Seltz and the Rhine: The Cable Ferry to Germany, Goethe's Sessenheim and the Customs Frontier
Grand Est, France
Badge Unlock
Rhine Ferryman
Complete this challenge to add this badge to your collection.
200
XP
+100 France
= 300 total
1 day
Seltz and the Rhine: The Cable Ferry to Germany, Goethe's Sessenheim and the Customs Frontier
200 + 100 XP
At Seltz, Adelaide of Burgundy — empress, backer of the Cluniac reform, dead in 999 — founded the first of three abbeys and retired here at the end of her life; the last of them was gone after 1577 and only excavation has found it. The cable ferry Saletio still crosses the Rhine to Plittersdorf in Germany, pushed by nothing but the current. Up the river, Sessenheim keeps a memorial to Goethe's year in Alsace and his love for Frédérique Brion, and downstream Lauterbourg is a town the frontier crossed four times in a hundred years.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Cross to Plittersdorf on the Saletio and back, and while you are aboard find the two things that move it: the traille cable angled across the river and the rudder the pilot sets so the Rhine's own current pushes 31 tonnes, six cars and seventy people over without an engine, with solar panels and a river turbine running the rest
2
of 4
In the Goethe memorial on the rue Frédérique Brion at Sessenheim, find the papers and keepsakes from the year the Strasbourg law student spent in Alsace in 1770–71 and fell for the local pastor's daughter, then walk to the Auberge au Bœuf in the middle of the village for the second half of the collection and find what is left of the presbytery where she lived
3
of 4
At Lauterbourg, walk through the Porte de Landau and round to the Tour des Bouchers, in a town the border moved over four times in a century — the Lauter fixed as France's frontier at Vienna in 1815, the town handed to Germany at Frankfurt in 1871 and given back at Versailles in 1919 — then drive to the Rhine bank below the Lauterbourg forest, the easternmost point of mainland France
4
of 4
At the church of Saint-Étienne in Seltz, find the chapelle Sainte-Adélaïde of the early 16th century and, in the free-standing bell tower, the 2.5-tonne bourdon called Adélaïde — a German emperor's gift of 1899 that came through the destruction of the old nave in 1940 and was rehung in 1962
Cross to Plittersdorf on the Saletio and back, and while you are aboard find the two things that move it: the traille cable angled across the river and the rudder the pilot sets so the Rhine's own current pushes 31 tonnes, six cars and seventy people over without an engine, with solar panels and a river turbine running the rest
In the Goethe memorial on the rue Frédérique Brion at Sessenheim, find the papers and keepsakes from the year the Strasbourg law student spent in Alsace in 1770–71 and fell for the local pastor's daughter, then walk to the Auberge au Bœuf in the middle of the village for the second half of the collection and find what is left of the presbytery where she lived
At Lauterbourg, walk through the Porte de Landau and round to the Tour des Bouchers, in a town the border moved over four times in a century — the Lauter fixed as France's frontier at Vienna in 1815, the town handed to Germany at Frankfurt in 1871 and given back at Versailles in 1919 — then drive to the Rhine bank below the Lauterbourg forest, the easternmost point of mainland France
At the church of Saint-Étienne in Seltz, find the chapelle Sainte-Adélaïde of the early 16th century and, in the free-standing bell tower, the 2.5-tonne bourdon called Adélaïde — a German emperor's gift of 1899 that came through the destruction of the old nave in 1940 and was rehung in 1962
Before you go
The Seltz cable ferry runs every day of the year, 6am to 8pm Monday to Friday, with weekends and public holidays from 6.30am to 10pm between 1 April and 30 September and from 7am to 8pm between 1 October and 31 March. It is the Rhine's current that moves it, so it stops when the river is in flood or too low — the commune's own wording is « sauf en cas de difficultés liées à la navigation rhénane-crues ou étiages » — and there is no fallback crossing at Seltz. The Goethe memorial at Sessenheim publishes no opening hours and is opened by the mairie, on 03 88 86 97 04; arrange it before you drive out.
Because the Saletio is driven by the river itself, the crossing is suspended in flood and in very low water — check the Collectivité européenne d'Alsace's Rhine ferry timetable on the day rather than turning up, since the hours also change between the winter and summer timetables and it starts later at weekends. It takes six cars at a time, so a long motorhome plus a queue can mean a long wait; the bikes go on free of the car queue. You are crossing into Germany, so carry ID.
Finding nearby campsites...
About Grand Est
Loading region info…
Explore more about Grand Est:
Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
200 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
300 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
More challenges nearby
within 100km
Rastatt: The Turkish Louis Builds a Residence
Germany · Baden-Württemberg
history
easy
1d
8 km away
Baden-Baden: The Friedrichsbad and the Roman Springs
Germany · Baden-Württemberg
wellness
easy
1d
17 km away
Gernsbach: From Rafted Timber to Paper
Germany · Baden-Württemberg
history
easy
1d
22 km away
Karlsruhe: A City Laid Out Like a Fan
Germany · Baden-Württemberg
cultural
easy
1d
25 km away
Northern Vosges: Fleckenstein and the Maginot Line at Schœnenbourg
France · Grand Est
history
easy
2d
30 km away
The Black Forest High Road
Germany · Baden-Württemberg
scenic
easy
1d
33 km away