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Ciclonudista – Madrid 2009

English

¡Si alguna vez tienes la posibilidad de participar en la carrera mundial nudista en bicicleta, hazlo!!!

Porque: 

1.Promociona un medio de transporte urbano saludable y amigable con el entorno: la bicicleta.

2.Facilita la aceptación de cada persona con su cuerpo: de hecho, te sorprenderías de que la gente no se siente ofendida o sorprendida ante el nudismo en absoluto.

 Los turistas estarán contentos de hacer fotos al evento y los vendedores de las tiendas están encantados de venderte agua o helados sin inmutarse!! 😎 

3.Es una muy buena ocasión para conocer otra gente a la que también le interesan los deportes y el medio ambiente 🙂 

4.¡Si eres turista, es la mejor forma de disfrutar de un tour gratuito en bicicleta por la ciudad!

Pero no te preocupes, se hacen pausas para descansar… ¿o bailar?

5. Normalmente hacen un after-party, como nuestro en un parque en el centro de Madrid. Todos nos sentíamos felices como niños.

 La gente compartía su comida y lo pasó genial!!

 El castillo humano fue muy divertido =)

Text in Spanish by Marcos

Ibiza (Party islands, part I)

Ibiza… the clubbing capital of the world, but it has even more to offer. First it became notorious for its hippy gatherings in 1960-70’s, which provided its fame for liberal atmosphere and were a starting point for the clubbing scene, developed by the likes of Pete Tong. So when I dreamt of going to Ibiza, I of course wanted to see the legendary clubs of the White Isle, such as Pacha and Space, but also had images of some tranquil beaches with hippies like this.

This year the dream has come true and I went there with a friend from Madrid. We stayed at campsite Cala Nova, which is quite far from so called “super clubs” in Ibiza Town and San Antonio, but as I thought it would not be a problem, as there is a direct night bus, “Discobus“, to Ibiza Town. This campsite is certainly a well-kept place with all necessary facilities including supermarket, so if you want to save on accommodation, it could be a good option. The only reminder of the glorious hippy times there is a hippy market in neighboring Es Cana. Unfortunately it is not clothing-optional campsite, which would be beneficial in the summer heat, and I do not know if there are any in Ibiza,

but it is just 5min away from the beach.

The beach is beautiful, quite crowded but with enough private space for such a popular tourist destination. It was probably my first experience at a beach where only small fraction of people were naked. At different times there were just 5-20 nudists, and what was unusual is that the nudist part was in the centre of the beach (where you see sand cliffs on this photo).

There were a couple of surprised faces among passerby, but overall none seemed to care. This made me think that even textile people do not have anything against public nudity when they see that it is not intended to shock anyone. Maybe some of them wonder “why?”, and some, “why don’t I try?”…

Finally there was our first night out. We headed to Pacha to the party of Swedish House Mafia, represented by Axwell and Steve Angello on that night, with warm-up set provided by French duo Arno Cost and Norman Doray. Pacha was the first super club in Ibiza. Now, barely has it any sign of its hippy past and has become a renowned brand with a chain of clubs throughout the globe… The party featured some of my favorite producers, so I was looking forward to hearing them and dancing to the music till sunrise… Although local government tries to diminish predominance of young clubbers among tourists visiting Ibiza and pressures clubs to close by 6am. Unfortunately the Discobus stops working at approximately this time, and then there is no direct bus to Cala Nova. But the Swedes went on well beyond that time and promised they would play till the crowd would stay, and the music and atmosphere was so great, that we could not stop… We had to pay for this joy by an hour trip in a bus and taxi and not being able to sleep normally in the tent because of the heat and noise from awaking neighbors. I had to admit that combination of clubbing and camping wasn’t such a great idea :-/

But we continued sleeping at the beach. Luckily the sand cliff at the naturist section of the beach provides shade in the afternoon.

Nevertheless we went out again on the following night, as we had booked the tickets in advance and I really wanted to hear the mighty Carl Cox, which has been in the top DJ list since it was first compiled 25 years ago. Despite the event was held at one of Ibiza’s hugest venues, Space, the dance-floor was packed. This has nothing to do with naturism (except that maybe it helps me to maintain good stamina necessary for such long nights), but I thought I should put a video from that night…

Surreal!  So if you are into dance music this is the place to be.

… and then again sleeping on the beach and very late lunch at the restaurant next to it…
From that day the waves were quite strong and there was even a bunch of surfers, mostly in the right side of the beach (if you face the sea). Again I was amazed – so many things one could do on this small island. I did not even know that wave-surfing was possible in Mediterranean. Too bad I don’t have a board and the time was too short for taking a course.
But at least I couldn’t resist from buying beach bats with “Ibiza” written with geckos on them, as beach bats seem very popular on Ibiza beaches.

On the last day we went to the biggest official nudist beach of Ibiza – Es Cavallet. The area at the entrance is mostly textile though, but further to the south (right), more and more naturists (and more and more gays among them) appear until it becomes fully clothes-free.

There were some of the best-trained guys I have ever seen (obviously, I did not dare to take pictures). So if it was believed that Greek gods spent winter time in Cyprus, they must have spent their summer vacations in Ibiza =)

But almost at the end of the beach on the right side, there is a bar featuring huge rainbow flags, around which most people were clothed again.

The water was of two contrasting colors – from very intense dark blue in the deep parts, to light turquoise at the shallow shore,

where the bottom is naturally very flat and smooth, somewhat a cemented sand.

So we were totally astonished by visiting just few of Ibiza’s sites.

Unfortunately we did not have time to visit another famous nudist beach, Aguas Blancas, that is recommended by one of my favorite DJs Judge Jules in Ministry of Sound’s guide to Ibiza. And there is certainly much more to explore.

Or is it the time to check out also our report from another clubbing mecca of the Mediterranean with some naturist options, Mykonos!

World Naked Bike Ride – Madrid 2009

español
If you ever have a chance to participate in the World Naked Bike Ride, do it!
Because:

  • it promotes healthy and environment-friendly urban transportation – biking 🙂 
  • it prmotes body acceptance: you will be surprised that people are actually not shocked or offended by nudity at all.
  • Tourists are happy to take pictures and sellers in local shops are happy to sell water and ice-cream without even raising their eyebrows 😎 
  • it is a great place to get to know other people who are interested in sports and environment 🙂 
  • if you are a tourist, it is the best way to have a free sightseeing bike tour! 

And don’t worry, there will be breaks to catch your breath… or dance?

  • For whatever reason everyone seemed happy, having pure fun just like children.

Usually there is also an after-party. We were lucky to have one in one of the central parks of Madrid, amazing! People shared their food and joy =)

 

That human pyramid was epic!

Glyko Nero Beach/Sweet Water Beach in South-West Crete

Almost all beaches in south-west Crete are clothing-optional, except perhaps only central town beaches. Many of them are connected with famous E4 hiking trail, so you can walk between them… or maybe swim?

Well, I’m joking, Anidri and GLyko Nero beaches are quite far from each other. Glyko Nero Beach (Sweet Water Beach), as its name suggests, has some underground freshwater springs. Thus this place is ideal for camping. Just dig a half-meter hole in the send, if there are not any already, and you’ll get fresh cold water. Regardless, you won’t die from hunger or thirst there anyway, as there is also a tavern. As the beach is turned to the south and surrounded by high walls of steep rocks,

view 0000 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

it can get very hot there unless there’s a strong breeze from the sea. But there are some trees providing good shade,
view 0001 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

and also a plenty of umbrellas from the tavern.

We spent most of the time swimming.

 

naturist 0001 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

The sea water is very clean and has intense dark-blue color.

naturist 0000 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

Unless you hit the freshwater spring at the water edge, it is also very warm; and certainly, this beach has one of the clearest waters I’ve seen.

view 0002 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

 
Even late in the evening it was so warm, we couldn’t help laughing about advice that we received on the previous day that we should take warm clothes and gloves for the night.
naturist 0002 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

At night, thanks to the cliffs surrounding the beach, it is very quiet and dark there, because no light comes from neighbouring town. Perfect to watch stars! As there was no moon, they were so bright that Milky Way even reflected in the water! And when we looked in the water, we saw that it was full of flashing “stars” itself. Bioluminescent plankton was so abundant (at least in the end of September, when we were there), that anytime I moved my hand in the water there were flashes around, as these organisms respond to mechanical disturbance with glowing. This is why they also flash a lot, when waves break onto the shore. I would highly recommend to swim at night (with goggles) to see how the water glows around you and your swimming buddy.
However, be careful with the above mentioned cliffs – don’t build you camp to close to them, because once in while some rocks were falling down, sometimes because of the goats jumping. They like coming to this beach to drink fresh water in those man-made holes, and you can see their incredible ability to walk on nearly vertical cliffs. 

naturist 0004 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece
But we had fun climbing those rocks ourselves too

naturist 0006 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

and then were diving from them.

naturist 0007 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

To get to Glyko Nero beach you may use a small former fishing boat which comes from Hora Sfakion directly to the tavern twice per day at about 10:00 and 17:00, or like we and many hikers, come by E4 hiking trail. From Hora Sfakion, you can also first go by car in the direction of Loutro till the sign E4 Glyko Nero/Sweet Water Beach. However you get there, you’ll surely love this beach!

naturist 0005 Glyko Nero beach, Crete, Greece

Samaria Gorge and beach at Agia Roumeli in South-West Crete

Samaria Gorge and beach at Agia Roumeli provide a perfect combo of adventure and secluded relaxation. Samaria is the longest gorge in Europe, 12.4km, so be prepared to walk for several hours. The good news is that you don’t need to carry water with you (maybe just keep half a liter with you), as there are springs at regular distances. It is a very popular national reserve with regular buses departing from Hania and other towns of Crete. It is better to ask in advance if the gorge is open on the day you want to go there, because it may be closed under some weather conditions.

First, you will descend by very well organized hiking trail with magnificent views over the gorge and mountains around.

view 0000 Samaria gorge, Crete, Greece

The second part of the route lies in the river bed (during summer Samaria River comes to the surface only in some parts) between vertical rock walls up to 300m high.
view 0002 Samaria gorge, Crete, Greece
That is especially impressive in several points where the cliffs from both sides get really close to each other, just few meters apart! It can be dangerous as the signs say, and we heard once quite a terrifying noise of falling rocks somewhere aside.

view 0001 Samaria gorge, Crete, Greece

During the first half of our walk, the trail was often overcrowded with tens, if not hundreds, of people literally rushing one by one. Later we realized why they were in such a hurry: the ferries from Agia Roumeli, a village in the end of the gorge, leave to Hora Sfakion and Paleochora at about 16:30. This is why almost all hikers try to walk the whole way in about 6 hours. Luckily we were going to camp in the end, so we spent almost 10 hours in the gorge and could enjoy all astonishing views.

So, during last 3 hours of our walk, after these settlements, our only encounters were feral goats and kri-kri, Cretan subspecies of wild goats, endemic to the island.

view 0003 Samaria gorge, Crete, GreeceAfter eating in a tavern in Agia Roumeli, we went to look for a camping place. A small pinery just left of the isthmus of the Samaria River was already occupied by half a dozen campers, so we continued looking for a place for our tent further on the beach in the dark… and we found it! An entire cave had been waiting for us exclusively 🙂 What was especially pleasing was that the floor in the cave was of fine dry soft sand, whereas the beach itself was mainly covered by pebbles, many of tennis ball size, very inconvenient to walk on. The cave had accumulated the warmth of the day, so not only did we not need to go inside our tent, we even did not need to cover! Watching the starry sky from the cave felt like in a cinema. The only problem was that the noise of waves echoed in the cave and thus doubled, so don’t expect quiet, but the sound of sea is your thing, you’ll be happy.

 

naturist 0000 Agia Roumeli beach, Crete, Greece

In the late morning next day, a few people came to the beach, but the cave remained pretty much our own.

naturist 0007 Agia Roumeli beach, Crete, Greece
With quite strong waves, the water there gets full of air bubbles, and it gives it incredibly intensive light-blue color… somewhat resembling the Greek flag =)

naturist 0004 Agia Roumeli beach, Crete, Greece
Further to the east lies another beach Agios Pavlos with an old church from Byzantine times, but unfortunately we did not have time to go there – it’s good to keep something for the next time, we thought.

Right next to the cave, there were some interesting rock formations.naturist 0002 Agia Roumeli beach, Crete, Greece

While swimming around, we found some rocks offshore with sort of bathtubs on them.

naturist 0006 Agia Roumeli beach, Crete, Greece

How cool, after a bathtub, you can dive into the sea!

naturist 0003 Agia Roumeli beach, Crete, Greece
And getting back to our cave I couldn’t resist imagining myself as a caveman.

naturist 0000 Agia Roumeli, Crete, Greece

Though it was also nice to just lie down and relax there…

naturist 0001 Agia Roumeli beach, Crete, Greece

Hopefully this place will remain as beautiful and unspoiled as we found it!

Anidri/ Giliaskari Beaches east of Paleochora (South-West Crete).

A pretty long stretch of the seashore east of Paleochora has three pebbly beaches known as Anidri or Giliaskari. 

view 0001 Anidri beach, Crete, Greece
Pebbles of the third, easternmost, beach are very small, which make it very convenient to walk on in contrast to big pebbles on other two beaches. In any case, probably thanks to the pebble floor, the water there is incredibly transparent.

view 0002 Anidri beach, Crete, Greece

We were there on a very quiet day with almost no wind, so we also played frisbee (there was enough space to not bother anyone with that).

Then we had a few pleasant swims without any waves, so we could easily practice different styles, mostly breaststroke

and front crawl.


Giliaskari beaches are well organized, with cafes, small taverns and outdoor showers – all well integrated with natural surroundings.

view 0000 Anidri beach, Crete, Greece
And we really enjoyed those outdoor showers in the sun 😎

naturist 0001 Anidri beach, Crete, Greece

As it’s a pretty long walk back to the town of Paleochora, it’s not a bad idea to wash the salt off you skin.

By the way, this is one of few naturist places in Greece where we’ve seen an “official” warning board about nudism.

naturist 0003 Anidri beach, Crete, Greece
As if you couldn’t guess without it 🙂

Starkers! On London’s naked disco and erections at naturist locations

London’s Naked Disco ‘Starkers’ is quite a sought-after event, but I heard a lot of contradictory opinios about it, so I was very eager to visit it. I must say I really enjoyed it, and whenever I have a possibility I’ll go there again. But this visit made me think of what people call naturism and a naturist club. So, why did I enjoy it? Because I love dancing and being naked is natural to me, and there, I could do both at the same time; the atmosphere was absolutely liberating, and the music on the dance floor was good (house of early 2000s), I thanked the DJ in the end 🙂 But perhaps for some, the atmosphere there is too liberating. And this is where many people disagree about Starkers. So, it often seems that naturists try to separate naturism from any association with sexual activities; then Starkers is not a naturist venue. But if we accept that naturists are humans like any other and may get erections (male ones, of course), then it is a naturist club [as any other night club, it is of course an adult-only venue]. On the one hand, I find it normal that like in any other night club, people flirt there. And as a result of it, or for whatever else reason, you can see a few men with hard or semi-hard penises… Don’t you think this happens also in regular [clothed] clubs, but we just don’t see it because of the clothes? On many web-sites dedicated to naturism, it is said that men should hide or get rid of their erections in public (with a towel, cold water, thinking of smth unpleasant etc.); on some others, it is suggested not to bother about it and just behave normally. I find the second attitude healthy, as many men have spontaneous erections when they are relaxed, and even if it has a sexual reason (like you’ve seen someone attractive), it doesn’t necessarily mean sexually aggressive behaviour. I know some guys who don’t want to go to naturist places, because they are easily aroused but are afraid of getting erections in public. They wouldn’t jump on anyone, it’s mere physiology… So, actually it was a great feeling at Starkers that no one really cared about that. But on the other hand, what disappointed me was that it seemed that majority did come to Starkers for flirting/cruising. I just find it annoying, like in any other situation (beaches, saunas or regular dance clubs) that some people can’t just enjoy the environment and just look for a hook-up instead, and nudity is seen by them as merely a sexual trigger. It would be appropriate in a sex/swinger club, but as far as I’m concerned, Starkers is intended as a club for people who just like to hang out naked and dance. I could see that some of the visitors were not satisfied just with that and were constantly cruising. Nevertheless overall I had a positive experience, because there were also many friendly people,

who simply enjoyed dancing naked. And as I liked the music, that was enough to keep me in a good mood all the time. Well, except maybe the midnight show. That one was rather ridiculous, and it didn’t really make much sense to put some opera singing in the middle of house music disco. It was a pity that after the show people seemed sort of confused and needed some time to get into dancing mood again.

I’d certainly recommend visiting this club if you’d like to dance naked, and there’s no other naked disco to my knowledge. It is especially cool to go there on a chilly winter night, when everyone wants to hide under the coat or a blanket in the bed, and to feel yourself in another world. For directions and other information check the official web site of Starkers. And check out also my post dance naked! There is an inspirational video 😉

Nudi di fronte agli yachts dei milionari: Benvenuti a Capri!)

English

Sembra che questa sia l’unica parte di questa isola chic dove alle persone non importa davvero quale tipo di vestito viene indossato…perché qui loro non vestono nulla 😉 Bisogna andare verso via Krupp da Marina Piccola, e poi verso il mare passando attraverso i pini arricciati e ristoranti, sono mostrati sulla mappa esattamente! Non c’è sabbia, e l’entrata nell’acqua non è comoda, ma alcune rocce sono perfette per distendersi. E non dimenticatevi di fare una fotografia di fronte allo yacht di qualche celebrità o multimilionario, come Abramovich. Potete essere nudi, ma siete comunque a Capri!
Italian text by Matteo

Παραλία γυμνιστών στην Αθήνα (Λιμανάκια)

English

Η παραλία γυμνιστών στα λιμανάκια είναι ένα πολύ όμορφο σημείο για να ευχαριστηθείτε τη ζέστη από να υποφέρετε στην πόλη. Έχει πολλές λείες πλάκες και μερικές κρυμμένες γωνιές για μια ρομαντική ατμόσφαιρα ακόμα κι αν η παραλία είναι γεμάτη. Ο κόσμος μπορεί να είναι ποικίλος και από διάφορες χώρες, κυρίως χαρούμενοι. Το νερό είναι ζεστό από τον Απρίλιο ως τον Οκτώβρη, ακόμα και όταν βρέχει. Και η θαλάσσια ζωή πολύ όμορφη, με ψάρια με τα χρώματα του ουράνιου τόξου (σε συμφωνία με την πλειοψηφία των επισκεπτών της παραλίας). Άλλη μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη, που είδαμε μία φορά εκεί, ήταν μια μέδουσα.
Έτσι, είναι θαυμάσια η παρατήρηση του βυθού με μάσκα, αλλά βγαίνοντας από το νερό χρειάζεται προσοχή για τους αχινούς, καλύτερα να φοράτε μάσκα.

Στο κοντινότερο λιμανάκι της πόλης,στο οποίο μπορείς να κάνεις βουτιά από τα βράχια. Φαίνεται αρκετά ψηλά? Ε, δείτε το και από πάνω! Με διασκεδαστική διάθεση, την μέρα που πήραμε το κουράγιο να πηδήξουμε από τα βράχια, υπήρχε στη διπλανή λίμνη της Βουλιαγμένης διαγωνισμός των 12 καλύτερων καταδυτών βράχου. Εμείς δεν μπορούσαμε πραγματικά να συγκριθούμε μαζί τους, απλώς βουτήξαμε με έναν πιο φυσικό τρόπο, από τα βράχια και όχι από πλατφόρμα (γιατί άραγε το απόκαλούν κατάδυση βράχου) και χωρίς μαγίο ) (τα σπάσαμε λίγο, αλλά άξιζε!). Λοιπόν έτοιμοι?! Περίμενετε! υπάρχει ένας ανυποψίαστος κολυμβητής από κάτω. Έτοιμος! Φύγαμε! Και να το βίντεο.

Για να φτάσετε από το κέντρο της Αθήνας χρησιμοποιείστε το λεωφορείο express Ε22 (από Πανεπιστήμιο ή Σύνταγμα ή από τη Γλυφάδα το λεωφορείο 115 ή 116 για το δεύτερο λιμανάκι (Β’ Λιμανάκια).
Greek text by Alexandros

Παραλία γυμνιστών Καλόγρια στην Δυτική Πελοπόννησο, Ελλάδα

English

Το κομμάτι των γυμνιστών της παραλίας της Καλόγριας είναι στο δεξί μέρος της ( όπως κοιτάζεις τη θάλασσα), πίσω από βράχια και ξύλα. Αλλά υπάρχει και μια πολύ ωραία παραλία με άμμο προς εκείνη την πλευρά. Μερικές πέτρες σκαρφάλωμα και μετά καθαρά νερά για να κολυμπήσετε. Μην ξεχάσετε να απολαύσετε το ρομαντικό ηλιοβασίλεμα.

Greek text by Alexandros