Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Figuera da Foz

This coastal resort lies at the mouth of the Mondego River and its name translates as River's Mouth Opening in English. It's marshy terrain as the pictures show and this has led to an interesting industry - production of salt. This time last year I visited a salt mine near Krakow, but the Portuguese seem to have a much easier production system. Mines are expensive to run. Using the sun to evaporate sea-water has few costs attached. Both venues, Krakow and Figuera, provided me with a free sample - a bag of salt. Fortunately, Australian customs isn't interested in this mineral. It doesn't pose a threat to agriculture.

Here's the Mondego close to its mouth - crossed by an impressive bridge. And, as you can see, we were all attracted by a large flock of Flamingos browsing (if that's the correct term) in the water.





The salt-works soon became apparent and this takes place in shallow troughs that are filled with salty marsh water that is allowed to evaporate.





Along comes a worker with a large wooden rake who piles up the salt crystals to earn their salary (excuse the pun)



The piles are then scooped up and taken away for processing prior to sale. Easy! But it looks like a job that can be mechanised easily! I asked this question of the manager, but got an evasive reply. However, the company was insufficiently offended to withdraw their food ans drink, so a good time was had by our party. Then, it was off to our next destination, Porto - the subject of my next post.




AS

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