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Spiaggia di Guvano, hidden beach in Northern Italy

 italiano

This post comes from one of our devoted readers in Italy. I just wrote about a ‘hidden gem’ in Athens, as well as a remote beach that you can reach through a tunnel in Sitges, Spain, but it looks like Italy offers something of that sort too.

Spiaggia di Guvano is a gorgeous nude beach in the national park of Cinque Terre, La Spezia in Liguria.

To get there, walk from Corniglia train station in the direction of the village. Don’t go up the stairs, walk down, turn to the right and walk in the dark abandoned train tunnel. The access to the tunnel is free. Old information about the charge is no longer true.

But you will need a flashlight. After 15 minute walk you will find this gorgeous beach. It is usually very quiet and peaceful. Always nude, free and happy!!!

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[that sounds like a fun way to get to a beautiful beach!]

New season at Fort Tilden

With this miserable weather in NYC in the last couple of days, I can’t help sharing that we actually opened the beach season two weeks ago at Fort Tilden.

I already mentioned that we went there on an unusually warm day last November, so it was only more pleasant to come there on an unusually warm day in April and enjoy the first rays of sun and awakening nature.

Although it is autumn that is usually acclaimed for diversity of color palette, the spring forest of Fort Tilden looked very multicolored too.

We first hid from the wind behind the dune but then ventured to the beach itself, but didn’t really dare to enter water.

… there wasn’t only awakening nature, though. That dried horseshoe crab found its new identity as mask 😎

Run for the Wild!

I will be happy if some of my dear readers support me in raising money for conservation of lions!

Next Saturday I will participate in a 5k fundraiser run at the Bronx Zoo, Run for the Wild. We are raising money for the Wildlife Conservation Society, this year particularly for lion conservation. I unfortunately I cannot promise to run totally bare, as I usually do, but I will run barefoot. I used to have Vibram Fivefingers ‘barefoot’ shoes, but I lost them in my last trip, so I will run totally barefoot. I am still learning the techniques of Moving Naturally system, which I mention in the post about Jones Beach, which I find less energy-demanding than running that we’re used to after wearing thick sole shoes.

In case you wonder why lions need money to support them, this is what I wrote on my personal Run for the Wild page:

Join me in making tracks for lions! On April 28, I will be participating in the WCS Run for the Wild, a 5K run/walk at the Bronx Zoo. This event is dedicated to these beloved big cats, which are losing ground across the African Plains. The funds I raise will go toward the Wildlife Conservation Society projects to conserve lions and other imperiled animals around the globe and at the Bronx Zoo.

Did you know that lions now live in only a small number of African countries? The nations of Morocco, Algeria, Congo, and Gabon have lost all of their lions.

If we do not act soon, they could also vanish from Nigeria, South Sudan, and Uganda.

Being at the top of energy pyramid in many habitats in Africa, they are essential to the ecosystem. Even $10 will make a difference for lions African ecosystem. The donations I collect will go toward WCS efforts to monitor lions and work with local communities toco-exist peacefully with the big cats. With your support, WCS will continue this important work.

Please also consider joining me for this fun event! You can register at http://www.wcsrunforthewild.org.

Thanks in advance for your generosity and your commitment to saving lions.

Please support me, lions and Wildlife Conservation Society following this link.

beaches of Sitges

Did you think that was it when I wrote about beaches of Barcelona? Well, almost. There is actually a lovely town of Sitges nearby, and guess what, it also has two naturist beaches.

Unlike in Barcelona though, those beaches are more remote and in a more natural setting. You would need to walk through the town’s narrow streets and then by the esplanade for an hour or so, and it is definitely a very nice stroll to do, unless you are can’t wait to dip in the sea. In the end of the esplanade, you’ll need to find a trail between the railway and sea, and continue in the same direction.

You will have some nice sea views to the left and a pine forest to your right; there’s lush Mediterranean vegetation, including dwarf fan palm, which is one of only two native European palm species (another one being Cretan date palm).

When you reach the beach, if you have any doubts on whether it is a nudist beach, there is a conspicuous sign saying that it is actually the first gay nudist beach if the world (since 1930’s).

When I was there in 2007, there was bar at the first beach, but on the second visit we saw a bar only at the second beach, which is right next to it.

But we just saw the absence of the bar as an opportunity to pose on its ‘ruins’, that were almost as picturesque as their ancient counterparts 🙂

And the platform where the bar used to be also provided nice views.

We camped overnight and woke up just before sunrise for a delicious fruity breakfast.

By the way, you can get to that forest not only crossing the railway but also through the tunnel under it. If you look through the tunnel towards the sea, it seems as if someone is inviting you to the naked Wonderland.

We need more of those portals that would transfer us to some nice beaches… any time of the year 😎

beaches of Barcelona

Barcelona is an ultimate tourist destination with countless sights of interest, be it history or art, beautiful views, gastronomic delights, vibrant night life and, of course, beaches. Now, what other major city can boast with a naturist beach in its central area? And not just one, but two!

One beach is located in the southern part of the hip Barceloneta area and is called Sant Sebastià. You can see it on the right side coming down by cable car from park Montjuïc.

Isn’t it great to strip down and dip in the sea after all that sightseeing? The location is especially perfect if you go there after checking out the Olympic site and city news from Montjuïc. That’s what we did.

Another well known naturist beach is Mar Bella. It is a little further away from the historic centre, but you can see the famous ‘Egg building’, for example. It also has a dune with tall grass, which gives it a bit more natural and secluded feeling.

All beaches within the city boundaries have showers, which is useful if you want to continue exploring the city straight after the beach.

Both naturist beaches of Barcelona are full of locals and tourists but are not overcrowded.

You will be most certainly offered a ‘masaje’ right on the beach; we thought it was a good idea, but just did massage to each other instead.

The clothing optional section is big enough for a walk

or even a short run.

But when the sun was high we of course went to swim

or simply relaxed in the breeze

and in water.

Well, actually the sea was quite rough, so it was difficult to relax in water and we mostly played in waves.

Which in the end was a lot of fun!

Thumbs up to Barcelona’s liberal attitude! Actually I read that some people took it one step further and were even walking naked on the streets, but unfortunately the new mayor was apparently looking for some ways to distract people’s attention from economic problems and proposed a law forbidding even walking topless in the city (even for men). Let’s hope the trend will be reversed soon, otherwise we’ll loose just about the only big city with naturist sea beaches in the centre.

dance naked… censored!

A video with young guys from Fratpad showing all kinds of moves from shower dances to real break-dance, created a stir among several visitors of this website, but was eventually deleted by Vimeo for copyright infringement. I still keep this video on Dailymotion.

Another video with naked dancers, an advertisement from London’s super club and electronic music label Ministry of Sound, went somewhat unnoticed. But now it’s been deleted from Vimeo too, for another reason though:

Vimeo does not allow pornography or sexually explicit material.


I don’t think that they show sexual acts in any known to me form; I don’t think that they show anything else except several young people dancing energetically to dance anthems of early 2000’s. If someone doesn’t realize that some parts of human body may dangle and sway during dance, this is a good educational video. But it does not make it pornographic in my opinion. And I don’t buy the argument that someone might find it sexually arousing: most pop music videos have some ‘sexy moves’ in their choreography, and many dance styles incorporate moves that you can find similar to sexual acts…

Vimeo offers a possibility to appeal:

If you believe this was an error, please reply to this email in a civil manner with your reasoning (“I see other people do it” is not a valid reason).

If you have some ideas on what I should write them, please help me.

hidden gem in Athens

 ελληνικά

Athens has a few secluded beaches that are known to have naked bathers, but this one is a true hidden gem: it’s close to the city center but almost impossible to come across without knowing the exact location, and yet it is really beautiful.

So, of course, it is a great place for skinny-dipping.

I learnt about this place thanks to Nico, one of the devoted readers of my blog from Athens.

And after a couple of years of having been in touch via email, we finally got a chance to meet in reality last September, and we talk about so many things. But then, in the spirit of ‘active naturists’, we had some time with “a little less conversation, a little more action”.

We climbed the cliffs above water.

The rocks were of bright colors, mostly of lila and orange palette, and looked especially effective in sunset light.

Then we swam to a cave that was not possible to reach by cliffs. That small cave looked like a lost pirate meeting point, but unfortunately I didn’t grab my waterproof camera with me so I cannot show it here.

The night was still very warm, so we enjoyed the night view of Athens before leaving that hidden gem.

Naked at the museum?

Last Thursday, the Museum of Sex in New York held a special night event that was supposed to be clothing-optional and was even promoted by Young Naturists America group. The ad looked to me rather fetish related, so I didn’t go and apparently didn’t miss much, as according to YNA report no one actually got naked. While many supporters of YNA were somewhat baffled that they promoted the event, I hope their presence raised awareness about nudism.

But I would be much happier if museums allowed clothing-optional visits on regular basis; especially, it would fit to watching antiquities and art from tropical cultures. And modern art? Probably too! By the way, if you’re in Australia you have a great possibility to do that in the end of the month: Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney will have 3 days when you can visit it without clothes! This is what they say:

Gain a new perspective on the current MCA exhibitions by viewing them entirely nude. Remove the material barriers between artist and audience (literally) when you join artist Stuart Ringholt’s tour followed by a nude reception.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? I wish them success and perhaps MoMA will follow the example 😉

Facebook censorship?

Last week my website saw a huge increase in the number of page views and the major reference site was Facebook. Yesterday the figures dropped and Facebook was not in the list of reference sites anymore. Now I wanted to send a message with the link to http://activenaturists.net to my friend, but got a message that this link is blocked by Facebook as spam! Can anyone tell me what it all means?