THE 10 WONDERS

7 - Sečovlje Salinas Natural Park

At one time around the Gulf of Trieste and in Istria there were many salt works of various sizes (in Muggia, Capodistria, Isola and Lucia). Today, however, only those of Strunjan and Sečovlje have been preserved. Since 1989, the Sečovlje Salinas have been protected as a Natural Park. The northern part of the park is called Lera, where salt is still produced on the extensive pans following a tradition lasting more than 700 years. The southern part, however, called Fontanigge, where salt production has been abandoned, offers a completely different perspective, with many birds, extensive halophytic meadows and the ruins of over one hundred of the old houses once occupied by the salt workers, giving this area an unmistakable appearance.

In the Sečovlje Salinas the past and the present go hand in hand. At one time, salt was a precious raw material and a strategic commodity, appreciated above all for its qualities in food preservation and in the production of gunpowder. Today the salt pans now represent an incomparable ecosystem that allows the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the area. On the shelves of the shops, a place of honour is reserved for the salt of Piran, as it is produced through natural crystallization, by hand, with the help of tools and procedures that follow a centuries-old tradition. A walk through the vast park of the salinas can continue with a visit to the Salt Museum and with the purchase of pure salt or other salt-based products, and end with a moment of complete relaxation in the Thalasso Spa Lepa Vida wellness centre.

Info: www.portoroz.si - http://www.kpss.si - http://www.soline.si - http://www.thalasso-lepavida.si/it