"Traditional" French nudists in a town on the Languedoc coast are locked in battle with a new wave of naturists who advocate free sex and partner-swapping.
Tensions in the town of Cap d'Agde, which is known as France's "Naked City" thanks to its large nudist population, have risen after locals complained that the nudist quarter had been overrun by raunchy hotels and that children had been confronted with people indulging in sexual acts in public, according to the Independent.
The exhibitionist behaviour has been blamed on the "libertines", a group of swingers who have descended on the town in recent years. To make matters worse, the group has been accused of walking about in their clothes and mocking the "real" nudists, the paper said. Florence Denestebe, an independent local councillor, recently told a council meeting: "When the sun shines, there is an area of Cap d'Agde which turns into the European capital of free sex." She called on the mayor to intervene before there was an "explosion of libertine behaviour in non-nudist areas" of the town. Traditional nudists support the move. One told the paper that they had moved to the area because they wanted "a natural life" but that they had ended up living "surrounded by wild animals".The mayor said that he would consider the complaints but had already done all he could to keep the two groups apart. Two years ago anger of the influx of swingers led to two arson attacks on hotels that hosted libertine parties.Popularly known as the Naked City, Cap d'Agde, is the seaside resort of the town of Agde, France, on the Mediterranean Sea coast in the département of Hérault, within the région of Languedoc-Roussillon. Cap d'Agde is one of the largest leisure ports on the French Mediterranean.
The Village Naturiste is a large fenced-off part at the north-eastern edge of Cap d'Agde, although it is accessible along the public beach from the east. It is a self-contained town, where nudity is legal and common in the whole resort, including its restaurants and shops, day or night. In the evening, when it gets colder, more people are dressed, sometimes in revealing clothes.
Village Naturiste is a town by itself, with a 2 km beach, port and marina, campsite, apartment complexes, hotel, shops, restaurants, bars, post office, bank and ATMs, laundrettes, hairdressers, saunas, and other such facilities.
In 2009, Rene Oltra, the company which bears the name of the original promoter of the resort, required visitors to its campsite and villas and flats which it lets must belong to a naturist organization. In December 2009 the local authority proposed to renovate making the village almost traffic-free, beginning June 2010, constructing tree-lined walkways and promenades, a high-level promenade by the beach, and a hotel. The latter, a 29 bed four star hotel to be called the 'Hôtel le California', due to open in spring 2011, is already under construction adjacent to the landscaped roundabout near the entrance to the Naturist Village.
The naturist beach (where nudity is technically mandatory) has a length of about 2 km and is about 30 meters wide. Sand and water are of good quality and between 16 to 22 °C (61 to 73 °F). Lifeguards are on duty at several stations, during most of the day. Six restaurants border the southern end of the nude beach. Only one restaurant is available towards the northern end. Even though Cap d'Agde is in France, most of the service staff members speak English.
Heliopolis is the biggest and most prominent feature of Village Naturiste and is a 4-storey round apartment complex with a diameter of around 250 meters (820 ft) located at the beach. Heliopolis has a shopping area with a supermarket at the ground floor. It has approximately 800 apartment units for 2, 4, and 6 people. Built to Le Corbusier principles, the arc-shaped buildings contained an open centre with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and play areas.
With inputs from www.telegraph.co.uk and other sources including YouTube
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