Crossing the old road Messolonghi-Aetoliko we find the existence of an unusual and oxymoron spectacular.
The salt pans of Messolonghi. White mountains, like snow, by the sea. No, this is not a reversal of natural law , but a pile of salt that forms small and large hills. We are reffering to the largest saltworks in Greece, the white, 11.500 acres with a production capacity of about 120.000 tones of salt per year. It covers 60% of the nationwide production.
Salt pan is the place of salt production which is achieved when seawater evaporates with the help of the sun and air. The salt pans consist of shallow pans that are divided into individual compartments and in them circulates seawater, which after evaporating leaves the salt. In such areas, especially during the summer, the phenomenon in which the water evaporates is more intense and the replacement of the evaporated water is done at a slow pace resulting in the crystallization of the salt.
The salt production proccess begins in March and ends in October . The sea water is pumbed from the lagoon of Messolonghi and channeled to the apartments ( basins). From ther it proceeds to the next compartments, where the salt is pumbed from the crystallizers.
In the salt pans of Messolonghi is collected all white and clean in small piles. After the washing process is completed , it is transported with the help of conveyor belt to the open warehouses forming salt piles. This is a unique spectacle that impresses and surprises passers-by.
