You will find this site on the Southwest side of the National Forest Park and bordering Latsia. The area of the wider area is approximately 10 hectares. There you can bring with you and enjoy a ready meal. The field has a capacity of about 400 people with a capacity of up to 1000 people. There you will still find a kiosk, tables, toilets, taps and covered tables. It also includes games with volleyball courts and a basketball with three baskets, trails, parking lots and benches.
You will also see a beautiful and playful maze with winding corridors and suitable fence plants for use by children, a large playground and facilities for the disabled.
Athalassa can be described as the "green lung" of a rapidly developing city with few green spaces, Nicosia.
The area of Athalassa is located southeast of Nicosia, about 5 km from it and is surrounded by Aglantzia to the north and east, Strovolos to the west, and Geri and Latsia to the south. If you are wondering, it is likely that it got its name from the fact that in recent geologic years it was, like the rest of Mesoria, under the sea, so the conchs you meet in the area are abundant.
On medieval maps, a settlement (a government villa and St. George's district) is named Ailasa, Ailaza or Atalassa, justifying the ruins of the medieval castle and La Cava women's monastery in small Aronas, built by King Ioannus. It is very likely that the first houses that Giovanni Mariti saw in 1767 were in the area of the Livestock Farm.
The relief of the area is relatively smooth (130-190 meters), with the exception of the two trapezoidal Arons, the small Arona and the large Arona (Lion's Hill), while the area flows through the Vathi stream with its two tributaries.
There are two dams in Athalassa, the small dam of Agios Georgios and the fence of Athalassa. The fence of Athalassa was built in 1962 at the confluence of the ravines of Vathi and Kalogeros, for irrigation purposes. It is earthen, 18 meters high, 447 meters long, 230,000 square meters. meters, capacity of 791,000 cubic meters and volume of 103,000 cubic meters.
Geologically, Athalassa is part of the sedimentary sequence of the Troodos and, lithologically, it consists of three (3) major geological formations, which were formed during the Neozoic Era.
The dominant formation of the area is the Athalassa Formation (limestone sandstones, sandstones, sandy marls and rocky rocks), which has been named because of its larger compact area in the Athalakos area, where there are small limestone, sandstones, sludge, gravel, sandy marls, marls, limestones and boulders), as well as a small area of the Alluvial-Colluvium Formation (sands, sludges and gravel).
At Athalassa Park, a masterpiece of long-lasting forestry and cultivation efforts, you will find over 300 tree species, shrubby and herbaceous species (mainly alien species, and 10 endemic herbaceous and shrubby species, as well as 11 rare or exotic species). of the Park, with 173 species of birds, 27 species of butterflies, 7 species of mammals, 6 species of reptiles and one amphibian. He also noted that the only natural plant community is the one in the area of the fence, with wetland vegetation.
The large variety of predominantly migratory aquatic birds, some of which are overwintering, while most are parked here during the large migrations of Autumn and Spring, are mainly due to the waters of the two fences and general climatic conditions.
Since August 1974, approximately 40 hectares of the Athalassa Main State Forest have been in the dead zone. In 1985, in an effort to save the site from private and other intervention, some 357 hectares were declared "Athalassa National Forest Park", the only one on the island.
Part of the Athalassa Main State Forest, in addition to the aforementioned uses, is covered by the New Nicosia General Hospital, as well as by the Campus. Cattle, goats, sheep and pigs are bred in special stables and pig farms in the Livestock Farmhouse of the Department of Agriculture, while in the Experimental Farmhouse of the Agriculture Department various crops are tested. It was here that the British set up the first livestock unit, with the first buildings being built in 1912 and 1921. Hens and partridges are bred on the poultry farm, while olive varieties are grown in the wetland.
In Athalassa lies the "Park of Nations", where foreign Heads of State plant trees in memory of their visit, and here is the Artillery Training Center (KEPB).
The path will take you through the pine trees and eucalyptus forests of Athalassa. It meets the other paths of the park and thus has the possibility of a roundabout.
Starting point: Southwest entrance. Access from Nicosia - Latsia road.
Path length: 2.5 km,
Estimated Time: 45 minutes,
Degree of difficulty: 1
Format: Circular.
ADDRESS: Athalassa Park, Nicosia