Last Sunday, I was able to visit two of France hidden gems. I had the opportunity to visit Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo, two small towns in the northwest of France in the Normandy region. These two towns are not the first two towns you would think of visiting while in France but they are definitely worth your time if you ever find yourself near Normandy. I did a day long excursion to both of these towns so I did not spend much time in either, but whether you have a free weekend or a just a free day to visit you will not regret going to either one of these two towns. I began my Sunday excursion at Saint Malo along the beautiful beach that surrounds it. When I arrived with my friends to Saint Malo, we started by entering the fort that surrounds the small town and going to the top of the fort, where you can walk for a few miles and see beautiful views of both the sea and the town. Afterwards, we decided to explore the town a bit. Sundays in France are a bit different than in other countries since most places tend to be closed, expect for major cities and touristic areas. Luckily, Saint Malo is somewhat touristic and on Sundays there is a good amount of shops and restaurants open after 12pm. We began our exploration of the town by going to souvenir shops and looking at all the merchandise the Bretagne area is known for. In the gift shops there were a lot of crêpes and caramel candies that were specialties of that region. Afterward the gift shops we continued walking and we saw a small chocolate shop with many different flavored chocolate, such as lavender flavor. Next, we decided it would be a good idea to eat crêpes. The Bretagne area where Saint Malo is located is know for crêpes and the different combinations of crêpes you can find. My friends and I went to a restaurant and we each had different crêpes. I ordered the Ferrari Crêpe which was just a crêpe with Chantilly cream, ice cream, coconut shavings, bananas, and Nutella. It was a delicious crêpe!! After eating, we continued exploring the town for another hour and the town started to look more lively around this time. We walked around shops and saw many beautiful buildings, until we ran into a shop that specialized in French style donuts that you could fill with any type of filling such as chocolate or jelly. These donuts looked appetizing but after eating such a sugary crêpe my limit had been reached. By this time, it was also time to head to Mt. St. Michel. When we arrived at Mt. St. Michel, we had to take a bus from the parking lot to the abbey located in the town. Once the bus dropped us off we began our climb to the top! As we marched up the stairs, I felt like there was a million of them and I suddenly got a flashback of all the stairs in Montmartre to reach Sacré-Cœur. I thought that after being in France for a few weeks and walking on average 3-5 miles a day I would be in great conditions to make it to the top of the abbey…I was wrong! 20 minutes later and completely out of breath, I finally made it to the top and we began our tour of the abbey. The abbey is truly, a beautiful monument filled with history. As you slowly start your descend, through the monument you get beautiful views of the beach that surrounds it and the gardens within the abbey. The day we visited the tide was very low, so there wasn’t much water in the area but nonetheless the view was beautiful! Mt. St. Michel and St. Malo are both two beautiful towns that are great weekend trips or even day trips if you ever find yourself in France!
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