After a relaxing morning, we headed to take a factory tour of Saltverk. Founded 5 years ago, Saltverk has revived a 17th century process to extract salt from the ocean using geothermal energy. This process results in a “flaky” salt. When we got there, we weren’t sure we’d really found it:
But soon enough, we were looking at vats of ocean water that were being evaporated to higher and higher salt concentrations.
Ocean water starts off around 2-3% salt. Once it gets to be around 10 times more concentrated than that, you can harvest it:
That salt is then dried:
And then it can be flavored, packaged, and sold:
This was a true factory tour, where you are seeing the actual production process. It involves climbing ladders to see evaporation rooms that are something like 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and wearing shoe covers and hair nets once you get to the final product. Very cool experience.
In the evening, we continued the geothermal energy theme by heading to the thermal pool at the Reykjanes Hotel. Apparently this is Iceland’s longest swimming pool and also the country’s largest hot pot.
The temperature varies depending where you are, and so most people can find a spot that is a temperature of their liking. It was very relaxing, and, unlike some other natural geothermal pools, not slimy at all!
Thanks for looking at our live updates. For help with planning your Iceland vacation, check out our main page: www.icelandwithkids.com. Thanks for reading!
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