Wellness at the Heart of Nature

The story of Piran Salt has a special place in the tourist industry of Slovenia. People in the only Slovenian maritime region say that salt is the sea which could not return to the sky. This is also written on the Piran Salt, which is produced according to a traditional procedure that has remained the same as it was used in the times when Piran emerged as an important salt-producing site owing to its salt-pans of the Adriatic Sea. These salt-pans are recognised as the source of natural healing substances since the 13th century.

Salters harvest the salt manually thereby cultivating brine or salt water at the bottom of the salt-pans. As the salt produced in these salt-pans is rich in minerals, bromine, iodine and magnesium, it improves and boosts physical strengths. Having similar attributes, brine is used in the beauty industry because it is said to be the source of youth by improving blood circulation and eliminating waste substances from the human body. Salt-pan mud has also been highly valued in the field of healthcare. It is produced in the crystallisation process alongside the renowned Piran Salt. The most precious harvest called the Salt Flower has found its way to the most prestigious restaurants in the world.

The Slovenian salters are well aware that it takes much more than just clean seawater, friendly sunlight and bora to produce a top-quality salt. The best salt has to be cultivated with love. And it was the love of health and nature that led to the creation of the most recent Slovenian spa centre in the middle of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park – Thalasso Spa Lepa Vida.

At the Sečovlje Salina, many relaxation treatments are provided outdoors with a view of the salt-pans, embankments and scattered salt-pan houses once used by the salters and now left behind. As one of the most recent thermal and spa destinations in Slovenia, this spa centre covers the area of 4,000 km2. Mild Mediterranean climate, the sea-pan mud and brine found at the Sečovlje Salina are an appealing attraction for numerous visitors trying to find a warm, friendly atmosphere and a fresh air filled with the smell of salt. The most popular treatments at the Lepa Vida Thalasso Spa, named after a Slovenian mythical heroine who lived at the seaside, include salt-pan mud wraps, baths in brine, sea salt scrubs and manual body massage. The Thalasso Spa Centre offers also detox, anti-rheumatic and relaxation programmes as well as many other programmes for the body and soul.

For centuries, salt-pans have strongly influenced the economy of the states and city states in this area. The myth about the beautiful Vida who was lured on a ship by a black man and taken to a foreign place far away, originates from the period when the Adriatic region was being invaded by the Moors coming from the North Africa. Owing to its usefulness, salt was a valuable commodity and merchandise of a strategic importance and was used for food conservation and in gun-powder production. The Gulf of Trieste and Istria used to be spotted with small- and large-sized salines (in Milje, Koper, Izola, Lucija, etc.), but to this times only the Sečovlje and Strunjan Salines have been preserved.

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