Mont-Saint-Michel (AFP)
Sleeping for two months, Mont-Saint-Michel comes back very slowly to life: Tuesday, the day after deconfinement, visitors are rare and can not access the abbey, the jewel of the rock whose reopening could occur "current June".
Under a radiant sun tempered by a light north-easterly wind, William Froux and his three and five year old girls, all three masked, are preparing to take the shuttle which will take them to the Mont which rises, majestic, a few hundreds of meters. "We are locals, we come there regularly and, there, it is the only point on the coast where we have access to the sea since the beaches are still closed," explains the father.
Before boarding, hydroalcoholic gel is offered to them at the foot of the shuttle which, outside the small family, simply takes a couple.
"We are in the most optimal health conditions possible," explains Fabrice Fossey, director of the Mont mixed union. "In normal times, the shuttles carry up to 85/90 people. But, there, we have condemned a certain number of seats and we board a maximum of 18 people".
At the entrance to the Mont, a signposted route has been formalized to separate the inflows and outflows. The metal barriers and the red and white building ribbons disrupt the charm of the narrow main street lined with old stone houses.
- "the Mount for us" -
In return, an unexpected chance awaits the visitors: "we arrived at 9:00 am and we had the Mont for ourselves (...) It was wonderful to see it without the crowd. I have never seen it as that ", enthuses Claudie Jambon, who came with a friend in her seventies like her. But the lack of crowds that delight visitors does not suit the merchants, few of whom have opened.
"I saw three customers since morning," says Nathalie Thomas, a saleswoman in a clothing store, in the middle of the day. "My colleague who ran the store yesterday saw no one today!"
A little further, Christophe Frammery opened two of the five stores his family owns on Monday: "We start, we look ... If there are a few people, we can reopen the others," he said while '' an employee dusted the hundreds of trinkets and souvenirs offered for sale.
"With the 100 km rule, those who come are locals who benefit from it now because there are not too many people. But tourists from elsewhere, like international customers, cannot come ", notes the trader whose store," in the family for six generations ", is open" 365 days a year ".
- hotels and restaurants closed -
As you wander, punctuated by the bell of the parish church and the cry of birds, you can see these large dining rooms with panoramic views of the bay that you can cross from the outside. Usually packed, the chairs are always returned to the tables after a final sweep before closing, as for hotels which also display closed doors.
The highlight of any visit to Mont-Saint-Michel, the abbey, property of the State and classified as a historic monument for almost 150 years, remains closed. "We hope to be able to open in June. But all of this will depend on government decisions," said Thomas Velter, director of the Epic (public industrial and commercial establishment) of Mont-Saint-Michel, by telephone. About "50%" of the 2.5 million visitors to the "Merveille de l'Occident" "buy a ticket to visit the abbey", making it "the most visited monument outside Paris in France", notes he.
"We are working on the reopening of the site" and a new phase of work on the building, scheduled for three years, will begin in June, says the director.
Up there, at the top of the bell tower of the still prohibited abbey church, the shining statue of the Archangel shines against a background of blue sky, far from human considerations below.
mcl / db / tes
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