The Île du Levant, sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is an French island off the coast of the Riviera, one of the three that constitute the Îles d'Hyères of France. It is 8 km long, 2 km wide, and located in the Gulf of Lyon. About 90% of the island is off-limits to the public, reserved for a military missile test center (the Centre d'Essais en Méditerranée). This is a list of islands of metropolitan France. ... The Riviera is the coast shared between France and Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, or the Italian Adriatic coast (Riviera Adriatica), on the Adriatic Sea. ... The Gulf of Lyon is a small portion of the western Mediterranean Sea that lies immediately to the south of the French regions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence. ... A missile (British English: miss-isle; U.S. English: missl) is, in general, a projectile—that is, something thrown or otherwise propelled. ...

In 1931, Gaston and André Durville, both doctors, established Héliopolis, Europe's first town dedicated to nudism, on the island. The town was built on hillsides and is dominated by Fort Napoleon. The Bain de Diane and the Plage des Grottes (a nude beach) are reserved for naturists. Nudism, or naturism, is the practice of going nude or unclothed in social and usually mixed gender groups, specifically in cultures where this is not the norm. ... Bonaparte as general, by Antoine-Jean Gros. ... A nude beach is a beach where the users generally wear no clothing because of any of numerous reasons: that doing so feels and looks good, that it is practical, for philosophical or religious reasons, or simply because there is no reason for clothing (see nudism). ...

Outside of Héliopolis, the other main tourist attraction is the Domaine des Arbousiers, a natural reserve.

Trivia

• Monks lived there since the 15th century; the ruins of their monastery still exist on the island.
• Ferry service to the island is available from Hyères and Le Lavandou.
• Robert Heinlein wrote glowingly about the island's simple pleasures in his novel Glory Road.

(14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ... The Pride of Burgundy, a P&O Ferries car ferry on the Dover-Calais route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on short-distance, regularly-scheduled services. ... Hyères is a town and commune in the southeast of France, in the Var département, located 1. ... Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential authors in the science fiction genre. ... Glory Road is a fantasy novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1963. ...

External links

• Iles d'Hyères (http://www.letsgo.com/FRA/13-CotedAzur-400), from Let's Go: France
• Pleasure island (http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=61&story_id=8980), a June 2004 AFP article hosted by a website for expatriates
• Map of the island (http://www.ot-hyeres.fr/images/levantcarte.jpg) in JPEG format, from the Hyères Office of Tourism
• Excerpt from Glory Road about the island (http://www.forcers.org.uk/nude_lit/heinlinx.htm)