Lisbon - Portugal

A few days before Christmas I've received an huge package sent by Vitória. She sent a couple of Christmas gifs including a card from Tibet and this one from Alfama, Lisbon's most emblematc quarter and one of the most rewarding for walkers and photgraphers. 

Foto: W. Müller * © Edição Vistal

This quaint medieval district (once the Moorish and Jewish quarter before it became a fishing community) is the oldest neighborhood in Europe after El Pópulo in Cadiz. It's like a small village, standing as a time capsule to the years before Lisbon was destroyed by the 1755 earthquake, as it remained standing thanks to its rock-solid foundations. 

Put away your map and wander aimlessly through its "becos" (alleys) and "largos" (small squares), allowing your senses to be the guides. You'll see magnificent river views and laundry out to dry from balconies, smell fish being grilled in a corner, hear the sounds of Fado coming out of a restaurant, taste authentic traditional meals, and touch some dazzling tilework. Set in a visually stunning hill that extends to the neighborhood of Graça, this is Lisbon at its most picturesque and the very soul of the city. 

Life here continues much as it has for centuries, but walk down towards the river and you're once again in modern times: old warehouses have been renovated and turned into some of the city's coolest hotspots. in: http://www.lisbonlux.com/lisbon/alfama.html

DE-3834635

When a new year starts, I'm always anxious and curious to know where my 1st official of the year will be. This year the 1st official came from Germany but the card is actually showing the portuguese Felgueiras Lighthouse, in Porto. 

Photo by Zacarias da Mata

DE-3834635, sent by Patricia.

This is the lighthouse which signals the entrance in the mouth of river Douro. It lies at the end of a quay which in the past protected the mouth from the Atlantic waves. Today a longer and parallel new quay has been built. 

Neoclassical lighthouse with a hexagonal format, ten meters high, dated from 1886. It has a red balcony and lantern and a small annex building with plastered walls painted white. The name "Felgueiras Quay" was given because it was built facing the stone of Felgueiras, to the West. It was modernised in 1945 and automated in 1979, and was controlled from a distance from the Leça lighthouse. It underwent conservation works in the 90's. Before being deactivated in 2009, the light has a range of 9 nautical miles, issuing a red light every 5 seconds. It currently only has the sound signal. - in: http://www.photofolia.net/frame/14208/felgueiras-lighthouse/

Graciosa & Stª Maria Islands - Portugal

Besides de Christmas card, Lurdes also sent me these cards from Graciosa and Santa Maria islands, both part of the Azores archipelago. 

 © Fotografia: J. A. R. / Publiçor

This is a view of  Santa Cruz da Graciosa, a town on the island of Graciosa. The town occupies the northeastern corner of the island and is the home of the municipal seat, as well as economic center concentrating most municipal services. 

© Fotografia: J. A. R. / Publiçor

A typical windmill in Vila do Porto, on Santa Maria island. Vila do Porto is the oldest town in the archipelago. 

Christmas Cards

Christmas is gone but I'll keep these beautiful cards forever! These are all Christmas cards but I've also got a few touristic cards as Xmas cards, all show those in future posts. 

Thank you all!! Margarida from Portugal; Marie from Canada; Kati and Heidi from Finland; Grace from Switzerland; Hazel from England; Heidi from Germany; Luzia from Brazil; Vitória from Portugal; Nova from USA; Tessa from the Netherlands; Ines from Germany; Lurdes and Sofia from Portugal; Bianca from Germany; Justina from Australia; Mara from USA and Stasa from Slovenia. 

3 IN 1 RR - Special Surprise * group 01

To celebrate Christmas, Staša created this special surprise group. In this group we had to send 10 surprise cards to one person but we couldn't mention to whom. I've received this cards from Staša but my envelope is still travelling and I'm getting worried about it. I hope it arrives in the next days. 

Photo © Bernie Jungkind/Woods Bros., 1989

The Ozark Mountains are a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwestern and north central Arkansas. The region also extends westward into northeastern Oklahoma and extreme southeastern Kansas. - in: wikipedia

www.tkv.at

View from Bergisel stadium towards the Nordkette. 

The Nordkette is a range of mountains just north of the city of Innsbruck in Austria. It is the southernmost of the four great mountain chains in the Karwendel. - in: wkipedia

Copyright und Verlag: Studio Tanner

Breitachklamm gorge, in Bavaria, Germany, is the deepest and one of the most impressive rocky gorges in middle Europe. 

Formation of the Breitachklamm started approximately 10,000 years ago when the melting Breitach glacier began to saw its way through the chalk of the Engenkopf and the water slowly eroded the stone.

In 1905, this natural wonder of attractive beauty and dimension became accessible with the help of the priest Johannes Schiebel from Tiefenbach. Today, the Breitachklamm fascinates more than 300,000 visitors per year. - in: http://www.breitachklamm.com/en/history/

Photos, layout, printing and sales FIN©RIGINAL

The Suomenlinna Church in Finland was built as an Eastern Orthodox garrison church for the Russian troops of Suomenlinna sea fortress.

The Orthodox church was converted into an Evangelical Lutheran church during the 1920s.

Today its central dome doubles as a lighthouse making it one of only a few churches in the world that double as a lighthouse. The signal blink is the Morse code for the letter "H" for Helsinki. It is a very popular wedding church and one of the first landmarks for people arriving in Helsinki by sea. - in: wikipedia

Foto: M. Sükrü Denizkuslari

Alanya is a beach resort city and a component district of Antalya Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey. 

The Mediterranean climate, natural attractions, and historic heritage makes Alanya a popular destination for tourism, and responsible for nine percent of Turkey's tourism sector and thirty percent of foreign purchases of real estate in Turkey. - in: wikipedia

Ars Una Studio

The Chain Bridge was the first permanent stone-bridge connecting Pest and Buda, and only the second permanent crossing on the whole length of the river Danube. It is one of the symbolic buildings of Budapest, the most widely known bridge of the Hungarian capital. - in: http://www.bridgesofbudapest.com/bridge/chain_bridge

Foto: Dariusz Krakowiak 

The Roman-Catholic Cathedral in Przemyśl was erected in Gothic style in the 15th and 16th centuries and then rebuilt in the 18th century in a Baroque style.

3 in 1 RR – Group 119 * View cards (Solecito)

Staša is the host of this RR and a member of this group. Here are the cards she sent me. 

Sidarta Artcard * Foto: © Franci Horvat

Simonov Zaliv - Simon’s Bay - is a small beach resort near Izola, an old fishing town and a municipality in southwestern Slovenia on the Adriatic coast of the Istrian peninsula. 

Sidarta Artcard * Foto: © Janez Skok

Ajdovska deklica - Heathen Maiden - is a rock formation that resembles a feminine human face. It can be seen in Prisojnik near Kranjska Gora, in the Julian Alps. 

Legend has it that the Ajdovska maidens foretold the people of Kranjska Gora their fortune at birth. They also advised the people when to sow their crops and when to harvest them. One of the maidens foretold the son of a hunter that he would kill the Goldenhorn which inhabited the surrounding mountains. This prophecy angered the other maidens who punished Ajdovska deklica by turning her into rock. - in: http://www.slovenia.info/en/Jewels-of-nature/Buckwheat-girl.htm?naravne_znamenitosti_jame=1370&lng=2

Sidarta Artcard * Foto: © Janez Skok

The Ljubljana dragon is part of the City of Ljubljana’s coat of arms. It symbolises strength, courage and might. It is depicted on the Dragon Bridge and on top of the castle tower on Ljubljana’s coat of arms. - in: http://www.ljubljana.si/en/about-ljubljana/images-of-ljubljana/

2 in 1 RR – Group 119 * View cards (Nordseekrabbe)

1st post of 2015 but with cards received in 2014. I still didn't get any mail this year but I'm sure that I'll get something this next week. 

I've recently joined this 3 in 1 RR, which consists of sending 2 unwritten cards in an envelope to the other members of the group. I've got these from Michèle. 

© Schöning GmbH & Co. KG

Friedrich Building is the building in the finest condition at Heidelberg Castle. Built between 1601 and 1604 and, commissioned by Elector Friedrich IV, the building's facade was seriously damaged in 1693 and the interior was destroyed by a fire approximately sixty-years later.  

It contained residential apartments as well as a chapel in the basement. The chapel in the basement was left undamaged by the fire of 1764 and most of the stonework is original. The exterior is adorned with sculptures of members of the Electoral Palatinate dynasty. During the restoration, the original sculptures were removed and replaced with replicas. The originals can be found throughout the interior of the building. Today, the Friedrich Building holds the castle museum, which gives visitors an idea of how the building was decorated and furnished. - in: http://nookstowersandturrets.blogspot.pt/2011/06/heidelberg-castle.html

© Schöning GmbH & Co. KG

The Rappbode Dam is the largest dam in the Harz region as well as the highest dam in Germany. Together with several other dams and retention basins, it forms the flood protection system for the eastern Harz. - in: wikipedia