Saturday, November 14, 2015

Mont Saint-Michel - France

Is just a coincidence that I'm posting these french cards after the tragedy that hit Paris yesterday. My thoughts are with the french nation and with the families of those innocent victims, including 2 portuguese citizens!! 

I'll visit Paris someday but 1st I want to visit this amazing place, Mont Saint Michel. These cards are sent to me in the last 7 years by Ara, Hanna, Raquel and Valérie. 

Éditions D'Art * Photo: H. Marcou
Mont-Saint-Michel is a rocky islet topped by a famous Gothic abbey, 1.6 km (1 mi) off the coast of Normandy in northwest France in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel in the English Channel. The island, located 5 km (3 mi) from the shore during the Middle Ages, is now surrounded by water only two times a month. Its one cobblestone street climbs in three spirals from a great granite base to the towering Benedictine abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, an architectural masterpiece built in the 13th century, replacing the original abbey, which was founded in 708 by Saint Aubert, bishop of Avranches, but destroyed by King Philip II of France in 1203.

Its fortifications enabled the islet to withstand repeated English assaults during the Hundred Years' War. The abbey served as a prison during Napoleon I's reign. Restored after 1863, and connected to the mainland by a causeway (completed 1875), the abbey is preserved as a national historical monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of France's great tourist attractions. - in: http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Provinces/Normandy/Mont-St-Michel.shtml

 Mont St Michel lies in the heart of an outstanding setting. Mont St Michel Bay has the highest tides in Europe, up to 15 metres difference between low and hight water, which transform the surrounding landscapes twice a day.  During top of the spring tides, the sea goes out 15 kilometres from the coast and comes in again very quickly.
The tides are caused by the action of the heavenly bodies, principally the sun and the moon. When they are in line with the earth (in syzygy) the attraction is multiplied, announcing spring tides, this corresponds with the period of highest tides ; on the contrary, if the sun and the moon form a right angle (in quadrature), the attraction is reduced and we are in neap tides, the period of lowest tidal movement.

 Artaud Frères - Editeurs 
 This phenomena are accentuated in Mont Saint-Michel bay, because with the rock being in the back of the bay, the sea doesn't reach the Mount during neap tides. On the other hand during spring tides, the sea reaches the Mount but only after 4 hours and 30 minutes after the start of the rising tide, about every fortnight. - in: http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/en/horaire-marees/mont-saint-michel.htm

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