When planning a holiday with children in the Costa de Almeria, no one expects to see cowboys and can-can dancers. But in vain — the Tabernas desert is so similar to the landscapes of the Wild West that several Westerns were filmed here. The film group left, but the scenery remained. So not far from the city of Almeria appeared "Oasys MiniHollywood" — a theme park for the whole family.
The park has a double name for a reason. The first part, MiniHollywood, starts right at the entrance. You'll see a typical cowboy town with wooden houses and a central square treaded by boots. Every house is worth a look: one is a sheriff, another is a banker looking for robbers, and another is a saloon keeper polishing his bar rack. So whose portrait will be on the WANTED sign? Maybe yours is not a wanted notice but an original picture frame.
One of the buildings houses is a small cinema museum, and another is a retro car museum. Not far from the town, the Indians have set up their tepees. But the main action takes place in the central square. A careless word generates a conflict, but the fight immediately breaks out with gunfire and stuntman-like precision falling from a height. It's worth checking the start time of this spectacular spectacle in advance so you don't miss a second.
Oasys Amusement Park is the second part of the park in the Tabernas Desert. It is quite a large zoo with around 800 animals of 200 species. They are mainly inhabitants of the hot lands: lions, zebras, antelopes, giraffes, hippos and elephants. Handsome parrots put on a show. To see all the animals, take a tour train that will take you through the African savannah.
Oasys Theme Park has a unique footprint museum. Learning to recognise exotic animals from paw prints may not sound very useful, but this museum awakens an interest in observing wildlife. And the cactus garden, also on the grounds of Oasis, teaches another lesson — respect for nature (and no one will think of the call "Don't pick the flowers" as a formality).
If you're taking your child to Oasys MiniHollywood theme park, take water, hats and sunscreen — the desert sun always burns harder than on the coast. You can have lunch at a buffet-style restaurant in the park. Also, remember to take swimwear and swimming trunks with you — on a hot day after the tour it will be nice to spend a couple of hours by the pools.
And one more thing: you don't have to buy a cowboy hat in Texas — the MiniHollywood gift shop has plenty of them!
