Syracuse, Italy

This card came from the UK but it's from a new unesco whs in Italy - Syracuse & the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica, on the list since 2005.

The card was sent by Johnson.

"Syracuse is a historic city in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is famous for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of Archimedes. This 2,700 year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the top powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the south-east corner of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Syracuse next to the Ionian Sea.

The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth, exerting influence over the entire Magna Grecia area of which it was the most important city. Once described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all", it later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire. After this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.

In the modern day, the city is listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Siracusans, and the local language spoken by its inhabitants is the Sicilian language." - in: wikipedia

Arad Fort - Bahrain

Today is my day off and that means i've time to scan and post cards.

I don't know how the ash cloud affected my mail but with 7 cards received so far, i can't complain, even if only one of them was sent from Europe, not counting Portugal.

This card was sent from Portugal but its a card from a new country, Bahrain. Zé, "zepombal" went on a trip to UAE, Oman and Bahrain a few weeks ago. He hosted a lottery to draw 3 cards but in the end all the participants received 1 card from his trip.

"Arad Fort is a 15th century fort in Arad, Bahrain. It was built in a typical Arab style.

Close to the Bahrain International Airport, the fort has been extensively renovated and presents a magnificent sight when it is illuminated at night.
It is believed that the fort was used by the Omanis during their brief occupation of Bahrain in 1800, and it is located adjacent to the strategic waterways between Bahrain Island and Muharraq Island.

Little is known of the fort's history, and there is no firm evidence of the precise date of construction, but comprehensive excavations have been undertaken in order to discover its past." - in: wikipedia

Rome International Meeting

The idea of this meeting started because some portuguese postcrossers planned to go to Rome to visit Rita, another portuguese postcrosser that moved to the city 2 or 3 months ago.

The portuguese talked other postcrossers and the meeting became international.

The meeting was last weekend and beside the portuguese - ninocas & family, geminiscp, rita_simões, susana_portugal and diego_portucale, joana122 - there were also people from other places. Tjitske from the Netherlands, dardo from Spain, masito from Switzerland, anjaaustel from Germany and a local, shelphie10 from Italy.

This second card, also from Rome, was sent by Joana and i love it, well i love both.
I really wanted to go on this trip with them but because of my job that wasn't possible. The good news is that i'll go to Rome next June with another postcrosser. I bought my plane tickets last night :)
Oh, imagine the cards, the pictures, the ice creams, all the monuments. I wish i could erase May from the calendar :P

I'll start my Rome countdown today!!!!!!!!!

RU-130587

From a different part of the world came this card, more precisely from Vladivostok, Russia.

"Vladivostok is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. It is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay, not far from Russia's border with China and North Korea. It is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet." - in: wikipedia

RU-130587, sent by Marina.

The card shows the Far Eastern National University, an institution of higher education located in Vladivostok. Established in 1899, the university was closed in the late 1930s under Joseph Stalin, and reopened in 1956, two years after Nikita Khruschev visited Vladivostok.

On the right corner, there's the Church of Our Lady's Protection.

US-650696

This is one of the cards i've received today. It really pleased me. A nice card with a good picture and, the most important, a nice text on the back.

The card is from Chatham, Massachusetts with the Stage Harbor Lighthouse.

US-650696, sent by Anya.

"Stage Harbor Light (also known as Harding Beach Light), built in 1880, is the youngest of the Cape Cod Light Stations. Chatham is the entrance to Stage Harbor, important to fishing and commercial traffic of the time. The light was installed to complement the light at Chatham, which one of the foggiest points on the East Coast.

The tower was built of curved iron plates lined with brick - identical to the "Chatham Twins." A fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed. The light was attached to a keeper's house similar to the one at Mayo Beach.

During Prohibition, liquor was stored under the floorboards in the passage between the light and keeper's house. During a surprise inspection, the inspector noted the loose floorboards, but simply told the keeper to repair them!

An automated light on a skeleton tower was built in 1933, and the lighthouse was decommissioned. The lantern room was removed, and the site sold to private ownership." - http://www.rudyalicelighthouse.net/MassLgts/StgHrb/StgHrb.htm

»NEW« TRAVELLING RR - Group 62 * Churches

I've received a few days ago an envelope with 10 churches card and i chose these 3.

This is the Sabctuary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in El Cobre, Santiago de Cuba.

According to legend, the Virgin of Charity appeared over the waters of the Bay of Nipe, and upon recognition of the event by the Catholic Church, the sanctuary was built in 1927.

The Lady of Charity is truly a saint for all the believers in the syncretism of Cuban Catholicism and African religious rites. Her temple stands on a hill overlooking the town.

Thousands of people come to the church to vererate the Lady of Charity, the Holy Patron of Cuba. Some come to keep a promise, others take offerings which are added to the hundreds of pieces and objects that have been dedicated to the Virgin, among which is Hemingway's Nobel Prize medal. Pilgrims often collect copper stones from the mine close to the church.

With Leslie and Sheila's help, i finally know where this postcard is from, and it's from Torzhok, a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, situated on the Tvertsa River, 38 miles northwest of Tver, and 145 miles from Moscow.

After some research i've finally discovered the name of this church and it's location. This is the Dormition Cathedral in Veliky Ustyug, a town in Vologda Oblast, also in Russia.

"According to the Ustyug Chronicles, in 1290 bishop Tarasy from Rostov arrived to Ustyug to consecrate the newly constructed temple in the name of the Dormition of the Virgin. The burned down wooden cathedral was replaced in the middle of the XVI century by a stone one. Built in the style of the main Russia temple – the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, it became the first stone city cathedral in the Russian North.

The present shape of the Dormition Cathedral has developed as a result of numerous reconstructions which it underwent for 450 years. The huge building of the temple, the main part of which is built according to the strict monumental forms typical of the XVI century, looks really majestic. The southern facade of the cathedral is completely hidden behind the constructed in the middle of the XIX century two-storeyed warm side-chapel of Epiphany. A high cathedral belltower (the end of the XVII – XVIII century) with its complex construction, consisting of two incorporated volumes adjoins it from the east." - in: http://www.cultinfo.ru/vologdachudo/page6_en.htm

NL-323452

A dutch official card.

NL-323452, sent by Danielle.