Mont Saint-Michel & Normandy

Overview

This trip will be postponed until 18 – 20 September, probably with a late afternoon departure.
Click here to go to that event.

Mont Saint-Michel is on the bucket list of many Brussels expats. But since it is far away and without good public transportation connections, basically the only way to get there is by car. Therefore Expat Club regularly organises a long weekend trip by comfortable bus to this magical place on the border of Normandy and Brittany. As usual, we only travel to Mont Saint-Michel on particular days, namely when the tides are very high. We arranged for you a special guided tour inside the abbey that will take you to several places that remain hidden from the public.

This weekend is going to be extra long, because we depart already on Thursday evening. This allows us on Friday to dive deeper into the history of the city where we stay, Caen, and that other historic place, Bayeux. On top of that we would like to invite you for Sunday’s D-Day festivities near the Utah beach section and witness the spectacular droppings  of hundreds of paratroopers from original WWII planes near Saint-Mère Église.* Read more below…

Pre-reserve your spot now!
We would like to know if you are interested in this trip. If yes, please let us know by making a pre-reservation. This is for free and without obligation. You can do this in 2 ways. If you are a member, log in and click on the RSVP button. If you are not yet a member, you can either first register as a member, the log in and click on the RSVP on this page, or you can send us a message at info@expatclub.org with the number of people you would like to join. Due to a technical problem you cannot enter your name/email in the regular sign up box now. We apologise for this, and are working on it.

Pictures

From many kilometers away this pilgrimage destination is visible.

The islands seems close to the main land, but when fully surrounded by water, it is hard to reach. | by Michel Avion Fabos (own work), via Wikimedia Commons

After leaving the highway the island comes closer and closer.

The low hanging fog makes it sometimes look like it is floating in the clouds.

The mainland around the bay is primarily used for sheep and horses, giving yet another special dimension to this sacred destination | © Igor Plotnikov - Shutterstock

Until just a few years ago a large and broad dike with parking spots of both sides led all the way to the island. It has now been replaced by a bridge to offer more freedom to the sea. Visitors are shuttled back and forth from the mainland by buses.

Two times per day the water travels 15 kilometers away from the island, making the island nothing more than a rock between a desert of dry of ocean. | © Duchy - Shutterstock

The entrance to the island.

Immediately after entry you will find yourself in an idyllic village. | © Rolf E. Staerk - Shutterstock

One small alley with the unimaginable name Grande Rue slowly leads visitors along many tourist shops and restaurants up to the abbey. | by Manuel Velazques (own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Along the way up the hill you will walk by many interesting historic artefacts. It is one big museum.

There are stairs everywhere, and there is no way around them. Without an elevator you can do nothing more than walking up there!

The closer you get, the more impressive the views of the abbey are becoming.

Once you are almost there you will find yourself between massive walls. | by Uwe Brodrecht (own work), via Wikimedia Commons

And suddenly you are standing next to the ultimate destination of our journey, the abbey's church. | by Itto Ogami (own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Our guide will tell us much about the history of this place inside the church. | by Pir6mon (own work), via Wikimedia Commons

The splendid stained-glass windows at 100 meters above sea level.

The courtyard is lovely from the inside and offers a spectacular view over the ocean. |© Jose Ignacio Soto - Shutterstock

The inner courtyard is fully surrounded by beautiful galleries.

The Salle des Hôtes, only one of the many larger rooms in the entire complex.

Once you leave the building again, the views are every changing and magnificent. | by Marco Usant (own work), via Wikimedia Commons

The abbey walls from the North side are incredibly high and cover centuries of building.

Mont Saint-Michel: an introduction

The powerful tides of Mont Saint-Michel, one of the highest in the world!

While the high water is slowly retreating towards the Atlantic Ocean, we take final view on this magical place. | © Canadastock - Shutterstock

Program

Thursday 4 June
17h30 – Departure from Brussels
20h00 – Highway dinner stop
23h45 – Arrival hotel Caen

Friday 5 June
09h00 – Morning program Caen (Castle and town visit)
13h00 – Transfer to Bayeux (by train, included)
13h30 – Visit of the Bayeux Tapestry
14h00 – Guided tour Bayeux
15h00 – Free time
18h00 – Dinner in Bayeux (optional)
20h00 – Return to Caen

Saturday 6 June
09h00 – Departure to Mont Saint-Michel
10h30 – Arrival Mont Saint-Michel parking
11h00 – Mont Saint-Michel & guided tour (included)
12h00 – Lunch
13h30 – Guided bay-walking tour (optional)
15h00 – End bay-walking tour & free time
16h00 – Start guided abbey tour
17h45 – End abbey tour & free time
18h32 – Tidal wave arrival
18h50 – Dinner
20h32 – High tide at Mont Saint-Michel
21h30 – Departure
23h00 – Return to Caen

Sunday 7 June*
09h00 – Departure from hotel
10h00 – Visit to Utah Beach section
12h00 – Visit to Saint-Mère Eglise
13h00 – See paratroopers dropping
15h00 – Return to Brussels
19h00 – Highway dinner stop
22h30 – Return to Brussels

* The trip on 7 June may be replaced with a visit to 2 other towns in Normandy in case the total group size for the D-Day trip and Mont Saint-Michel trip is such that we require to split the group. These towns could be Deauville, Honfleur or Étretat.

Thursday 4 June – Travel to Caen
We depart at 17h30 from Place Schuman towards Normandy. This means you won’t have to take a day off from work. You can also board at La Chasse, Metro Delta or Metro Hermann-Debroux. We stop once along the highway for dinner and to stretch our legs, before we continue to our final destination, Caen, where we check in to our hotels.

Friday 5 June – Bayeux & Mont Saint-Michel
In the morning we will take time to explore Caen itself. Caen is a roughly 1.000 year old, although traces have been found from many centuries before that. It really started to grow around 1.025-1.030 thanks to the Dukes of Normandy, with the development of a market, mills, vineyards, churches and other buildings. Since then it went through a rich history with many rulers, wars and sieges. Currently the city has about 110.000 inhabitants, with well over 400.000 in the larger urban area, making it the 21st largest metropolitan area in France.

In the afternoon we travel to the historic city of Bayeux. We will visit the world-famous 70 meter long tapestry depicting the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the Cathedral or the impressive British Cemetery, the final resting place of thousands of soldiers who died during the D-Day landings. Strolling around town and enjoying La Douce France is of course also an option.

 

 

 

We begin our tour of the island with a free visit to the village. You can go into one of the 4 small museums, have lunch or find some souvenirs. However, you can also join us for a superfun baywalking tour. Although this is as low as we will get during this day, namely on the dried up sea bottom, our past trips have shown it was the highlight for many! Just to much fun and beautiful views as well.

In the later afternoon you are expected to walk up the hundreds of steps towards the entry gate of the abbey. Here an official abbey guide will wait for us to take us on a UNIQUE behind-closed-doors tour. This means the lady or gentleman will take us to places regular tourists cannot go. You will see the main church, the many halls,  and corridors. The guide will tell us about the long history of this mysterious place. You will be amazed with this complex and how old certain parts actually are. But since this tour is really special, we also go into secret prayer rooms as well the prison (very scary!).

 

 

 

 

Dinner
We have dinner in one of the famous restaurants on Mont Saint-Michel overlooking the bay. Our group dinners are a great way to meet new people and have fun. Prior reservation for dinner is required and you can indicate your meal preference during checkout (including vegetarian). This is a busy evening as many people will stay for the high tide so finding a spot may not be so easy. Besides it’s a special weekend with this high water!

Our menu:

Entrée
Normandy style seasonal vegetable soup

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Main course
Pan-fried salmon, beurre blanc sauce, basmati rice
Ommelette Poulard (vegetarian option, the famous local dish!)

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Dessert
Apple tart with custard

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Drinks
1 glass of cider rosé Tradition Mère Poulard
A bottle of red wine per 4 persons – Berger Baron Philippe de Rothschild 
Vitel water
Coffee or tea

Sunday 7 June – D-Day
The program of this day is not yet 100% defined because it depends on the interests for this trip and the D-Day trip at the same time. If we have a large Mont Saint-Michel group then we will visit 2 out of 3 beautiful Normandy towns: Deauville, Honfleur and Étretat. If we have a smaller group and can fit everyone from both the Mont Saint-Michel & D-Day trip in 1 bus then this day will be taking us to the Utah Beach sector on the Normandy peninsula, as well as the historic D-Day town of Saint-Mère Eglise from where we can also witness the dropping of hundreds of paratroopers (phenomenal to see!).

Transportation

Accommodation

We are staying this year in only 1 place, namely Caen, the Capital of the region. Here you can choose between the 3* Hotel de l’Universe, the 3* Ibis hotel or the 4* Mercure hotel, each located in downtown Caen right on the harbour and both among the best hotels in town. For this trip breakfast will already be included in the trip fee, so you can start the day right well.

Mercure Caen Centre Porte de Plaisance****
This hotel is located right on the yacht harbour of Caen, right in the heart of the city. The 4* rooms are clean and very comfortable. If you take breakfast as well, be prepared for a feast; last time we stayed here we totally loved it!

Ibis Caen Centre***
The Ibis hotel is located right next to the Mercure hotel. The rooms are clean and all have a private bathroom. In this hotel we offer single rooms and twin rooms.

Hotel de l’Universe***
This basic 3-star hotel is located at just 100 meters from the Ibis and Mercure hotel. The rooms are small, but they are clean and comfortable. In this hotel we offer single, double and triple rooms. Note, we propose this as a budget hotel that is definitely a step below the Ibis hotel and a big difference with the Mercure hotel.

ROOM SHARING
If you travel alone you can avoid the single room surcharge by sharing a “twin room” with 2 single beds. We offer male or female rooms and we can introduce you to all the other ladies or gentlemen in our group who are also searching for a room partner. This means we do not assign you to a room, but you choose yourself who you want to share the room with. So if you prefer this option, just select it during checkout. It is a perfect way to lower your costs and to meet another friendly expat. Many of our guests in the past have chosen for this option, sometimes even up to 70% per trip. In other words, you don’t have to worry about finding a room partner, we do this for you. Since our participants are all adults, most between 30 and 60 years), there is always a kind person to share the room with. Note that we may stop the twin sharing for male rooms from about 2 months before departure!

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