Penzance: the gateway to St Michael's Mount in Cornwall

At the southwestern tip of England, Penzance remains the departure point for the island-castle of St Michael's Mount, a Cornish twin of Mont-Saint-Michel.

The center is comfortably explored on foot; a causeway reaches the island at low tide.

St Michael's Mount, an island-castle reachable on foot only at low tide, remains twinned with the more celebrated Mont Saint-Michel on the opposite shore of the English Channel.

A few steps away, the Subtropical Gardens of Morrab, thanks to the Gulf Stream, cultivate palms and exotic plants unusual for the British climate.

Heading along the coast one visits the Maritime Museum of Penlee House, which exhibits works by the colony of artists who settled in nearby Newlyn in the late nineteenth century.

As evening falls, the port of Penzance animates restaurants with fresh seafood with views over the Bay of Mounts Bay.

St Michael's Mount was granted to the monks of the Norman Mont Saint-Michel in the Eleventh century, a connection that explains the striking architectural similarity between these twin islands separated by the English Channel.

The colony of artists in Newlyn, near Penzance, attracted painters from across Europe in the late Nineteenth century thanks to the exceptionally clear natural light along Cornwall's western coast.