Old MacDonald has a farm ...

Recently, I dedicated our visit to the Riverland Bio Farm in a blog post (https://www.vacationio.com/course-southeast/visit-bio-farm), and now we are talking about family trips and farms again. Sustainable tourism has been subsidized by the government in Cyprus for some time now, so there are small parks and farms all over the island that can be visited anytime or on certain days/at certain times. Admission is often not even required. This suits us very well, because animals are wonderful for children, being outdoors is great anyway, and there are usually playgrounds on the farms as well. Here is a little overview of our discoveries in recent weeks:

The Antelia Bee Park (https://www.facebook.com/Antelia-Bee-Park-272849124552907) recently opened and unfortunately we were a bit early with our visit. We could take a short walk and the boys could have fun on the new playground. We could also enjoy a frappé, but that's about it.

As the name suggests, everything revolves around bees. A small museum is supposed to show the entire process from pollination to honey production. In addition to honey, there are also other products such as wax and propolis available for purchase, and so on.

Not far from the Antelia Bee Park is the Achna Lake Donkey and Animal Farm (https://www.facebook.com/Achna-Lake-Donkey-Park-135487873310382/), a beautiful and well-maintained facility that is home to many donkeys, as well as other animals such as pot-bellied pigs, goats, and ostriches. There is a restaurant from where you have a great view of the Achna Reservoir. A small playground completes the visit. We were treated incredibly friendly here. Since it is already off-season, the shop was closed and the cleaning lady did not bring water bottles that we would have liked to buy. She kindly brought us water and lemonade in carafes, which we enjoyed in the shade of a tall tree.

Then we made a short stop at the Agroktima Agios Georgios (https://www.facebook.com/Agroktima-Agios-Georgios-1695741924047010/) farm. Short because it was not apparent online that the restaurant was completely closed and the only worker we saw was not inclined to stop working, namely to use his leaf blower on the really nice, shady playground. So we just took a short stroll around the premises and looked at the small animals. We didn't find the donkeys.

The Golden Donkey Farm (https://www.facebook.com/goldendonkeys/), which is also located in Skarinou like Agroktima Agios Georgios, is no longer a secret tip. A small entrance fee is required here. The main attraction is the donkeys, but there are also other animals to see. There is a restaurant and two small playgrounds. The shop offers really nice souvenirs to buy, such as beauty products or chocolate with donkey milk. I really like the museum, which is spread throughout the entire property. It shows the rural life of the past, the tools used, and the daily life of the rural population.

At the Petrides Farm (https://www.facebook.com/petridesfarmpark), animals play a role, but play and fun are clearly the focus. In addition to two huge playgrounds, you can go karting here, play Gelly Ball (like paintball, but with softer balls), there are several sports fields for football and basketball, and recently on Family Day, even the little ones could ride inflatable boats in a large pool. There are many seating areas distributed throughout the entire premises, food and drinks of course, so you can easily spend a whole day here. And of course, there are animals to see here as well.

We think it's great how much Cyprus thinks of the children. At the same time, it is benefiting the animals on the island, as few farms could probably survive without also benefiting from tourism.