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Art & Culture
Cultural Heritage
The Añana salt flats, 30 km from Vitoria-Gasteiz, are one of the oldest salt factories in the world, with more than 6.500 years of history. Its prized salt is completely pure, as it comes from an ancient sea of more than 200 million years.
The Salt Valley in the Alavese locality of Añana is currently one of the most spectacular and best preserved cultural landscapes in Europe. Its value lies not only in its unique architecture or in its more than 6,500 years of documented of history, not even in its geological characteristics, its biodiversity or in its prized landscapes, but in the union in perfect harmony of all this in a privileged context.
In the oldest town in Alava, and in what were waters of a vast sea 200 million years ago, stands the Salt Valley of Salinas de Añana. A magnificent outdoor cultural landscape (monument) formed over more than 5,000 eras:. platforms on which the brine, saltwater, is poured to obtain salt through solar evaporation. A unique and extensive network of wooden channels distribute the water to the most remote corners of the Salt Valley. As well as being able to take a trip through history and the stunning architecture of this extraordinary cultural landscape, visitors can dip their hands and feet in brine, and learn firsthand the rudiments of the ancient craft of the salt workers. They may also observe the special features of the privileged natural, patrimonial environment. It must be borne in mind that the Salt Valley is located on one of the most curious phenomena of geology, the Diapir, and that the salinity of the environment makes its ecosystem unique.
Let us not forget that Salinas de Añana is much more than its salt factory, because as well as being the gateway to Valdegovía and the Valderejo Natural Park, it has amongst its heritage important archaeological remains from the Middle Ages that are being examined and recovered; with ironworks, forges and furnaces in a perfect state of preservation; with a church, several chapels and the last working convent which is home to the Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem; including various palaces and even next to the locality there is a major archaeological site with animal tracks and vegetation from about twenty-two million years ago.
From here we recommend you to take a walk (10.9 km.) to the the Varona Family's Palace-Tower, the only fortress in Álava that has preserved its moat and is still inhabited by direct descendants of the family since the 12th century.
Arrange a visit or find out more on the Valle Salado website.
HOW TO GET AROUND:
Salinas
