[RECAP] Isla Cristina Hidden Gems

[AlejandraMaria]

We (my superb LG friend @SandraCarlou and our kids) had our meet-up at Isla Cristina Marshes, a Natural Park and also a Special Protection Area for Birds.

Is a lovely town located in the South of Spain, in the Coast of Light, near the Border with Portugal.

We visited a Sustainable Traditional Activity and learned about how to collect Salt from the Marshes.

The Salt is obtained by the evaporation of the sea water, so we need the sun.

That´s why the main production is in summer.

There are two ways of collecting, we have both in the area:

Industrial way: is collected by machines and in the clean proccess many oligoelements are lost. This salt is cheaper

Artisan way: salt has all its natural components and is more healthy.

The sea water is conducted to rafts with little depth. In the bottom there is mud.

This rafts are separated from each other by land.

There are some rafts destined to store water from the sea that is transferred to heating rafts where the wind and sun evaporate the water. After that, is collected in traditional way.

We can find three types of salt:

Flower of Salt: is on the top; has less sodium chloride and more mineral.It’s spongy. Has a strong taste at the beginning but then disappear in the mouth. It is has to be added after cooking. Perfect for salads, toats with olive oil…

Salt flakes: is down the Flower of salt. Is similar than Flower of Salt but more crystallized forming small blocks. Perfect for meets, fishes…

Virgen Salt: is the lower one. Has more flavor and it´s perfect for cooking.

Just with salt they can´t earn enough money for living, that´s why the woman ahead (the owner) has being creative and started to create tours (like the one we made), and now they are having a lot of success with the magnesium pools during the summer. We will go next summer!!! Some of my friends are telling me how fantastic is for the skin. You can have a mud bath too. identifier.html (773 KB)

I asked about reduced mobility and some parts can be use like the pools but other facilities are not adapted, for example the toilets. It´s difficult to move a wheelchair on the earth, a person using it must need some help if decided to visit this beautiful place. identifier.html (768 KB)

I haven´t seen any recycling container…

It´s perfect to go with kids because they are in the open air and learn many interesting concepts like: how the plants in the area taste (they are salty), we saw some birds like flamingos…

After the tour, we bought some products in the shop they have.

We were hungry so went to have lunch and added more photos to Google Maps and more friends joined us.

The restaurant and the café with games for kids are adapted for people with reduced mobility.

We had a nice day discovering Isla Cristina Hidden Gems as part of the World Wide Geo Walk Season II coordinated by @OSAMA

Thank you very much for taking your time reading this post :)))

Here is the Share Album

Good Evening from the South of Spain,

Alejandra.

[ShafiulB]

@AlejandraMaria What a big discovery

I like your story wich is full of sharpness about this matter and this is Salt! I learnt some new from this post…

Thank you too for informed us about wheelchair accessibility of these plalces.

Keep exploring… .

Happy Guiding!

[OSAMA]

what a great hidden gems in Isla Cristina @AlejandraMaria ,

first of them is " @SandraCarlou " i like all the post from all the salt & All the food

and thank you very much for the great lesson about the salt

and the three types , i like the flower of salt

you are one of the best local guides ever Alejandra ,

Keep it up & happy Guiding

[RupendraNeupane]

Wow! Great family and friends. Now i know how salt are collected. Thank you @AlejandraMaria for sharing.

[NareshDarji]

Thanks for sharing this informative recap post @AlejandraMaria

[TorM]

Fantastic @AlejandraMaria

I thought that this salt, they only collect in this way in France…,

very nice and informative recap…

loooking forward to have some together with you not only virtually

[HiroyukiTakisawa]

Thank you for sharing this nice recap @AlejandraMaria !

This is a very interesting article as a reading material

[Haseeb]

With your this post now I know there’s several type of salts. So far I was only aware about one category.
@AlejandraMaria you all looks good
Thanks for sharing this beautiful post with us

[NandKK]

Amazing post @AlejandraMaria .

Isla Cristina Marshes seems to be a Wonderful Hidden Gems in Ayamonte.

Thanks for all the information about varities of salts, in Mumbai india We have the same procedure to produce the salt from sea water, next time when I will visit coastal areas, will try to obtain flower of salt from there…

Thanks for sharing an amazing recap.

[AlejandraMaria]

Hello motivated Local Guides,

All of you are very very kind :))) I am going to add a bit more information :)))

Thank you very much @ShafiulB , we agree that is very important to mention the accessibility of the places in our Recaps :)))

Thank you very much @OSAMA for your nice words; for me the best is the Flower of Salt too :)))

Thank you very much @RupendraNeupane ; I am glad you know much better how salt is collected :)))

Thank you very much @NareshDarji ; I am happy you have seen this post informative :)))

Thank you very much @TorM ; yes, in Spain and many sea countries we collect the salt this way. And there is an interesting story behind the salinas (salt marshes)… The salt has many uses… I am going to add a bit more of information because you are german

75 years ago, Biomaris (a cosmetic german brand) started to produce their own salt in this marshes because the salt was and is their high quality ingredient. And not just this, there is a history of spies related to the Second World War in the background. This salt exploitation was a cover…

This place is known like *"*The salt marshes of the German" in Spanish “Las salinas del alemán”, and now they are going to change it name to this one. You can see in the photo

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Thank you very much @HiroyukiTakisawa , I am very happy that you had enjoyed reading about our salt :)))

Thank you very much @Haseeb ; yes there are many types of salt, I have highlighted the main ones. In front of the place we visited there is an industrial way of extraction, with excavators (as you can see in the photo).

A greater quantity is collected but of lower quality.

Also note in the price, industrial salt is less than half a euro per kilo, salt collected by hand from 1.5 euros per kilo. And I paid 6 euros for 400 grams of salt flower.

Thank you very much @NandKK ; Isla Cristina is a town next to Ayamonte. I have to go to work there one day a week and I love to cross over the mashes and see the incredible views. Isla Cristina is an small island that appeared after the Lisbon´s earthquake in 1755, around 8,5 in Rischter´s Scale. That earthquake changed our coastline. Yes, I live in an area of earthquakes… and we are starting to get ready to the next big seaquake or earthquake …

Good Evening to all of you from the South of Spain,

Alejandra.

[TorM]

@AlejandraMaria ,

thank you for your interesting supply. I can’t see the first photo…

I have really to plan a trip to the marshes…

[Osaka78forTRUMP]

Lovely @AlejandraMaria . You always make beautiful meet-ups for all the Spain Local Guides. Good work Alejandra. You’re right about salty landscapes, you can definitely find hidden beauty there. Thanks again for teaching us 3 kinds of salt, Top Flower for light taste, Flakes for flavour, Lower Virgen Salt for cooking. Learning real life valueable chef skills again from you Alejandra. Kindest regards from Osaka78

[KashifMisidia]

Simply great @AlejandraMaria

What a detailed and fantastic recap and review. I really enjoyed and gain lot of knowledge by your recap.

Thank you so much.

[NirmalTeja]

New post about salt I had ever seen ,nice pictures thank you @AlejandraMaria sharing with us…

[MdEmranulHoque]

Beautiful recap post and excellent photos @AlejandraMaria thanks for sharing isla cristina hidden gems recap.

[Sagir]

Wow…

Great article and very educative experience.

Thanks for sharing with us “our” @AlejandraMaria

In our locality a food is not complete without a salt.

Kind regards

Sagir

[kumax_aomori]

紹介してくれてありがとう。

塩は私達人間が生活に欠かすことができない存在。

海水から作る塩は、国や地方によって異なる。

とても興味深い記事です。

現代は海水から大規模プラントで精製される安い塩を日常的に利用できるようになった。

しかし、それでも天然塩はミネラルが豊富で人気も高い。

料理の味を左右することもあり、敢えて付加価値を求めて購入する人も多い。

また、昔ながらの方法によって作られる塩は伝統や歴史そのものであり、価格では表せない価値がある。

日本でも砂浜に海水を撒いて水分を蒸発させ、塩田（Enden）。

海水をそのまま煮詰めて作る。

海藻に海水を吹き付けて蒸発させ、海藻表面に結晶化した塩を採取する。

地域によって多種多様である。

近代的なものにはこういうものもある。

海水を霧状に噴霧。

風洞内を温風で飛ばし、水分を蒸発させて結晶化させる。

これによりパウダー状の塩となる。

とある日本の南の離島での塩の作り方。

[HelloSamsonR]

What a sensational Meet-up @AlejandraMaria . Amazing photos, how did I miss such an interesting post. Thanks to the featuring I would have missed this. I will definitely love to visit Isla Christina when I visit you in Spain

[AlejandraMaria]

Hi Local Guides!

Many thanks for your nice replies. I am so sorry for being late… I am living an intense moment at work and I don´t have time even to breath :)))))

Hi @TorM !, here is the photo where you can read “Salinas del Alemán” " The salt marshes of the German" I go through this road every time I go to work to Isla Cristina, minimum one a week, and I like to be delighted by the beauty of the place :))) Let me know if you can see it now …

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Many many thanks @Osaka78forTRUMP for your support :)Virgen Salt goes perfectly with the Spanish Omelette, I remember one day you cooked it :)))

Many many thanks @KashifMisidia , I am very happy you have virtually travelled to the South of Spain and learn something about our culture :)))

Many many thanks @NirmalTeja :)))) This kind of artisan salt is gaining market share, it is increasingly common to find it in supermarkets. The difference with the industrial salt is noticeable.

Many many thanks @MdEmranulHoque , for “visiting Isla Cristina” a lovely town with beautiful beaches in the South of Spain :)))

Hi @Sagir ! I agree with you that food taste better with salt :)))

Many many thanks @kumax_aomori for your comment :)))) It is nice to see the similarities between countries; we can see Japan have an important culture around the salt too …

Hi @HelloSamsonR ! I am glad you are making the list of the places we will visit when you will come to Ayamonte :)))

Thank you very much to all of you for taking your time and writing a reply :))))

Good Evening from the South of Spain,

Alejandra.

[kumax_aomori]

こんにちは @AlejandraMaria

日本は海に囲まれているので、塩の殆どは海水を原料としています。

日本は湿潤でとても雨が多い国です。

干上がって塩分濃度が増した塩湖は無く、純度の高い岩塩も採れません。

しかし、山間では海水を原料としない塩もあります。

それは温泉に溶け込んだ塩分を蒸発させて作った「山塩（Yama-jio）」です。

きっと海水とは違い、温泉の成分の違いによって様々な味わいの塩が作られているのでしょう。

最も身近な調味料であり、人の生活に不可欠な塩の存在。

昔の人は様々な方法を用いて精製し、その苦労は大変なものだったのでしょう。

それと同時に、塩がとても貴重なものだったということを想像させます。