It was a beautiful bright autumn day in September 2018, when a few members of the ARGOS association decided to go on a field trip to the Sečovlje salt pans to gain a better insight into salt making.

Salt harvesting at the Sečovlje salt pans is still done the traditional 700-year-old way with wooden tools. This is our natural and cultural heritage, which enabled the development and prosperity of our coastal towns during the Venetian Republic. As the old saying goes, Piran xe fato de sal. And another one, Salt is the sea that could not return to the sky.

Petola, the base of the salt pans, prevents the salt from being mixed with the silt from the sea and allows it to remain white and clean.

After visiting the museum in the northern part of the reserve called Lera, we continued our way to the southern part of the park, called Fontanigge. We parked the cars near the Croatian border and decided to cycle to the Museum of Salt Making. It took us much longer to get there than usual as we found it almost impossible to withstand a number of interesting distractions, from salt pans and salt-pan houses, including their ruins, small bridges and channels, embankments, surrounding hills and wild birds. This was also a perfect place to take some photos, chat and socialize in a relaxing environment.

Then, we started exploring the salt-pan house, which used to be the salt maker’s dwelling on the first floor, while the ground floor was used as a warehouse for storing the salt. Behind the house there is a baker’s oven. What is more, there is also an old customs post and the Dragonja estuary. It surprised us to find how authentic and genuine everything is.

This interesting as well as educational field trip ended with lunch in Lucija, a visit to Seča with a breathtaking view of 650 ha salt pans, and of course with a good cup of coffee and a glass of home-made juice.

Written by: Mihaela Rupnik

Translated by: Staša Krapež