A Matter of Choice

Cyprus has three main waterparks, Waterworld Themed waterpark, Ayia Napa, Fasouri Watermaina, Limassol and Paphos Aphrodite Waterpark.  We live on the east coast about 15 minutes drive from Ayia Napa so Waterworld has always been our park of choice but I'd fancied visiting one of the others for a while now and we decided last year to try it.  My boys are currently 10 and 7 years old and our annual trip to Waterworld is one of the highlights of the year.  It's not cheap for a family costing easily over €100 for entrance tickets, food and drink throughout the day but it's our special treat and you can often make savings by looking out for discount vouchers towards the end of season.  We were lucky enough to also get discount vouchers for Fasouri last year so visited both.   We had a fantastic day at both waterparks and we spent a lot of time comparing the two. Waterworld Themed Waterpark, Ayia Napa.  By far the boys favourite...

Earlier this year we visited the Cyprus Historic and Classic Motor Museum in Limassol. It's been on my 'to-do list' for several years now and I'm glad we finally got there! The museum originally opened 2014, and moved to larger premises in 2015. Today it covers an area of 3000sq meters and more than 150 exhibits covering more than 130 years of motoring history. Each of the vehicles had an information board, in both Greek and English although of course the boys were not patient enough to stop and read these without prompting.  However they enjoyed listening too Aaron tell them about the cars, especially when the stories were personal. He was amazed to see three makes of cars that his Mum had owned,  the Talbot (Matra) Rancho, Range Rover and Fiat 500.   This brought the cars to life for the boys as he told them about days out he'd had as a child in cars like these. My absolute highlight was the red double decker bus for several reasons, ...

Earlier this year I started to see adverts for a new family attraction opening in Limassol - Cyprus Land Medieval Theme Park.  I was very interested in what they had to offer and of course just had to go and take the boys for a day out there. Now,  having lived in Cyprus for almost seven years I wouldn't say that I was overly optimistic about what the place would be like.  I knew straight away that 'Theme Park' does not mean theme park in the way you would expect having heard of Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and such like.  I was certain that by thinking along the lines of 'themed park'  I would be closer to the mark. Not that I was going to let that put me off, I will happily travel the whole island to visit something that sounds worthwhile and I knew that my boys would love the knights and enjoy the trip regardless. We arrived at 11:30am,  the park was quiet apart from a group of children who were left by the time we'd completed the first activity...

As much as I love the beach and pool you can have too much of a good thing, especially in the height of summer when the temperatures reach 40 plus degrees every day so I am always on the look out for alternative ways to occupy ourselves. There are not a whole lot of options really but one I'd had in mind for a long time is the Thalassa Museum in Agia Napa.  Last year was the first year I thought Leo might appreciate it so back in July my Dad and I took the boys for a look round.Worst way round I thought we'd all appreciate the air conditioning! Leo was really impressed by the model sharks and other sea creatures and enjoyed looking at the main display - a replica of the 'Kyrenia II' a life size exact replica of the ancient vessel of the classical period (400 B.C) There are many glass panels in the floor which he found really interesting and a huge section where a reconstruction of the old shipwreck is displayed underneath.  There is also a documentary shown wh...

Earlier this year Leo noticed Parko Palitso,  the Luna Park / Fun Fair in Agia Napa for the first time, and had been asking to go every time we drove by it for weeks now. It's taken him a while to ask, considering we've been there to the indoor soft play area several times, and he never seemed to notice all the rides we walked past to get there! Having never taken him to a fun fair before I think I may have been almost as excited about it as he was!  The park doesn't open until 6pm, including the soft play area - a fact which annoys me (especially the soft play bit!) but I guess holiday makers prefer to spend their days at the beach. Entry to the park is free and you buy tokens or a wristband for the rides, which is handy if you have people in the group who don't intend to go on anything.   The amount of tokens varies between the different rides from 1 token (for the small kiddy rides) to 4 tokens so the price can quickly mount up although the wristb...

In my ongoing mission to find interesting (inexpensive) places to go I'm always really pleased to hear of a local child friendly event. Today   Garden Plus in Deryneia, a local garden centre was holding a Kids Fun Day so we went along to have a look. It was a free event designed to encourage a love of gardening for children, and all the children got to plant their own flower or herb to take home. My Mum, being the green fingered one of the two of us and a regular visitor of the garden centre got stuck straight in with Leo as he chose to plant a flower. He needed encouragement to get his hands in the earth but enjoyed 'making' a plant. He then helped his brother to do one too! There was a lovely shaded area with free drinks, biscuits and a yummy cake and a bouncy castle for the kids to play on.  Inside was a table set up with colouring pencils and paper, Leo and his friend drew rollercoasters (inspired by their trip to the funfair last night) and Louk...

Back in June a group of us decided to spend an afternoon entertaining the kids and making gifts for Fathers Day by visiting The Pottery Place in Protaras. I must admit that at first the idea didn't appeal to me, and over thinking it as usual I thought it would be more hassle than it was worth with my two and I'm really not the creative arty type but it was one of those places I'd been planning to visit one day so I went along anyway! However I was more than surprised and not only did I really enjoy the afternoon but am looking forward to going again sometime.  The Pottery Place is very popular with locals and due to its central location in Protaras also with tourists.   The idea is simple - pick your piece of pottery, paint it, and then return a couple of days later to collect your item once it has been glazed and fired.  Leo chose to paint a mug for Daddy and then we made a hand print tile for my Dad using my hand print as a base followed by Leo's o...

Today we had a brilliant, 'amaze-ing' in fact day out at CyHerbia Organic Herb Gardens in Avgorou.. I'd only recently found out about the place via facebook and today they had an Easter Egg hunt in the maze. CyHerbia has 9 themed herb gardens, woodland and Cyprus' only elevated hedge maze. It has a distillation room which although we didn't see today demonstrates the process of essential oil distillation and a tea room where you can sample the herbal teas and see the many herbs, and herbal products available for sale. Today was a special Easter event (no, they are not late with it, we celebrate Orthodox Easter here in Cyprus so Easter weekend is next week!) and for €2 per child you could take part in an egg hunt in the maze, 'I-spy' in the herb gardens as well as some sheets to complete finding other things in the maze and spotting the Easter bunnies hiding in the gardens. I think I may have been even more excited about this than Leo, not just for t...