Vioménil – where the Mediterranean and the North Sea almost touches
Madodon, tributary of the Moselle River kilometre 392
The Madon rises in the district of the village of Vioménil and flows into the Moselle at Pont-Saint-Vincent after 97 kilometres of northward flow. The Romans called the village Viamansalis and used it as a transit point on the way to the Saône. This is because the Saône also rises in the district of this village on the plateau of the Vôge, which lies to the north-west of the Burgundy Gate.
The Saône flows south and joins the Rhone in Lyon after 473 kilometres. Part of the rain that falls in the village flows into the Mediterranean and the other part into the North Sea. A Châteauneuf-du-Pape grows on the banks of one river, a Leiwen Laurentiuslay on the banks of the other.
The Alps form the natural border between the Mediterranean region and Central Europe. Over the main ridge, plants and animals from more southerly areas that were displaced into the
Mediterranean region during the Ice Age can practically not migrate back. Heat, clouds and wind also divide the Alps. The Rhone Valley with the adjoining Burgundian Gate and the Vôge plateau, as well as the Vienna Basin to the east, are gateways for heat, animals and plants from the south to southwest Germany. Only at the northern end of the Middle Rhine Valley does the climate become significantly cooler.
“Shimmering heat above steep vineyards – a piece of the Mediterranean in the middle of Germany. Between rocks and vineyards emerald lizard, glider butterfly and Moselle Apollo – gems of nature.” (Dr. Axel Schmidt, entomologist, Obere Landespflegebehörde, Koblenz, in “Ein kleines Bilder- und Lesebuch von der Mosel”, Annette Köwerich, 2003) (Source: e.g. Wikipedia)
