St. Michael's Mount - Mont St. Michel - on top of an island that you reach by walking across a causeway at low tide... Isn't this in Brittany???
It's also in Cornwall - huh???
Mystery solved - following the Norman Invasion in 1066, the Benedictines from Mont St. Michel (the one in Brittany, France) were granted the island in Cornwall on which to build another monastery. Not sure how long it remained a monastery, but now it's a castle where the St. Aubyn family (aka Lord and Lady St. Levan) live. It's also where Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip, and their retinue will visit on Friday, so the place is spruced up and the townspeople are cranky.
We got there a little early - about an hour before the causeway emerged from the surf - so we walked around the village of Marazion, which is the jumping off point for the island, and found a nice little public terrace from which to watch over-anxious people wading through the still-flooded causeway.
Some of the homes in this village have amazing views.
The walkways up the mount were beautiful - rhodes, azaleas, and other spring bloomers in full show.
And, like any castle worth it's name, the views from the top were spectacular.
Well worth the climb...
And after we'd been to the castle, there were the gardens -
It was a perfect day to visit - just the right amount of sun. Bet the Queen won't do any better!
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