking, and they were not much concerned about the car following behind. Buildings went right up to the corners, not allowing for drivers to see beyond to the perpendicular road. Cars were clearly interlopers. Roads were not paved with blacktop, they were cobblestone (leave the heels home, ladies!) We were hugging buildings to let cars by on narrower streets.
And so, that was my first sight of St. Malo. I loved it! To walk the longest straight-line distance within the walls might take as much as 15 minutes if you’re not in a hurry. There was no need for cars if you were staying within the walls.
Keeping that in mind, when we went to Mont St. Michel, it was still another step back in time. While it was fascinating to see so much history in St. Malo and how the 21st century struggled there to exist, Mont St. Michel basically never let it in. Sure, there were the audio guides you see in other places. The tourist shops had all the commercial tacky tourist souvenirs. Cash registers were all high-tech. But you could only reach the Mount by bus, which dropped you off quite a distance from the small town. You had to get there on foot.
No roads for driving, they were all pedestrian alleyways.
And this is a conical rock in the water, it only went up, or down. Either you were climbing stairs or you were descending stairs, if not walking toward the next set of stairs.
Like St Malo, there were big granite walls and big granite buildings wherever you turned. Like St. Malo the architecture all hailed from centuries ago. And, like St. Malo, the Tourist is king! Long live the King!
Both places had endless supplies of souvenir shops, restaurants and English speakers. It is obvious how easily and quickly people can get there from England. I think we heard more of the Queen’s English than French in either place. All the shopkeepers and servers were very friendly and expected to be dealing with English-speaking people. While I was in Paris I did my best to speak French, even though my skills are rusty, but in Mont St. Michel (and St. Malo too) I didn’t feel bad at all when the person waiting on me simply switched to English. Everyone else around me was doing it too. So if you do want to go to France, but worry about language skills, this is perfect for you!
For the monastery itself, it really is fascinating the way all that is sitting on an oversized rock. As the rock ascends, the buildings adjust to the rise.
Each road had houses on the higher side, and the lower side mostly looked on the rooftops of the next roadway further down. The walls surrounding much of the town often accommodated the natural rock formations already existing to create parts of those walls.
The logistics of a town built on a cone sticking out of the water give me endless questions. One mystery was answered when we found a cemetery within the town for the residents, with a level surface (obviously made level by man) and each plot was for an entire family.
Each grave accommodates multiples, and the stones either list the family members or simply state the family name. The cemetery was quite small, and probably like many other places, the space exists for that family as long as they keep up with the fees. Most names were fairly recent (within the last century) and the spaces well tended.
Another problem, how do they get all the stuff they need up to the top? During the French Revolution Mont St. Michel was used as a prison. They used a treadmill and pulley-type system to raise supplies to the monastery. (note from Angie: this photo is taken from somewhere else)
The wheel was powered by 6 people, three pairs of two people side by side in the wheel to make it turn.
As it turned, it moved a rope that was attached to the sled you see in the picture, lowering it and then hauling up the goods on it, up to 2 tons worth. The prisoners of course were the ones who powered it. This shows the outside of the building where the sled was lowered and raised again. You can see a chain to the left in the picture holding a sled.
If only Rapunzel had had one of those contraptions, she wouldn’t have had to grow her hair so long!
More on Mont St Michel next time.
2 comments:
excellent guest post, and obviously some of angie's gift of writing comes from her mother, not her father. i loved the historical description of how things worked and the pictures are great. having heard how close it was to england, and that the people sometimes were even on the english side of conflicts, makes sense they are comfortable with english. great pictures also.
I agree, excellent guest post. Interesting the way they got supplies to the top. With all that walking I imagine people are in good shape.
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