LeHavre is a very important port city. Napoleon stationed his navy here and it was a key port during both World wars.
Many cruisers go to Paris from LeHavre. We chose to go to Mont St. Michel on a ship’s tour. It is one of the greatest religious buildings in Europe. The first abbey was built after the archangel Michael appeared to Bishop Aubert. The abbey stands at the summit of a huge rock 250 feet above the sea and dates from the heyday of Norman power.
We took the twisted passageway lined by old houses where we climbed up to the top of the rock crowned by the Abbey Church, with its spire rising more than 500 feet – with Michel the archangel atop. The Abbey is considered as a masterpiece of Norman architecture. It is said that there are 365 steps leading up to the Abbey.
We first stopped for lunch at a local hotel. We had a French pate, chicken and rice, a brie with lettuce, and an apple tart and got our first glance at the majestic Mont St. Michel.
After winding our way up to the Abbey, our tour guide took us through several rooms which were all stone but the architecture was beautiful for an Abbey built in the 1100’s.
After climbing almost 900 steps during our visit we were exhausted. The bus ride back to the ship was approx. 3 hours.
It was open seating for dinner so we went to the Windjammer after a drink in the concierge.
Tomorrow: Cherbourg, France
900 steps sounds like my kind of place.
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