Moselle River /

The Moselle (French: Moselle, IPA: [mɔzɛl]; German: Mosel; Luxembourgish: Musel) is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg, and Germany. It is a left tributary of the Rhine, joining it at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is also drained by the Mosel through the Our. Its name comes from the Latin Mosella, meaning the "Little Meuse" (Mosa in Latin). The river gave its name to two French départements: Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle. The source of the Moselle is at the western slope of the Ballon d'Alsace in the Vosges mountains. The Moselle flows through the Lorraine region, west of the Vosges. Further downstream, in Germany, the Moselle valley forms the division between the Eifel and Hunsrück mountain regions. Its total length from source to mouth is approximately 546 km. Towns along the Moselle River are: The Moselle was celebrated in Mosella, an ancient Roman poem by Ausonius. In the twentieth century, the river and the folklore and local history of the towns along its banks were described by British travel writer Roger Pilkington. In the tale, "The Seven Swabians" of the Brothers Grimm, the eponymous Swabians drown trying to cross the Moselle. From the left: Madon, Terrouin,