Where is Mont-Saint-Michel?

Mont-Saint-Michel rises from a wide bay where the Couesnon River meets the English Channel, close to the border between Normandy and Brittany. According to tradition, a bishop of nearby Avranches founded a sanctuary there in 708 after visions of the Archangel Michael, and a Benedictine abbey grew on the summit over the following centuries. The bay has some of the strongest tides in Europe, with a range of up to about 14 metres, so the island can be surrounded by sea or by sand flats. In 2014 a raised bridge replaced the old causeway to let the tides flow freely again. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 and attracts millions of visitors each year.