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The freshwater lake sits at 395 m above sea level and is central Europe's second largest, after Lake Geneva. The greatest depth is 252 m in the middle of the eastern part (Obersee). Its volume is approximately 55 km³. The lake has four parts: Obersee, Überlinger See, Zeller See and Untersee. through the Obersee, the city of Konstanz and the Untersee. The regulated Rhine flows into the lake in the southeast and flows out near Stein am Rhein.
Lake Constance was formed by the Rhine Glacier during the ice age. The Rhine, the Bregenzer Ache, and the Dornbirner Ache carry sediments from the Alps to the lake, thus gradually decreasing the depth of the lake in the southeast.
Lake Constance was first mentioned by the Hispanic geographer Pomponius MelaPomponius Mela who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. His little work De situ orbis libri III. is a mere compendium, occupying less than one hundred pages of ordinary print, dry in style and deficient in method, but of pure Latinity, a about 43 B.C. He noted that the Rhine flows through two lakes, Lacus Venetus (today Obersee) and Lacus Acronius (today Untersee). Pliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus ( 23 79) better known as Pliny the Elder was an ancient author and scientist of some importance who wrote Naturalis Historia''. He was the son of a Roman eques by the daughter of the senator Gaius Caecilius of Novum Comum. He was bo used the name Lacus Brigantinus, after the Roman city of Brigantium (today BregenzBregenz is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost federal state of Austria. The town is located on the shores of Lake Constance, the largest freshwater lake in Europe. It is especially famous for the annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele'').
Car ferriesA ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and possibly their vehicles, on a relatively short-distance, regularly-scheduled service. Ferries form an important part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities, allowing direct transit bet link Romanshorn , Switzerland to FriedrichshafenFriedrichshafen is a town on the north side of Lake Constance Bodensee in southern Germany, near the borders to Switzerland and Austria. It is the capital of the district Bodenseekreis in the Bundesland of Baden-Wurttemberg. Geographical location: 47° 39', and Konstanz to Meersburg .