Lisbon - Portugal

A few weeks ago, Joana, a portuguese postcrosser living in France, was on holidays in Portugal and she wanted to meet a few portuguese postcrossers. They had a meeting in Lisbon. Ninocas sent me this card also signed by Joana, Paula, Ana Maria, Inês Brito, Luís, Zé, Rui and Caroline, a Swiss postcrosser also in holidays in Portugal and that I met a few days later in Porto. 

Foto: Nuno Antunes * Design: Catarina Roque

Lisbon overlooking the castle of São Jorge. On the back of the postcard it says that the castle is the most emblematic monument of Lisbon, I actually don't agree, for me the most emblematic monument is the Belém Tower or even the Jerónimos Monastery. Anyway, as it says on the postcard, the castle has witnessed all the historical moments of the city - from the Iron Age, through the Phoenicians, Carthaginian, Roman and Muslim occupations.

Winner of the Month - August (II)

The portuguese cards that I got thanks to this game.

 Fotos: Manuel M. Pinturache, David de Abreu

Sofia sent a card with a few recognizable portuguese images, most of them from Lisbon and Porto. 

A very recognizable image of Lisbon is this one with the 25th of April Bridge and Tagus River. This river is one of the most extensive rivers in the Iberian peninsula and the largest in Portuguese territory, with a total course of about 1100 kilometers.

The card was sent by Ninocas.

 © FORWAYS, Lda

A card from Castelo Branco sent by Zé.

The Church of S. Miguel, which is the beautiful Cathedral of Castelo Branco, probably dates back to the thirteenth or fourteenth century. But it suffered numerous damages in the last quarter of century XVII. Missing the means to build a monumental work, it was D. Martim Afonso de Melo, Bishop of Guarda, who rebuilt it in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, bearing most of the expense in its reconstruction. The façade has almost no ornaments.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies in Lamego is the main attraction of this city. The card was sent by Ana Rita. 

Rui sent a postcard from Ferreira do Zêzere with a landscape of the Ursa Valley. Unfortunately part of this landscape was destroyed by the fires this summer.

A reproduction of a postcard of São Brás de Alportel in 1930. 

The 2017 postcard was sent by Tiago.

© Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação, I. P. / Palácio Nacional de Queluz - Fotografia: Luís Pavão

Inês Brito sent this postcard with an image of the dressing room of Princess D. Maria Francisca Benedita in the Palace of Queluz. Just like me, when Inês went to the palace, she discovered some furniture that would be perfect to store postcards!! 

Winner of the Month - August (I)

In July Inês came up with the idea of opening a "Winner of the Month" game in the portuguese speaking community forum. This game basically consists of sending a postcard to a randomly chosen winner among the participants in that month game. In August I was the winner and received 12 postcards as prize. 

Foto © MABBOM

 São João and Ipiranga avenues signs in São Paulo sent by Luzia.

 Foto: Rafael Gushiken

Exactly one year ago I was in Brazil. The Cathedral of São Paulo was one of the monuments I visited in this big city. The postcard was sent by Maria Gabriela.

The construction of the Cathedral as we see it today began only in 1913. The temple was inaugurated on January 25, 1954, to commemorate the 4th Centenary of the City of São Paulo, still without the two main towers.

Photo: Christian Fehr

Jericoacoara is a village in the municipality of Jijoca, 300km from Fortaleza, on the west coast of Ceará state.

The Pedra Furada, the rock formation on the beach, is one of the famous attractions of the village and is thirty minutes walk from the beach of Jericoacoara.

Postcard sent by Edson.

A few weeks ago Ines went on vacation to Greece. For this game she chose to send me a postcard from the Greek capital.

I want to go to many places in this world but I must say that Athens is not on the top of my list. 

Editions D'Art

Dani decided to send a french card. This is the Salon d'Hercule (also known as the Hercules Salon or the Hercules Drawing Room), on the first floor of the Château de Versailles and connects the Royal Chapel in the North Wing of the château with the grand appartement du roi. - in: wikipedia

PT RR - Group 49 * Water

This group was dedicated to precious water. I've received cards from Brazil and France, sent by Joelma and Zé Pombal. 

Fotografia: Carlos Ney Schuch

Snow is not something that we associate with Brazil but the truth is that in some southern states, from time to time it snows, as can be seen here in this postcard of Gramado in Rio Grande do Sul state.

The Lago Nego - Black Lake was initially called the Valley of Bom Retiro. After a fire that devastated the immense forest existing in the region, Leopoldo Rosenfeldt built a lake in 1953, decorating its banks with trees imported from the Black Forest of Germany, hence its name, Black Lake. Its waters are deep and of a dark green, reflecting the high of the pine trees that alternate with the color of the azaleas in the winter and the blue of the hydrangeas in the summer.

The white cliffs and three natural rock arches of Etretat are some of the best-known sights in Upper Normandy in France and a popular day-trip destination.

These natural wonders are freely accessible, as is the white pebble beach. Claude Monet and other Impressionists famously painted the arches and cliffs in the nineteenth century. - in: https://www.european-traveler.com/france/see-white-chalk-cliffs-arches-etretat-normandy/

St. George - Bermuda

Here comes a card from a new UK UNESCO site and it was sent by Christina.

I had to check a map to see where Bermuda is located.  This island is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications was added to the WHS list in 2000. 

The Town of St George is of Outstanding Universal Value as an authentic and the earliest example of the English colonial town in the New World. Its associated fortifications graphically illustrate the development of English military engineering from the 17th to the 20th century, adapted to take into account the development of artillery over this period. Some of these are unique as surviving examples of the first defensive works built by early European colonists, few examples of which now remain intact. The later associated forts represent an excellent example of a continuum of British coastal fortifications. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/983

Annual Meeting in Ingersoll - Canada

Another meeting card. This one is from Canada and like all the meetings cards I get from Canada, it was abviously sent my dear Marie. 

"Poscard background" by Cutbush

This was the 6th annual meeting in Ingersoll. It was a really nice idea to put on a card pictures from the previous meetings. 

US-4766665

Kansas, California, Utah and now Kentuchy. 

Photo by Glenn Durham

US-4766665, sent by Emily.

Natural Bridge State Resort Park is a Kentucky state park located in Powell and Wolfe Counties (...). Its namesake natural bridge is the centerpiece of the park. The natural sandstone arch spans 78 ft (24 m) and is 65 ft (20 m) high. The natural process of weathering formed the arch over millions of years. The park is approximately 2,300 acres (9 km2) of which approximately 1,200 acres (5 km2) is dedicated by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission as a nature preserve. In 1981 this land was dedicated into the nature preserves system to protect the ecological communities and rare species habitat. - in: wikipedia