In the island of Mont-Saint-Michel-Michel, in Normandy, France

 "A saint is a person who gives of his [or her] self without asking for anything in return. That's how simple it is to be a saint."

-- Edward James Olmos
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(In Normandy, France) Rising above the sea like a castle in a fairy tale, Mont Saint-Michel (shown here) is one of France's most-visited sights. Legend says the archangel Michael, the island's namesake, repeatedly appeared to Bishop Aubert of Avranches in dreams, telling him to build a church on top of the island in 708 CE. Since its completion, it has become an important pilgrimage site for Christians and European intellectuals. Visitors can tour the fascinating abbey and admire its incredible medieval architecture or wander its surrounding streets, which are lined with small shops and quaint cafes.

+ One of France’s most iconic images: the slender spires, stout ramparts, and rocky outcrops of Mont St-Michel rising dramatically from the sea – or towering over slick, shimmering sands laid bare by the receding tide. Despite vast numbers of tourists, both the rock-top abbey and the narrow alleys below still manage to transport visitors back to the Middle Ages.

+ This island, with its fast and fickle tides, was a notorious prison during the French Revolution. Today, visitors arrive (by choice), seeking to explore the 11th-century abbey, dine in fine restaurants, and take in the impressive evening illuminations. Only a narrow causeway, built in 1880, linked the island to the mainland, -- although a convenient bridge was completed here, a little more than a decade ago.

~ Mont-Saint-Michel, a rocky islet and famous sanctuary in the Manche department of France's Normandy région, lies just off the coast of Normandy. It is located 41 miles (66 km) north of Rennes and 32 miles (52 km) east of Saint-Malo. Around its base are medieval walls and towers above which rise the clustered buildings of the village -- with the ancient abbey crowning the mount. (One of the more popular tourist attractions in France, Mont-Saint-Michel was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.)

+ Mont-Saint-Michel-Michel is almost circular (about 900 meters in circumference); it consists of a granite outcrop rising sharply (to 78 meters]) out of Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (between Brittany and Normandy). Most of the time it is surrounded by vast sandbanks and becomes an island only when the tides are quite high. Before the construction of the causeway that now connects the island to land, it was particularly difficult to reach because of quicksand and very fast-rising tides. Yet, the causeway has become a barrier to the removal of material by the tides, thus resulting in higher sandbanks between the islet and the coast.