ATHALASSA NATIONAL FOREST PARK

Straddling the municipality of Aglantzia and the buffer zone, this 840-hectare public park (Εθνικό Δασικό Πάρκο Αθαλάσσας/Ethniko Dasiko Parko Athalassas, Athalassa National Forest Park) is the green lung of the Nicosia conurbation. Managed by the National Forestry Office, it is a former scrubland area that has been classified as a national park since 1990. The park includes over 300 species of trees and shrubs (mainly eucalyptus) and is home to around 170 species of birds. There's an environmental information center, 20 km of trails for hikers, runners and cyclists, several ponds with ducks, geese and turtles, a dog park, playgrounds and picnic areas, and even a weather station from which sounding balloons are launched that can reach altitudes of 20,000-30,000 m. Around 1 km to the south-east of the Environmental Information Centre, Mikros Aron hill is dominated by the ruins of La Cava castle, built around 1385 during the reign of Frankish King James ^I after the capture of Famagusta by the Genoese. Here you can enjoy views over the part of the park located in the buffer zone and, beyond, over Ercan airport, in the northern zone. In the southern part of the park, a small road leads to the "Garden of Nations": traditionally, foreign heads of state come here to plant a tree from their country. Access by bus with line^no. 33 from Solomos square.