Salt marshes of Oia
Discover ancient Roman salt pans on the coast
Discover ancient Roman salt pans on the coast, with archaeological sites and salting factories. Admire the granite stone tanks and boundary walls.
On the coastline, primarily between A Guarda and Baiona, a number of archaeological sites identified as salt pans have been found. This activity probably revolved around the fishing-related processes, as salt plays a crucial role in preserving catches, that were carried out in the many fish-salting factories also recorded on our coast.
The Roman salt pans consisted of rectangular or square horizontal tiled surfaces separated by small vertical walls.
The Aguncheiro salt pan is an example of one of these operations. At present, you can see a tank formed by a paving of granite stones, with boundary walls made up of thin slabs driven vertically. This is part of the salt flat, as the rest is still below the ground and the rocks of the area, and some of it may even have been destroyed by the action of the sea and the morphological changes along the coastline.