Mont St. Michel, France

Mont Saint-Michel (English: Mount Saint Michael) is a small rocky tidal island in Normandy, roughly one kilometre from the north coast of France at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches, close to the border of Brittany. It is home to the unusual Benedictine Abbey and steepled church (built between the 11th and 16th centuries) which occupy most of the one-kilometer-diameter clump of rocks jutting out of the waters of the English Channel. The church is crowned by a gold leaf statue of St. Michael by Emmanuel Fremiet, reaching a height of 155 metres (510 feet) above the sea.