MONT Saint Michel appears like a mirage on the horizon through our tour bus window.
With fields of maize beside the road as far as the eye can see, the incredible structure dominates the sky off Normandy and Brittany in north-west France.
I imagine it's a little like that first glimpse of a pyramid in the distance across kilometres of sand.
And just like the pyramids of Ancient Egypt, the story and construction of Mont Saint Michel - a UNESCO World Heritage-Listed site - is just as fascinating.
The first church was built on the island in 708 after a local bishop Aubert of Avranches had a dream in which the archangel Saint Michael asked him to build a memorial on the 97ha island.
The bishop first ignored and then refused the task in two dreams. Legend has it that Saint Michael became so frustrated and angry that the bishop would not consent to his wishes in the third dream that he placed his finger between the bishop's eyes and burned a hole in his skull.
When he woke with a fingerprint indent (the hole in his skull can be seen to this day at St Gervais church in Avanches), the bishop realised what he must do and convinced his parishioners to build a church on the island.
Very little of that church remains today.
A Romanesque church was built in the 11th century but the chancel collapsed in 1420 and was replaced with a gothic one.
Other building phases over the centuries saw the church and monastery morph into various shapes and increase in size.
The latest church was built in 1838 in the shape of a Latin cross that is 80m long and sits atop the apex of the 262ft rock, with two cryptoreums as supports.
At the top of the abbey spire is a 3m high gilded statue of St Michael.
Your first thought is: how could anyone build such a big church on such a small rock.
Unesco's website describes it a a "technical and artistic tour de force" because of what had to be overcome to complete such a magnificent structure on such a unique and difficult natural site.
Up close, the church and monastery that has also given rise to a commercial village below seems more like a fortress or castle built into the granite.
And in fact, in the 14th century, the abbey had to be fortified during the Hundred Years War to hold out against a siege lasting 30 years.
In 1789 with the French Revolution, the Benedictine monks were forced to leave and the church and monastery became a state prison for 80 years until 1863.
The abbey was turned over to the Historic Monuments Department in 1874, and has been open to the public ever since.
Eleven years ago, a new mixed community of monks and nuns returned - the Brotherhood of Jerusalem.
In July this year, The Independent reported that the island became a true island for the first time in 134 years when an exceptionally high tide covered the one mile road causeway for 20 minutes.
A new bridge to the island is expected to be finished by early 2015 when the present road, built in 1879, will be destroyed. The bridge will sit atop the water at high tide so Mont St Michel will still have the illusion of an island unconnected to the mainland.
Many visitors to the island come here at various times of the year for the tides alone - the highest in Europe.
Here, the difference between low and high tide can be 14m and the tide can go out 18km.
The panorama from the church walls reveal to some degree the treacherous seascape.
Until the road was built (now you must take a shutte bus to get there, with 2900 people transported in eight minutes), pilgrims had to pray to Saint Michael to keep them safe as they ran the gauntlet of getting lost in the fog, drowning as the powerful tide came in or suffocating in quicksand on the countless sandbanks when walking from the mainland to the island along the sand.
If you visit Mont St Michel, you will probably find yourself swept along with the crowds, instead of the tide, through the winding cobblestoned village streets filled with craft and souvenir shops.
And you may end up in the most famous cafe: La Mere Poulard whose basic omelette recipe of eggs, salt and butter whipped within an inch of its life to be as light as a soufflé and cooked in big copper frypans is a favourite among visitors and pilgrims from all over the world.
Lesson of the day: Putting the harp-sounding alarm on the iPhone is much nicer for "reveille" than a programmed wake-up call on the hotel phone.
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