MT-24751

I've received other cards from Malta in the past but this is the 1st one with a cancelled stamp. I've heard that it is quite common to get cards from Malta without cancellation marks.

 

 Production by Maurizio Urso

 MT-24751, sent by Pavel.

A boat paddles through the waters of the Grand Harbour at sunset right between the cities of Vittoriosa and Senglea, where the mighty fleet of the Knights of St. John once harboured. The creek is nowadays a modern, world-class yacht marina. 

NL-5670176

 After so many German official cards, now I've one from the Netherlands. It is always great to get new castles and palaces in my mailbox.

 

NL-5670176, sent by Anna.

Duivenvoorde Castle lies in peaceful, rustic surroundings in the midst of the busy Randstad. A beautiful country park in English style surrounds the castle. The castle dates back to the early 13th century, making it one of the older castles in Zuid-Holland. Extensive renovations in 1631 and 1717 gave the castle it's present look. Since then it acts as a retreat for wealthy noble families fleeing from busy city life during the summer months.
The castle and the surrounding estate (260 hectares) became a foundation in 1960 and has a unique collection of family portraits, objects from real silver, Delft Blue pottery and porcelain. 

DE-13872769

One more German lighthouse. 

The “Dicke Berta” is a 13 meters high, listed museum lighthouse in Cuxhaven-Altenbruch. It is located in the area of the mouth of the Elbe and offers you a magnificent view over the Elbe and the North Sea. 

 

 DE-13872769, sent by Betty.

The “Dicke Berta” was put into operation at the end of the 19th century because shipping traffic on the North Sea was increasing and the existing lighthouses (in Cuxhaven and Neuwerk) were no longer sufficient to provide a safe travel guarantee for the ships.  

The “Big Berta” and her lighthouse keepers served for many years and guided thousands of ships safely through the mouth of the Elbe, before lighthouses with the latest technology took over the functions of the lighthouse in 1968. On March 1, 1983, the lamp of the old lighthouse went out forever.  

The tower was actually supposed to be demolished, but the people of Altenbruch in particular wanted to keep their beloved “Big Berta” and founded the support association of the same name in order to preserve the maritime contact point at the Altenbruch harbor.  

Besides visiting the museum and the tower, like in other lighthouses in the North Sea, it is also possible to officially say “I do”. What better way to navigate the storms and shoals of a marriage than with the help of a lighthouse?

North Sea Lighthouses - Germany

Lighthouses are the landmarks of the North Sea coast. Some have been working on the coasts for over 100 years.

In addition to classic round towers with red and white horizontal stripes, there are unadorned steel structures and brick buildings with a square base. Modern technology has been replacing the lighthouse keeper for decades. The cone of light is activated in the present by pressing a button and no longer set in motion by hand. 

 

© Schöning GmbH & Co. KG

AT-714834, sent by Peggy.

Some lighthouses on the North Sea today have a dual function: they not only point the way to the harbor for sailors, but also serve as a registry office and escort couples in love into the port of marriage.

DE-7786378, sent by Mechthild.

Three of these lights are on Sylt island, two in Amrum and the others in Büsum, St. Peter - Böhl, Langeness; Westerhever; Dagebüll and Pellworm. 

 

 © Schöning GmbH & Co. KG

DE-4272859, sent by Detlef.

And the lights are: 1. Amrum; 2. Rügen; 3. Sylt/Hörnum; 4. Hiddensee; 5. Wangerooge; 6. Borkum; 7. Westerhever; 8. Warnemünde; 9. Darss; 10. Fehmarn; 11. Kiel/Holtenau; 12. Bremerhaven; 13. Norderney; 14. Sylt, Kampen; 15. Schleimünde; 16. Eckernförde; 17. Dahmeshöved; 18. Borkum; 19. Juist; 20. Roter Sand; 21. Travemünde; 22. Poel; 23. Pilsum; 24. Büsum; 25. St. Peter-Ording.

German officials

 On Februry 1st my address was given to 9 postcrossers in Germany!! I've got a bit of everything, churches, mills, sheeps, lighthouses, city views.... These are all from the north of the country.

 

 

DE-13872770, sent by Erika. 

Westerstede is a town in northwest Lower Saxony.

With its remarkable 48 m high tower, St. Petri-Kirche (Church of Saint Peter),  it is not only the oldest building in Westerstede but also the real town's landmark and the biggest church in the Ammerland region. The roman-gothic sacral building was erected during the period of the pontificate of the archbishop of Bremen (1123-1148). The latest three renovations (the Westtower, the Clockhouse and the Nave) were accomplished between 1979 and 1998. - in: https://westerstede.kirche-oldenburg.de

 

DE-13872771, sent by Achim.

 De Lütje Anja mill located in Ganderkesee, also in Lower Saxony. It was probably built in 1870 as a grain mill. It was in operation at this location until 1958. 

There is now a wedding room in the former stone floor and a tea room in the former sacking floor.

© Schöning Verlag

DE-13872766, sent by Veronika.

Sheep prosper on the salty fringes of the southern coast of the North Sea. This area is home to sheep husbandry since the earliest of times. Centuries, maybe millennia even, before the Romans arrived.  

Sheep thrive in the wider North Sea area because of the wet climate making the extensive grass pastures, which is the food of sheep, to stay green and grow longer than elsewhere. 

In the past, because of the vastness of pastures needed to feed sheep, sheep literally had to be sulla strada, on the road. Moving from one pasture to another. This was the work of shepherds and their dogs. The coastal area from Flanders to Denmark provides an infinite supply of grass-covered dikes, polders ’embanked land’, and tidal marshlands. So-called schaapsdriften ‘sheep drovers’ were dikes and roadsides along which sheep graze. Shepherds, or drovers, could make a living from the Early Middle Ages until more or less the eighteenth century, although few traditional shepherds were still active in the Zwin region in Flanders until just after the Second World War. Today, dikes and adjacent roads are partitioned with fences and cattle grids, and sheep are being moved from one section to another and back again.  - in: https://frisiacoasttrail.blog

Freiburg - Germany

Reportedly Germany’s warmest city, with some 2,000 hours of annual sunshine, Freiburg, is located in a corner of southwestern Germany. The city dates to 1120, when it was founded as a free-market town. 

 

DE-13872774, sent by Olessia.

Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west of the country.

DE-12648404, sent by Bernd.

One of the famous old German university towns, and archiepiscopal seat, Freiburg was incorporated in the early twelfth century and developed into a major commercial, intellectual, and ecclesiastical center of the upper Rhine region.

 

  Bildverlag J. Gass, Kunst und Ansichtskarten

 

DE-2106575, sent by Frauke.

The city is known for its medieval university and minster, as well as for its high standard of living and advanced environmental practices. - in: wikipedia

Verlag Karl Alber

DE-2136289, sent by Sabine.

Freiburg Minster is the cathedral of Freiburg. The last duke of Zähringen had started the building around 1200 in romanesque style, the construction continued in 1230 in Gothic style. The minster was partly built on the foundations of an original church that had been there from the beginning of Freiburg in 1120. In 1827 the Minster became the seat of the Catholic archbishop of Freiburg and thus a cathedral. - in: wikipedia

Verlag Karl Alber

DE-10111680, sent by Sandra.

The Swiss art historian Jacob Burckhardt once described the striking tower of the Freiburg Cathedral as the “most beautiful tower on earth.” 116 meters tall, it has become the city’s landmark, visible from afar. Freiburg can be viewed from above from the viewing platform at a height of around 70 meters. - in: https://visit.freiburg.de

Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape - Czech Republic

Lednice and Valtice were on the list of places I'd like to visit when I've been to the Czech Republic but time wasn't enough to visit everything. 

Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape was added to the WHS list 24 years ago!!

Between the 17th and 20th centuries, the ruling dukes of Liechtenstein transformed their domains in southern Moravia into a striking landscape. It married Baroque architecture (mainly the work of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach) and the classical and neo-Gothic style of the castles of Lednice and Valtice with countryside fashioned according to English romantic principles of landscape architecture. At 200 km2 , it is one of the largest artificial landscapes in Europe. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/763

© 2014, fotografie Ladislav Renner

Valtice is one of the most impressive Baroque residences of Central Europe. It was designed as the seat of the ruling princes of Liechtenstein by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in the early 18th century. 

Among the features worthy of mention are the main façade and its central tower, the military trophies, the portico adorned with statues and the wonderful main courtyard. The restored interior lacks its original fittings, however a fine chapel decorated with trompe l'oeil frescoes remains. - in: http://travel.michelin.com/web/destination/Czech_republic/tourist_site-Valtice_Palace-Zamek

 

 Fotografie: Jan Kulich

AT-714832, sent by Constance.

The Lednice palace is located in the extensive natural area on the bank of the river Dyje (Thaya), near Mikulov city in the eastern part of Czech Republic called Moravia.

CZ-470657, sent by Stephanie. 

The chateau began as a Renaissance villa of around 1570, and then was progressively changed and reconstructed to take account of Baroque, classical and neo-Gothic fashions. It was the 1850 Gothic Revival reconstruction that brought it into harmony with the prevailing romanticism of this part of the landscape. 

Taking the landscape as a whole, it is the mingling and interplay of Baroque and Romantic elements that gives it a special character: architecture and landscape are intimately associated with one another. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/763

Foto: Radek Buk © 2009

CZ-1684704, sent by Magdalena.
The Chapel of St. Hubert is a neogothic chapel in the Lednice-Valtice Area. A triangular shaped chapel with three Gothic arches and ribbed vault which was built in the middle of the Boří les forest according to plans by Jiří Wingelmüller under the rule of Alois II Prince of Liechtenstein in 1855. In the middle of the chapel, there is a statue of St. Hubert standing on a pedestal with statues of angels. This newest building of the Lednice-Valtice Area was built from sandstone blocks carved with markings similar to those done by medieval stonemason´s that should evoke the feeling of antiquity. The chapel is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic. - in: https://www.zamek-valtice.cz