Valle Salado

Valle Salado (Añana Salt Valley) Location: Salinas de Añana, Álava 01426, Spain (20 miles west of Vitoria Gasteiz) [map] Open: tours from 10am (some in English) Admission: 10€ Public transport: best not, only five buses a day Five word summary: harvesting salt the Roman way Website: vallesalado.com Time to set aside: an hour 10 photos: on Flickr This is quite the place, a valley stacked with pure white terraces where salt has been produced for over 7500 years. Today they use more modern production methods, i.e. how the Romans did it, but salt scraped from these pans still finds its way to kitchens, cooking schools and top-class restaurants. Five salty springs rise around this small triangular valley, overlooked by a small village whose residents have exploited them for centuries. The briny liquid is seven times saltier than the sea, hence its suitability for economic production, and is irrigated around the site in narrow gutterlike channels. From here it's scooped into small…