Stretching towards the sky and protected by the sea, Mont-Saint-Michel is an impregnable site. It is as difficult to escape as it is to enter. This 'Wonder of the West' – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – draws 2.5 million tourists each year and long ago was baptised 'the Bastille of the Seas'. From the 15th century until the middle of the 19th century, the abbey also served as a prison. You can still see vestiges of this dark past, like the giant hamster wheel – a kind of freight elevator where prisoners had to walk for long hours – and the iron cage brought by Louis XI in 1472. (Actually, the latter had always been made of wood, and the present one is a reconstruction since the original cage was destroyed in the 18th century.) What a captivating story!
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