Mont Saint-Michel, the seemingly fantastical spired abbey and church looming up from the center of a small island on the Normandy coast, is surely one of the most recognizable sights in the world, by day or by night.
But at night, it not only takes on a different aspect from a distance, with the centuries stripped away from our sight and only the outlines showing, it also gives a different light, a different solidity to the ancient walls at its base, and to the tiny town within.