Saturday, July 27, 2019

Post #17 - Džbán - Aquapark - Nudist destination review



Destination - Džbán Koupaliště (Aquapark).
Location - Prague, Czechia.
Official link - N/A
Review period - 4th July 2019, Thursday

Quick review



Click image for clear view. Follow instagram @thenudistcalendar for page 2 with more points in this format.


Brief background
  • I am not sure of laws related to public nudity in Prague, but for our reference, let's refer to the sections where people are known to be nude as nude sections.
  • Nude sections in grassy beaches next to lakes and river are common in Prague and all over Czechia. I was able to visit 3 of the 10 listed in http://www.naturista.cz/lokality/ftexta1.htm in Prague city and found active nudist participation in 2 of them, so I guess there could be easily 5 of them with active participation.  
  • This popular nudist spot is located at almost the centre of Prague city.
  • From the Nádraží Veleslavín bus stop, it is only 10 mins by walk.
  • The nudist section is connected to the clothed section by a walkway.



Detailed review

Weather 
  • Sunny, 25 degrees Celsius.
  • I checked the temperature later on timeanddate.com by browsing to past dates. .


Visitors
  • Almost 35-40 in nude section and roughly 100 in nearby section. 


Solo visitors present
  • Yes, both males and females.
  • There were also several groups of males.


Entry 
  • Paid entry. In Euro it was almost 3.5 EUR. 
  • No "couple only" entry rules.


Nudity rules  
  • No board or demarcation for nudity was found, as is mostly the case with European beaches.


Gender ratio
  • Women : men was roughly 1 : 4 in the nude section. 


States of undress
  • Almost 100% among men were naked, and roughly 66% among women were naked and 10% topless.
  • Interestingly, there were more topless women (at least 3) in the non-nudist section of the beach and most of them looked like younger than 40.


Age bracket ratio
  • (18-40) : 40+ was roughly 1 : 9.
  • There were few kids as well, who came with a lady. 
  • Almost all the people in 18 to 40 age group were men. There were no women in this category.


Racial composition
    • Almost all were whites.


    Ethnic composition 
    • Mostly ethnic Czechs are expected among the visitors.


    Body sizes ratio
    • Slim to plus sizes ratio was roughly 8:1.


    Interaction level 
    • Low - I could see only a few groups members interacting amongst themselves - one near a food counter hanging out together. 


    Sexual activities observed
    • No.


    Activities & facilities
    • An eatery right in the nudist section and two showers right next to the lake. Having been to many such destinations in Europe and Australia, I can fairly conclude that this is a European thing and mostly absent in Australia. In Australia the demarcation is very clearly mentioned, with sign boards (which is good) but generally, eateries are quite far (bad).
    • There was a cable wakeboarding setup which basically allows surfboarding in still water. The cable setup is equipped with smooth start and speed control system, which in practice means the lift adapts to the speed of the user.





    Few more pics from our visit


    Way towards entry






    Swimming at own risk sign, inside nudist section


    Saturday, July 13, 2019

    Post #16 - Bellevue Beach - Nudist destination review




    Destination - Bellevue beach.
    Location - Copenhagen, Denmark.
    Official link - N/A
    Review period - 23rd June 2019

    Quick review



    Click image for clear view. Follow instagram @thenudistcalendar for page 2 with more points in this format.

    Brief background
    • This popular beach is located just 10 kms from the centre of Copenhagen city, in a northern suburb called Klampenborg.
    • Public transport from the city centre takes hardly 45 minutes to reach there. From Klampenborg station, it is only a 7 mins walk.


    Detailed review

    Weather 
    • Sunny, 21 degrees Celsius.
    • I checked the temperature later on timeanddate.com by browsing to past dates. Although 21 degrees, it felt pretty warmer due to absence of wind.

    Visitors
    • Almost 55 in nude section and roughly 250 overall. 
    • The number of visitors was probably higher on this specific day, as it was Mid summer's eve, also celebrated by Danes as Sankt Hans. Mid summer marks the longest summer day of the year. People celebrate this evening with bonfires. We found one ready to go bonfire


    Entry 
    • Free and open. 
    • No "couple only" entry rules.


    Nudity rules  
    • No board or demarcation for nudity was found, as is mostly the case with European beaches.
    • There is no law in Denmark that directly determines where and when one can or cannot be naked. There are only very few restrictions - for example, it is generally allowed to bathe naked on the beaches. For reference - https://www.naturister.dk/lovgivning/

    Gender ratio
    • Women : men was roughly 1 : 2.4 in the nude section. 


    States of undress
    • Roughly 50% among men were naked, 7.7% among women were naked (which was basically one out of the 12 women in the vicinity), and 23% topless.
    • This percentage, which is quite low as compared to nude sections of other beaches I have been to, means there was a healthy mixture of clothed and naked people in this beach. With a walking pathway to the lifeguard tower, and both clothed and nude people walking along, there was a fair amount of proximity and both the nude and clothed people were quite comfortable around each other.
    • I even encountered a Bengali speaking family, which had a kid, and was taking bath right next to the nude people. I have never seen Subcontinent people being so comfortable with nudity in front of their kids.
    • Only few brown men could be seen naked. None of the brown women were naked or even topless. 
    • Almost 8 yellow (East Asian) girls were seen. They were all fully clothed. A bunch of 3 or 4 of them were clicking some pictures (hopefully selfies).


    Age bracket ratio
    • (18-40) : 40+ was roughly 1 : 4.
    • Majority of the 40 plus people were the nude men. 
    • There were many kids in the nude section, accompanied by their parents. 
    • I even encountered a Bengali speaking family, which had a kid, and was taking bath right next to the nude people. I have never seen Subcontinent people being so comfortable with nudity in front of their kids.


    Racial composition
      • Mostly whites but also good representation of browns.
      • Including a few metres beyond the place where the nude or topless crowd was there, at least 10 brown people could be seen.
      • Almost 8 yellow (East Asian) girls were seen. They were fully clothed. A bunch of 3 or 4 of them were clicking some pictures (hopefully selfies).


      Ethnic composition 
      • Mostly ethnic Danes are expected among the visitors. 
      • I also heard a Bengali speaking family, from the Indian subcontinent, frolicking with their kid in the sea, right next to the nude people.
      • This beach stood out to be the most diverse in terms of racial and ethnic composition out of all the beaches I have ever been to. I even saw women in, what looked like a type of Muslim traditional wear, within a hundred metres of the nude section.


      Body sizes ratio
      • Slim to plus sizes ratio roughly 4:1 among men as well as among women (guesstimate, too many people).


      Solo visitors present
      • Yes, both males and females.
      • There were also several groups of males and females.


      Interaction level 
      • Medium - I could see a few people interacting with others near the lifeguard tower. 

      Difficulty level 
      • Medium - There were lots of clothed people among the nudists. 
      • This was one of those few places where the sections seemed pretty much mixed.
      • There were groups of girls, fully clothed, sitting in the section with mosts of the nudists, and clicking groupfies. 
      • It could be a thrilling experience though, if the embarrassment of being naked among clothed people could be overcome. The vibe of this beach was remarkably different from all the others we have ever been to. 

      Sexual activities observed

      • No.


      Activities & facilities 
      • There were volleyball courts within a hundred metres of the nude section.
      • People were kayaking. A few girls were passing right through the nude men taking bath on the sea.
      • There was at least one restaurant on the beach.
      • There were two life guard towers on two ends of the beach. Though I realised later, upon reading, that those were lifeguard towers. I don't remember seeing any life guards on duty though.


      Few more pics from our visit - 


      Nude section of the beach, after the nudists had left

      People playing volleyball within a hundred meter