Saline-les-Bains blows your mind, because it shows you an aspect of medieval history that you probably had no idea about. Or at least, that I had no idea before I visited it. Over a thousand years ago people discovered that the water flowing up from underground springs was salty. So even as far back as 1115 they created “saltworks” to collect the water, dry it, to obtain salt. One interesting learning for me was: in the later Middle Ages, the workers here were treated phenomenally well. They obtained free salt (and remember, a family needed around 25 kg per year to preserve their food), free food, free healthcare, education for the children. They worked only around 12-14 hours per day, whereas 18+ hours was standard in the Middle Ages. They had an extremely good life, so that generation after generation of families willingly stayed and worked here.