8 ms·

Mont Saint Michel Reveals New Secrets

172 points by curtis 9y ago

conqueso 9y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8y4lttBvFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8y4lttBvFM (headphones highly recommended)
- twic 9y ago
  Although i can't help but think he was thinking of the Cornish one, being Cornish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Michael%27s_Mount https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Michael%27s_Mount
  - conqueso 9y ago
    He was thinking about both! The track is 2 parts, the first is Mount St. Michel, second is St. Michael's Mount. I believe it was written in France, as he wrote the following on his site a few moths ago: "Been asked quite a few times about the bell at the beginning of Mt Saint Michel. Yes it is from the bell in the smaller chapel on the island, I was staying in a house very close to it with a lovely french girl, I sampled it while I was having my breakfast on a very lush sunny morning. Track was about half written by that point and fitted in just right at the beginning. Just recorded it with the internal mic on the laptop :)"
  - fdgwhite 9y ago
    I highly recommend the Cornish Mont. At low tide the beach seems almost infinite and the island floats like a mirage. An amazing hike. Wear rubber boots.
robotmay 9y ago
Mont Saint Michel is certainly a fantastic place, however I must admit that I got a bit bored of walking around the cathedral after about the 20th empty room of pillars ;) Unfortunately a lot of monuments/castles in France suffer from that feeling of emptiness; I assume they were cleared out during the revolution. Your best chance of seeing interesting things as well as interesting buildings seems to be to look for privately-owned/smaller castles that are open to the public. I went to a particularly nice one a couple of years ago where I believe the tour guide was a member of the family who owned it, and they had a fantastic collection of old furniture, art, weapons etc. And the biggest holly tree I have ever seen (we're talking castle-wall height). It's something we kinda take for granted in the UK. We have a lot of ruined castles that are obviously pretty empty, but if it's got a roof it probably has lots of old stuff to see inside too. I do like the number of castles in France though; there's always something to see nearby. It's fun to be in a place with so many historic buildings, like here in Wales (~600 castles)!
- jcelerier 9y ago
  > Your best chance of seeing interesting things as well as interesting buildings seems to be to look for privately-owned/smaller castles that are open to the public. Some very nice ones are the Chateau d'Abbadia (https://www.google.fr/search?q=chateau+d'abbadia+intérieur&tbm=isch https://www.google.fr/search?q=chateau+d'abbadia+intérieur&t...) ; Dampierre-sur-Boutonne has some original stuff preserved too (https://www.google.fr/search?tbm=isch&q=dampierre+sur+boutonne+château+intérieur https://www.google.fr/search?tbm=isch&q=dampierre+sur+bouton...)
- sametmax 9y ago
  Castels are nowhere close to the most interesting things to see in France. "Le puy du fou" (https://www.puydufou.com/fr https://www.puydufou.com/fr), "le palais idéal du factor cheval" (http://www.facteurcheval.com/histoire/palais.html http://www.facteurcheval.com/histoire/palais.html), "le gouffre de padirac" (https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/grottes-et-gouffres/le-gouffre-de-padirac/visiter https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/grottes-et-gouffres/le-gouff...), la via ferrata de peille (http://peille.free.fr/index.php http://peille.free.fr/index.php) or "la cité des sciences" (http://www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/accueil/ http://www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/accueil/) are exemples of much more exotic, fun, interesting and unique things to do in France. Stop doing the things they tell you to do on TV. Cheese and wine will only take you so far.
  - mieseratte 9y ago
    > Castels are nowhere close to the most interesting things to see in France. Not everyone comes from a land with "boring" castles everywhere.
    - sametmax 9y ago
      The great thing is that, since you have them everywhere, you can go on visiting one great castel and one great church. Then do something else. See the giant mechanical elephant in Nantes, hire a guide for "la vallée des merveilles" in the Mercantour park, play petanque and try pastis with old persons in Marseilles, kayak in "les gorges du verdon", bath naked in Saint Selon or break a leg in a the snow of Auron. It's a really cool country once you forget the stereotypes of food, sex and strikes. I mean, I do have food while having sex during strikes, but frankly you can do that anywhere.
laurent123456 9y ago
For anyone interested in going there, try to do so off season or even in the middle of winter when there's almost nobody there. It's an amazing place regardless, but it's even better when you can enjoy it without all the crowd.

172 points by curtis 9y ago

conqueso 9y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8y4lttBvFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8y4lttBvFM (headphones highly recommended)

twic 9y ago
Although i can't help but think he was thinking of the Cornish one, being Cornish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Michael%27s_Mount https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Michael%27s_Mount
- conqueso 9y ago
  He was thinking about both! The track is 2 parts, the first is Mount St. Michel, second is St. Michael's Mount. I believe it was written in France, as he wrote the following on his site a few moths ago: "Been asked quite a few times about the bell at the beginning of Mt Saint Michel. Yes it is from the bell in the smaller chapel on the island, I was staying in a house very close to it with a lovely french girl, I sampled it while I was having my breakfast on a very lush sunny morning. Track was about half written by that point and fitted in just right at the beginning. Just recorded it with the internal mic on the laptop :)"
- fdgwhite 9y ago
  I highly recommend the Cornish Mont. At low tide the beach seems almost infinite and the island floats like a mirage. An amazing hike. Wear rubber boots.

robotmay 9y ago

Mont Saint Michel is certainly a fantastic place, however I must admit that I got a bit bored of walking around the cathedral after about the 20th empty room of pillars ;) Unfortunately a lot of monuments/castles in France suffer from that feeling of emptiness; I assume they were cleared out during the revolution. Your best chance of seeing interesting things as well as interesting buildings seems to be to look for privately-owned/smaller castles that are open to the public. I went to a particularly nice one a couple of years ago where I believe the tour guide was a member of the family who owned it, and they had a fantastic collection of old furniture, art, weapons etc. And the biggest holly tree I have ever seen (we're talking castle-wall height). It's something we kinda take for granted in the UK. We have a lot of ruined castles that are obviously pretty empty, but if it's got a roof it probably has lots of old stuff to see inside too. I do like the number of castles in France though; there's always something to see nearby. It's fun to be in a place with so many historic buildings, like here in Wales (~600 castles)!

jcelerier 9y ago
> Your best chance of seeing interesting things as well as interesting buildings seems to be to look for privately-owned/smaller castles that are open to the public. Some very nice ones are the Chateau d'Abbadia (https://www.google.fr/search?q=chateau+d'abbadia+intérieur&tbm=isch https://www.google.fr/search?q=chateau+d'abbadia+intérieur&t...) ; Dampierre-sur-Boutonne has some original stuff preserved too (https://www.google.fr/search?tbm=isch&q=dampierre+sur+boutonne+château+intérieur https://www.google.fr/search?tbm=isch&q=dampierre+sur+bouton...)
sametmax 9y ago
Castels are nowhere close to the most interesting things to see in France. "Le puy du fou" (https://www.puydufou.com/fr https://www.puydufou.com/fr), "le palais idéal du factor cheval" (http://www.facteurcheval.com/histoire/palais.html http://www.facteurcheval.com/histoire/palais.html), "le gouffre de padirac" (https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/grottes-et-gouffres/le-gouffre-de-padirac/visiter https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/grottes-et-gouffres/le-gouff...), la via ferrata de peille (http://peille.free.fr/index.php http://peille.free.fr/index.php) or "la cité des sciences" (http://www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/accueil/ http://www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/accueil/) are exemples of much more exotic, fun, interesting and unique things to do in France. Stop doing the things they tell you to do on TV. Cheese and wine will only take you so far.
- mieseratte 9y ago
  > Castels are nowhere close to the most interesting things to see in France. Not everyone comes from a land with "boring" castles everywhere.
  - sametmax 9y ago
    The great thing is that, since you have them everywhere, you can go on visiting one great castel and one great church. Then do something else. See the giant mechanical elephant in Nantes, hire a guide for "la vallée des merveilles" in the Mercantour park, play petanque and try pastis with old persons in Marseilles, kayak in "les gorges du verdon", bath naked in Saint Selon or break a leg in a the snow of Auron. It's a really cool country once you forget the stereotypes of food, sex and strikes. I mean, I do have food while having sex during strikes, but frankly you can do that anywhere.

laurent123456 9y ago

For anyone interested in going there, try to do so off season or even in the middle of winter when there's almost nobody there. It's an amazing place regardless, but it's even better when you can enjoy it without all the crowd.