LACS DE PANNONIE

Created in 2003, this amazing leisure complex (Panonska Jezera) now houses three artificial saltwater lakes that attract up to 15,000 visitors per day in summer. It is named after the Pannonian Sea, which dried up 10 million years ago, leaving large deposits of salt in the subsoil of the region and forming the great Pannonian plain that extends into Hungary. The project was born in 2000, at a time when Tuzla was suffering not only from the aftermath of the war and an industrial crisis, but also from the collapse of its subsoil caused by salt mining. The idea was to reverse the trend by using salt again as an engine for the local economy. Thanks to a complex filtration system (chlorine, sand...), a first salt lake was created in 2003 by combining brine pumped from the Tetima salt wells (10 km north as the crow flies) with fresh water from the Modrac artificial lake (10 km southwest). The result is water that is as salty as the sea, but sanitized like that of a swimming pool and retaining certain curative properties. Despite the reluctance of part of the population to pay for such a project, Tuzla has become the only European city to have a salt lake in its center. It now has three. In the summer of 2003, the first lake was a great success, attracting 100,000 visitors in less than two months.

Museum and Neolithic village. Two other salt lakes were added, one in 2008, the other in 2012, so as to be able to receive up to 17,000 bathers per day. Thanks to this, tourism has become the first economic sector in Tuzla. Today the complex covers 75,000^m2. The salt lake No. 1 is the largest: 10,140^m2 of surface, 15,000^m3 of water and 1.6 m deep. The other two are respectively 5,300 and 3,800^m2, with a depth of 1.8 m for lake n° 3. The latter is equipped with slides, hard contours like a swimming pool and a footbridge that crosses it. The other two are equipped with sand or pebble beaches. In addition, five small pools and two pools cascade into Lake 1 and serve as water parks for children. In summer, the area around the three lakes is crowded. Families will also find a playground, fourteen bars and/or restaurants as well as two scientific discovery areas: the reconstruction of a Neolithic lake village (5000 BC) and the Pannonica museum dedicated to the geology of the region.