Mont Saint Michel will be “renamed” to move away from overpriced omelets and tourist tats

It withstood a 30-year siege by the English during the Hundred Years War and is today France’s most popular tourist attraction outside of Paris and a Unesco World Heritage Site.

For more than 1,000 years, the fortified abbey of Mont Saint-Michel has stood atop a granite pinnacle on a tidal island off the coast of Normandy and Brittany in northwestern France. Victor Hugo even once said: “The Mont Saint-Michel is for France what the great Pyramid is for Egypt. It must be preserved from any mutilation.

Yet the breathtaking site – 17 inhabitants but which attracts around 2.5 million people per year – is in serious need of a “rebranding”, according to its new boss, amid complaints it has become a trap. cheesy tourists.

Thomas Veltier, 37, is the director of a new public body tasked with managing the landmark, took on the job with a budget of € 5m amid the Covid lockdown when the site briefly fell silent magic of yesteryear.

His arrival follows two damning reports from the city council, one of which deplored “a series of dysfunctions and recurring problems surrounding the reception of tourists”, including “overloaded shuttles”, “roads regularly congested with traffic” and Frequently criticized the poor quality of the shops, restaurants, museums and accommodation offered. This also criticized the site’s lack of information for visitors and unfriendly staff.

The official for another 2019 report to the French prime minister said the site had turned into a shameless “cash cow” wiping off “captive customers.”

Even her famous restaurant Mère Poulard, whose legendary omelets have been tasted by everyone from Queen Victoria to Brigitte Macron, has been accused of charging exorbitant prices for mediocre dishes.

Indeed, the Mont has been singled out by super multi-starred chefs Alain Ducasse and Guy Savoy in a recent report warning of slipping gastronomic standards in mid-range French restaurants, noting: “Rarely fresh and local, the dishes are not very tasty. . “

“Our customers need a nice place to eat, that’s undeniable,†explains Inès Lebrec, one of the rare Montagnardes who runs the La Tête Noire bed and breakfast with her husband. To find a decent meal, “we have to send them 20 kilometers further,” “she told Le Figaro.

“The plane needs a pilot,†one official noted.