Larnaca Salt Lake

Larnaca Salt Lake is located southwest of Larnaca town, near the city airport. During the winter the lake fills with water and migrating birds like flamingos while in summer time the lake evaporates, leaving a crust of 4-10 cm thick salt. According to the legend, the salt lake was created by the curse of Saint Lazarus. One day as Saint Lazarus was walking by the area, he asked a woman to give him some grapes from her vineyard . The woman refused, and St Lazarus transformed her vineyard into a salt lake. The scientific explanation is that the salt water invades the porous rock between the lake and the sea, making the water very salty. In Roman times, salt was so valuable, that soldiers were paid with salt instead of money. In the 12th-14th centuries, Larnaca was the most bustling port of Cyprus and salt was one of the primary export commodities .