A dramatic island off the coast of Normandy, Mont-St-Michel is home to an abbey that dates back to the 11th century and now boasts impressive illuminations at night. The island, with its fast and fickle tides, was a notorious prison during the French Revolution of 1789. The isle, which celebrated its 1300th anniversary in 2008, has several good restaurants and a nightclub. Only a narrow causeway built in1880 links the island to the mainland, although a bridge is due to be completed in 2012.