Who we are

In 341 BC an intelligent Thessalian horse-taker, Filoneikos sold to Philippe the B, king of Macedonia, his five-year-old stallion Voukefala for the impressive amount of the thirteen talanta (Plutarch, Voi Paralliloi – Alexandros). Filoneikos could not have imagined that his name would be revived in modern Greece and expecially in his area Karditsa through an original business idea.

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Filoneikos is a dreamy multi-purpose venue for entertainment activities. It covers a beautiful area of 17 acres, three kilometers from the city of Karditsa, on the road to Lake Smokovo. It was created with the motive of love for animals and nature, and it has as the vision of sensitization of both young and old people for the environment, through a unique recreational experience.

Filoneikos includes a fantastic wooden café with a fireplace and a pergola with unlimited view of the Agrafa Mountain range, a playground, a trampoline and a football field. In the riding facilities of professional standards, we give horse riding lessons for beginners and advanced ones, pony rides and horse rides for all ages, as well as therapeutic riding for people with disabilities by a specialized speech therapist.

Something completely new we have created for you is the zoo, which includes 19 species of animals and is constantly enriched with new ones, where you will see: Arabian camel, Kri kri (Cretan wild goat), Platoni deer, Mouflon wild sheep, Emu (Australian bird), Angora goat, mini piglets, donkeys, lamas, Shetland Pony, rabbits, Cameroon sheep, African pygmy goats, Apaloosa pony, Quessant sheep, Zebu Indian cow and others. You have the opportunity to get in touch with them, caress them and feed them, eliminating the stress of everyday life and at the same time enjoying their psychotherapeutic calmness. And all this in a place that stands out for its unique presence with free entry!

Our team of horses is carefully selected for their character and behavior, with each one having unique abilities so that we are able to meet the needs of both beginners and experienced horse riders. We also offer an Equestrian Academy for children with an experienced coach and a European curriculum. You can also plan horse rides with us in the neighboring river and the nearby Agrafa foothills, always with an experienced escort. Every Monday afternoon and Saturday morning you can enjoy free horseback riding and archery.

At Filoneikos, contact with animals and nature will relax you and you will forget your problems, while our activities will spur you off in a unique way while enjoying the tranquility and vastness of the landscape. Here we all are, people and animals, a happy family and we are waiting for you to experience unique moments.

Live the experience!

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Our services

Our zoo

The kingdom of animals, the kingdom of life!

Horse world

The most sincere and loving world!

Cafe - Bar

Moments of relaxation and fun.

In the beautiful wooden café-bar the attention to detail follows you everywhere and in combination with the harmony of materials and colors that become one with nature you forget you are next to the city.

During the summer evenings the night breeze and the coolness of nature give you a unique feeling of relaxation that calms the senses while in the winter next to the fireplace the immense view of the snowy Agrafa mountain range is imposing and takes you away from every day worries.

Here you can enjoy your coffee or drink from a wide variety of fine and carefully selected products, organic wine and tsipouro, organic herbal drinks, pizza or club sandwich snacks, sweets and ice creams, as well as live performances.

Our activities

In our relatively short presence, our activities mainly around the child and the parents are plenty and interesting, while many of them are unique not only for the area of Karditsa but also for Greece! So we have developed a variety of actions in cooperation with local services. The purpose of these activities is an alternative escape in nature, volunteering, in-game training and ultimately entertainment away from city noise, the television and computer screen.
It is worth noting that all of our actions are free of charge, which we think shows our philosophy and our motives!

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This is how – each summer – we are implementing the ground-breaking city camp action, which lasts almost two months and is dedicated to children, in collaboration with 17 contributors in the area and with 26 themed activities. Among others are the Scouts, the Red Cross, the Mountaineering Club, the Cycling Club, the 4X4 Club, the Karagouna Cultural Association, the Photography Club, the Radio Club, the Theater Workshop, the Philharmonic Orchestra and others. The action involves hundreds of children who are looking forward to it every year, since the city camp is now an institution for everyone.

With the action “Parents and Child” children participate – free of charge – in horse grooming, horse feeding, vaulting and other activities in the countryside.

We organized the groundbreaking “make and take” action in cooperation with the Modeling Club of Karditsa, where the children build their own models in the open-air workshop.

We have also organized a mountain bike race in association with the Bicycle Club Karditsa with a lot of success.

During school visits, we implement a training program called “The Horse as an Interactive Learning Tool” with a specialized group of people, which is also posted on the relevant website of the Ministry of Education, http://www.e-yliko.gr/ index.php? option = com_k2 & view = itemlist & task = category & id = 31: thessalia & Itemid = 123 and includes history, mythology, language, biology, environment, creation and expression.
The theater play “My name is Elias” was presented by the Theatrical Workshop “Art of Pedagogy”.

The Dance School Maria Karapanagiotis presented a dance show for children with the active participation of visiting children.

The Art Club of Karditsa exhibited in our facilities the paintings of its members on “The Pomegranate and its Symbolism”. Individual paintings by Katerina Kanelloukou and Sofia Kotsali-Gonitsiotis were also on display.

The Polykiton workshop set up a whole jewelry workshop in our warehouse on the making of jewelry by the children who finally took them with them.

On the World Autism Day, in cooperation with the Association of Parents of Children with Autism and the Municipality of Karditsa, we took action with horses for children in the central square of the city in order to raise the awareness of the people.

We organized a Therapeutic Riding Day in cooperation with therapists from the Serres Horse Riding Center.

Every year, we actively participate in the Pan-Hellenic Meeting of Dance Groups for disabled/challenged persons..

We have taken joint action with the students of the Department of Special Education of the University of Thessaly for the Olympic bocce sport, with the participation of children from the 7th Gymnasium of Karditsa and children from the Special Gymnasium of Sofades.

We have organized a seminar on “horse contact” with the famous horse whisperer Steve Vergis, with the demonstration of horse
acrobatics and also the additional theme “dog and horse”.

We also organized a seminar with demonstration on “dog training and behavior”.

We organized Survival Games with the participation of Vassalos in which the children had the chance to compete with him.

On a gorgeous night, we used telescopes to observe the starry sky and learned the beauty of the universe that surrounds us.

We have been in contact with the American non-profit organization “Gentle Carousel” in order to bring miniature horses specially trained exclusively for psychotherapeutic purposes and for visits to pediatric clinics as a unique psychotherapeutic surprise.

We participated in the festive events of the theme park of Trikala “Mill of the elves” as their chosen destination, among other things making a unique representation of Voukefalas with Alexander the Great attracting visitors from all over Greece to our region.

With our initiative, we have recently begun working with local businesses to create a cluster to offer an original tourist package. This service has already begun to be promoted to tourist offices throughout Greece and to organizations and associations of all kinds. The purpose is to also be promoted to large travel agencies abroad.

It would be an omission not to mention the continuous live event evenings we organize in our place such as the memorable flamenco night with traditional musicians from Spain, organized along with the Flamenco Museum of Seville, the jazz night with the quartet of the famous saxophonist Dimitris Vassilakis and so many others.

In Filoneikos we will never stop surprising you with our actions.

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Contact Us

You will find us

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3ο ΧΛΜ ΚΑΡΔΙΤΣΑΣ ΡΟΥΣΟΥ
ΚΑΡΔΙΤΣΑ

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