On the map, Xouaxange is just a tiny dot along the Marne-Rhine Canal, in the corner of Moselle known as the land of ponds. From the deck of a barge, it's another story: a bell tower among the trees, reflections of water everywhere, forests closing off the horizon. River cruises linking Lorraine to Alsace stop here, between Lagarde and Lutzelbourg, in a landscape where slowness becomes a way of life.

The village's name, unpronounceable on the first try, always amuses passengers. It is pronounced roughly "shwa-shanzh", and this strange sound nicely heralds the region's quiet sense of elsewhere, at the crossroads of Lorraine and Alsatian influences.

The land of ponds

Southern Moselle hides a network of ponds born in the Middle Ages, often dug by monks for fish farming. Around Xouaxange, calm expanses of water alternate with meadows and woods, attracting herons, grebes and dragonflies. A walk along the towpath, on foot or by bike, is enough to grasp the character of this amphibious territory, where the morning mist clings to the reed beds before the sun burns it away. Migrating birds stop here through the seasons, to the delight of patient birdwatchers. Anglers take up their posts at dawn, lines stretched above the water lilies, and greetings are exchanged from one bank to the other between strangers. This 19th-century canal, dug to link the Marne to the Rhine, now belongs to the herons as much as to the boatmen.

Sarrebourg and the Chagall window

A few kilometres from the stop, Sarrebourg holds an unexpected artistic treasure: in the Cordeliers Chapel shines "Peace", an immense stained-glass window designed by Marc Chagall. Its deep blues, peopled with floating figures and bouquets, fill the building with an unreal light. The excursions offered during calls frequently include this visit, the area's great cultural highlight. You gladly sit for long minutes facing the work, letting the colours do their work. The neighbouring museum rounds out the stop with its archaeological collections and a section devoted to the master, before a stroll through the shopping streets of this unpretentious Moselle sub-prefecture.

The Saint-Louis-Arzviller boat lift

Farther along the canal, toward Alsace, awaits one of the most astonishing engineering curiosities in France: the Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane. Since 1969, this boat lift has hoisted vessels up a 44.5-metre drop in a few minutes, where they once had to pass through a series of 17 locks. Watching your barge enter an immense tank of water that then slides along the hillside remains an unusual navigation memory, one that passengers photograph from every angle. A visitor area at the top also lets those arriving by road admire the operation.

A port of call to breathe

• Walk or cycle along the towpath, between ponds and forests.
• Watch the locks in operation and wave to the passing pleasure boaters.
• Head to Sarrebourg on an excursion for the Chagall window.
• Look forward to passing the inclined plane, the highlight of the navigation.

Following the water again

When the barge leaves the stop, the village disappears in a few turns of the propeller, returned to its tranquillity. The canal continues toward the foothills of the Vosges, edged with greenery, and everyone settles back into their spot on deck, book or glass in hand. Xouaxange will have held the traveller for only a few hours; the feeling of peace it leaves, however, keeps you company to the end of the journey.