Nin Saltworks (Solana Nin)

The Nin Saltworks are one of Europe's oldest continuously operating industrial sites — salt has been harvested from these shallow evaporation pans for over 1,500 years using essentially the same method the Romans employed. Sea water is channelled through a series of ever-shallower rectangular basins, each stage concentrating the brine further under the fierce Dalmatian sun and steady bura wind, until the final crystallisation basins yield pure white salt that is raked by hand into small pyramids. The saltworks are family-owned and now run as an excellent small ecomuseum: a beautifully restored 19th-century salt-warehouse displays antique tools, the whole saltmaking process is explained in English, and visitors can walk designated paths right through the working basins. The absolute star product is 'Solana Nin' fleur-de-sel — the delicate flakes that form on the surface of the final basins on windless mornings and are hand-skimmed with wooden scoops. Small bags make excellent gifts and are stocked in the museum shop. The saltworks are also an outstanding birdwatching site: flamingos overwinter here in small numbers, and dozens of wader species use the ponds on migration. Best visited on a sunny summer afternoon when the salt is crystallising and pyramids are being raked — around 15:00.