Ile Saint Honorat

While it is out of cronological order, talking about the second island close to Cannes makes more sense logically. We went to this second island a few weeks ago. It was a Friday afternoon and we didn't have classes, so we went for an afternoon adventure.

It was in the fifth century that monks inhabited this island, Saint Honoratus as their leader. Seriously, the fifth century. America doesn't know history like France knows history, and it's fascinating to me. The picture of the old monastery that you can see below was built in the 15th century and is still standing today. Now that's engineering! The architecture of the building is also fascinating. Without a dropped ladder (now build in steps), invaders could not get inside this building. The walls are incredibly thick, and as you can see the windows are very small. What's equally fascinating is the windows open up wider on the inside than the outside. This allowed the monks to ward off invaders and easily shoot them down without the invaders being able to get a clear shot inside. Warrior monks, now that's something I would love to have seen!

Below is the main entry way of the monastery. The parts that have survived the best are absolutely breath-taking. I cannot imagine how one would build such a structure, especially in the 15th century. I suppose that's a comment I've made many a time.

The well that you can see in the middle was where the captured rain water, and I believe it became there only source of water. The monks probably showered once a year it sounds like. Again, the bathing practices and the French. Then again, I'm sure history would show similar bathing practices in other parts of the world...

The building is four stories high. The picture below is taken looking up from the well in the center of the picture above. It was one of my more artistic feeling moments.

And for contrast, the picture below is taken from the third story looking down into the well. This was the center and core of the building, which I suppose was why I ended up photographing it so much. Also, it was the most intact part. There is a large area to the right of this core that used to be the dinning center, but most of it has since fallen due to invasions. Yes, while they did their best holding off invaders, it proved a little difficult. Also, above the dinning center was where the bedrooms were. I never got a good sense of exactly how many monks stayed here, considering how few residences I saw. I imagine there had to be quite a few at one point considering how big this structure is. If not because they needed the space to house the people, then more so because they would have needed the numbers to build such a structure.

Now, this island is still owned and inhabited by the monks, after being seized by the government, temporarily owned and funded by the government, and now back privately owned by the monks; quite a history France has. However, their living quarters have drastically improved from these conditions. Below you can see another attempt at an artistic shot of the new church, and further below is a picture from this 15th century monastery looking over to the new facilities.

And again, from closer to the main facilities.

There are currently 18 monks who reside here, and they have capacity to hold 30. Trust me, the thought of joining the monastery, staying here, and working the vineyards and playing for mass did not go without thought! It's a beautiful church that was built around the fact it's primarily a monastery. The main body of the church is 30+ stalls for the monks, with an altar in the middle of these stalls as well as at the front of the church.

And of course as promised about my blog, a picture of the organ in the back. I think the console is up there as well, but I'm not entirely sure.


And, if I still needed another reason beyond the beauty, serenity, and isolation of this monastery to move in, they have their own winery! Yes, I think I could do quite well here. I wanted to buy a bottle, but unfortunately they run around 40 euro or close to $70. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm a resident to try it!