A little further north, in the triangle made up of part of Germany, France and Luxembourg, lies Perl, the only wine-growing town in Saarland. The Saarland vines grow along just a short stretch of the Moselle. The vineyards along the Saar lie in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

A few kilometres further south, near Merzig, international artists created the open-air gallery Steine an der Grenze (Stones at the Border): 26 sculptures have been lined up along the old border path between Germany and France, the aim being to provoke us to give some thought to the border state. Where is Germany? Where is France?

The border is a perennial theme in Saarland. In his autobiography, “Das Ohr des Malchus”, the writer Gustav Regler, from Merzig, tells how his father used to go for walks with him and his brothers and sisters in the border region between Germany and France. He let them taste the windfalls from the fruit trees and then asked: “Which apple is French?” Old Regler didn’t believe in borders.