Thursday, May 31, 2012

Baltic Sea

Christa sent me this card as an extra when she sent me the Unesco cards from Nepal and Uzbekistan.

© Schöning GmbH & Co
The Baltic Sea is positioned in Northern Europe and bordered by Sweden (a part of the Scandinavian Peninsula), Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, northeastern Germany, and eastern Denmark and its numerous islands. in:http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/balticsea.htm
The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea, perhaps the largest body of brackish water in the world (other possibilities include the Black Sea, Hudson Bay and the Caspian Sea). The Baltic Sea occupies a basin formed by glacial erosion during the last few Ice Ages. - in: wikipedia

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

More cards from Sardinia

The 1st trade with Selina was so good that we decided to trade a 2nd time. Before these 2 trades i only had 1 card from Sardinia, now i've more than 10.

 R. Balzano Edizioni
Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia.
An ancient city with a long history, Cagliari has seen the rule of several civilizations. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia (which in the 1861 became the Kingdom of Italy) from 1324 to 1720 and from 1798 to 1815. The city is an important regional cultural, educational, political and artistic centre, known for its diverse Art Nouveau architecture and several monuments. - in: wikipedia

 Fotoedizioni Italo Innocenti - Maddalena
 Sardinia is also an economic and industrial hub, having one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean sea.
Cagliari has one of the longest beaches in Italy. The Poetto beach stretches for 13 km and was famous for its white fine-grained sand. A recent controversial intervention to save the beach from erosion has slightly altered the original texture of the sand. - in: wikipedia

 R. Balzano Edizioni
The Basilica della Santissima Trinità di Saccargia is a church in the comune of Codrongianos, northern Sardinia, Italy. It is the most important Romanesque site in the island. The construction is entirely in local stone (black basalt and white limestone), with a typical appearance of Tuscan Romanesque style.
The church was finished in 1116 over the ruins of a pre-existing monastery, and consecrated on October 5 of the same year. Its construction was ordered by the giudice (judge) of Torres. It was entrusted to Camaldolese monks who here founded an abbey. It was later enlarged in Pisane style, including the addition of the tall bell tower. The portico on the façade is also probably a late addition, and is attributed to workers from Lucca.
The church was abandoned in the 16th century, until it was restored and reopened in the early 20th century. - in: wikipedia

R. Balzano Edizioni
 San Teodoro is a part of the coast known as Costa Smeralda. It is a pleasing small town built a few hundred metres from the coast. The coastline of San Teodoro is famous by large, picturesque and colorfull beaches and bays. - in: http://www.hikenow.net/Sardinia/SanTeodoro-Sardegna.html

Photoedizioni Enrico Sapnu
Pula in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 25 km southwest of Cagliari.
The Nora archaeological site is a pre-Roman village on which the Romans later built. The theatre and the thermal baths are still in good condition.
Because the southern part of Sardinia is sinking into the Mediterranean Sea, a substantial part of the former town is now under the sea
The ruins of Nora function as an open-air museum, and the remains of the theatre is occasionally used for concerts in the summer. - in:
wikipedia

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Étretat - France

I've a few Étretat cards on my favorite PC wall. Knowing that Raquel sent me this card from there.
Étretat is located in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.
Étretat is best known for its cliffs, including 3 natural arches and the pointed "needle".

 Photo by F. Godard
The Etretat cliffs are world famous. These natural openings are classified as a Site of Major National Importance, are known as: Porte d'Aval; Manneporte and Porte d'Amont.
The Aval’s Door, a big arch of flint, was dug by the waves by beating the extremity of the cliff. How not to honour the acute sense of observation of Maupassant who in his novel Bel-Ami compares the arc of Aval to an elephant dipping its trunk into the sea? Everything is there: the trunk, the head and its ears, the fore limbs and hind limbs and you can even found on its back the palanquin of a Maharadjah ! The Needle (51m) is a witness of the geological past of the cliff of Etretat .
The Manneporte - even more colossal - is situated on the other side of the Aval’s Door, at the dead end of the beach of Jambourg. Guy de Maupassant used to say that a ship would have been able to go underneath The Manneporte in full sails.
The Amont’s cliff is situated on the other side of the beach and, less than a century ago, was called la Falaise du Blanc-Trait, because of the whiteness of the chalk which is visible far away in the open sea. - in: http://www.etretat.net/office-de-tourisme-etretat/modules/content/content.php?page=falaises 

Citadelle Laferrière - Haiti

Oh yes, this is a card from Haiti :D A new country in my collection and from a new Unesco site too. Like the previous brazilian card, this one was also sent by my friend Déa. She really made me jump with these two great cards.
The card shows the Citadelle Laferrière, which together with the Sans-Souci Palace and the buildings at Ramiers, forms the National History Park, on the Unesco World Heritage List since 1982.  

The Citadelle Laferrière is a large mountaintop fortress in northern Haiti, approximately 17 miles (27 km) south of the city of Cap-Haïtien and five miles (8 km) uphill from the town of Milot. It is the largest fortress in the Americas. The mountaintop fortress has itself become an icon of Haiti. The Citadel was built by Henri Christophe, a key leader during the Haitian slave rebellion, after Haiti gained independence from France at the beginning of the 19th century.
The massive stone structure was built by up to 20,000 workers between 1805 and 1820 as part of a system of fortifications designed to keep the newly-independent nation of Haiti safe from French incursions. The Citadel was built several miles inland, and atop the 3,000 ft (910 m) Bonnet a L’Eveque mountain, to deter attacks and to provide a lookout into the nearby valleys. Cap-Haïtien and the adjoining Atlantic Ocean are visible from the roof of the fortress. - in: wikipedia

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Anavilhanas Archipelago - Brazil

This card, sent by my dear friend Déa, is also from Brazil and it is from a missing Unesco site :D, the Central Amazon Conservation Complex, on the Heritage list since 2000. This card was a complete surprise but this card is only 1 of the 2 she sent me.

The Central Amazon Conservation Complex makes up the largest protected area in the Amazon Basin (over 6 million hectares) and is one of the planet’s richest regions in terms of biodiversity. It also includes an important sample of varzea ecosystems, igapó forests, lakes and channels which take the form of a constantly evolving aquatic mosaic that is home to the largest array of electric fish in the world. The site protects key threatened species, including giant arapaima fish, the Amazonian manatee, the black caiman and two species of river dolphin.
The site is made up of Jaú National Park, Demonstration area of Mamairauá Sustainable Development Reserve, Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve and the Anavilhanas Ecological Station located in Amazonas State. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/998

The largest river archipelago in the world, Anavilhanas, in Amazonas state, is made up of 400 islands and hundreds of lakes, rivers, swamps and sandbanks, all rich in animal and plant life. It is situated on the river Negro and is a paradise for biologists and ecologists. The archipelago is protected by federal law, which established the Anavilhanas Ecological Station, with an area of 350,000 hectares.
The period from November to April marks high water on the river Negro, and half the islands are submerged, forcing the animals to take refuge on higher ground. When the waters retreat, the islands expose to view beaches and 90 kilometres of canals, which intersect the whole region. Anavilhanas is near the Jau National Park, the largest forest reserve in South America at 2.27 million hectares, also on the river Negro. - in: http://www.tecsi.fea.usp.br/eventos/contecsi2004/brasilemfoco/ingles/divpol/norte/am/anavilha/apresent.htm

BR-202843

Believe it or not, the strange stucture on the card is a lighthouse, the Cabo Branco lighthouse at João Pessoa, the capital city of the brazilian state of Paraíba.
The lighthouse was inaugurated in April 1972. Cabo Branco Lighthouse has a unique triangular shape in the country. Their designers had intended to represent a sisal plant, to draw the lighthouse.

 Photo by João Neto
BR-202843, sent by Maísa.
Cabo Branco Lighthouse is located on a cliff on the beach of Cabo Branco. Situated about 800 metres north of Ponta do Seixas, the easternmost point of mainland Brazil. It is one of the most important and visited postcards of Paraíba's Capital.
With a triangular Tower in concrete, three wing-shaped pointed projections to 3.5 m from the ground, the Lighthouse is painted white with a black horizontal band just above the wings. For decades, long before the city of João Pessoa enter sightseeing, Cabo Branco lighthouse was already known by Mark "the easternmost point of the Americas".

Friday, May 25, 2012

Forts of Arabia

This is the 3rd card sent by Claus and it is from Oman. The 1st picture shows the Bat Tombs at Ibry and the 2nd the Mausoleum of Bibi Maryam at Qalhat.

Carlton Cards
The protohistoric site of Bat lies near a palm grove in the interior of the Sultanate of Oman. The zone encompassing the settlement and necropolises of Bat is the most complete and best-known site of the 3rd millennium BC. In a restricted, coherent space, the necropolis of Bat bears characteristic and unique witness to the evolution of funeral practices during the first Bronze Age in the Oman peninsula. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/434
Together with the neighbouring sites of Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn, it forms one of the Oman Unesco sites, on the World Heritage List since 1988.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the most important city in the Arab Gulf was Hormuz. Between 1300 and 1507 Hormuz controlled many of the towns lying on the Arabian coast, including : Qalhat.
Every year many ships sailed from Hormuz and Qalhat to India with cargoes of horses, dates, pearls and salt. They returned from India with cloth, metalwork, spices and rice, which were then used in trade with people in Persia and other parts of Arabia. Some spices were also transported to Europe. Hormuz and Qalhat became very rich through trading. in:
 http://www.nwnet.co.uk/qalhat/yaqub/qalhat.htm
 Reputedly devistated by an earthquake in the late 14th century and sacked by the Portuguese in 1508, the city was eventually superceded as the main port on the Omani seaboard by Muscat. By the end of the 16th century, Qalhat was an abandoned ruinfield. The only major edifice still standing at the site today is the so-called 'Mausoleum of Bibi Maryam.' Apparently dating from the early 14th century, this elegant structure incorporates features of both mausoleum and mosque and may be "one of the most beautiful mosques" described by Ibn Battuta, who visited Qalhat twicw, around the year 1320 and again in 1347. in:  http://www.clivegracey.com/gallery_197672.html
Qalhat was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on July 4, 1988.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Royal Palaces of Abomey - Benin

Speaking of missing Unesco sites, here it is a card from another missing site and from a missing country. The missing site is the Royal Palaces of Abomey and the country is Benin. The card was sent by Judy "MissDaisy66"
 Abomey is a city in the Zou Department of Benin, formerly the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, including the Republic of Dahomey (1960–1975) which became modern-day Benin.

The royal palaces of Abomey are a group of earthen structures built by the Fon people between the mid-17th and late 19th Centuries. One of the most famous and historically significant traditional sites in West Africa, the palaces form one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The town was surrounded by a mud wall with a circumference estimated at six miles (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911), pierced by six gates, and protected by a ditch five feet deep, filled with a dense growth of prickly acacia, the usual defence of West African strongholds. Within the walls were villages separated by fields, several royal palaces, a market-place and a large square containing the barracks. In November 1892, Behanzin, the last independent reigning king of Dahomey, being defeated by French colonial forces, set fire to Abomey and fled northward. The French colonial administration rebuilt the town and connected it with the coast by a railroad.
When UNESCO designated the royal palaces of Abomey as a World Heritage Site in 1985 it stated:
"From 1625 to 1900 twelve kings succeeded one another at the head of the powerful Kingdom of Abomey. With the exception of King Akaba, who used a separate enclosure, they each had their palaces built within the same cob-wall area, in keeping with previous palaces as regards the use of space and materials. The royal palaces of Abomey are a unique reminder of this vanished kingdom."
From 1993, 50 of the 56 bas-reliefs that formerly decorated the walls of King Glèlè (now termed the 'Salle des Bijoux') have been located and replaced on the rebuilt structure. The bas-reliefs carry an iconographic program expressing the history and power of the Fon people.
Today, the city is of less importance, but is still popular with tourists and as a centre for crafts. - in: wikipedia

Poé Beach - New Caledonia

My very st card from New Caledonia, a dependent overseas territory of France lying in the western Pacific Ocean. Marie "vykorsfantast" is trying to get wolf card for her husband and i asked her if she would like to trade this card for a wolf card. I wanted this card because it's from one of my french missing Unesco sites, Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems.

This serial site comprises six marine clusters that represent the main diversity of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the French Pacific Ocean archipelago of New Caledonia and one of the three most extensive reef systems in the world. These Lagoons are of exceptional natural beauty. They feature an exceptional diversity of coral and fish species and a continuum of habitats from mangroves to seagrasses with the world’s most diverse concentration of reef structures. The Lagoons of New Caledonia display intact ecosystems, with healthy populations of large predators, and a great number and diversity of big fish. They provide habitat to a number of emblematic or threatened marine species such as turtles, whales or dugongs whose population here is the third largest in the world. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1115

Photo by Pierre Alain Pantz
The card shows the Poé Beach at Bourail, a small town on the island of Grande Terre.
Its Lagoon is considered the most beautiful on the Grande Terre island. It is a 17 km of white sand beach. Despite the presence of algae at the edge, the variety of fish and beautiful color of the lagoon makes it registered since 2008 in the world heritage of the UNESCO. Glass bottom boats can taken visitors on the lagoon. The tides are important, sometimes so the water level is low, we can see the flats of coral. Many shells (including of giant clam) are reduced on the beach by the sea.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Fraser Island - Australia

This card from Fraser Island, Australia, is also a result of a trade in the postcrossing official site. Penny wanted a card from my city and in return she sent me this card of the Fraser Island.
 Fraser Island is an island located along the southern coast of Queensland. It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992.The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². - in: wikipedia

 The card shows:
* Lake McKenzie, a popular tourist area which is located inland from the small town of Eurong. It is a perched lake sitting on top of compact sand and vegetable matter 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level. Lake McKenzie has an area of 150 hectares and is just over 5 metres (16 ft) in depth. The beach sand of Lake McKenzie is nearly pure silica;
* Wanggoolba Creek, a fresh water creek. Wanggoolba Creek at Central Station is a popular tourist destination due to the crystal clear waters flowing over white sand through a rainforest valley;
* Pandanus palms at sunrise;
* Maheno shipwreck, built in 1905 in Scotland as a luxury passenger ship for trans-Tasman crossings. During the First World War the ship served as a hospital ship in the English Channel, before returning to a luxury liner. In 1935, the ship was declared outdated and on 25 June 1935 the ship was being towed from Melbourne when it was caught in a strong cyclone. A few days later, on 9 July 1935 she drifted ashore and was beached on Fraser Island. During the Second World War the Maheno served as target bombing practice for the RAAF and was used as an explosives demolition target by special forces from the Fraser Commando School. The ship has since become severely rusted, with almost three and a half storeys buried under the sand. Climbing on the shipwreck is not permitted;
* Dingo, a local inhabitant. Dingoes were once common on the island, but are now decreasing. The Fraser Island dingoes are reputedly some of the last remaining pure dingoes in Eastern Australia and to prevent cross-breeding, dogs are not allowed on the island. According to DNA-examinations from the year 2004, the dingoes on Fraser Island are "pure". - in: wikipedia

Sewu Temple - Indonesia

Since i activated my postcrossing option of accepting request for private swaps from other postcrossers, i've received a few requests for trading. The last request came from Indonesia. Dwik sent me this card showing the Sewu Temple, located 800 meters north of Prambanan in Central Java. Candi Sewu is actually the second largest Buddhist Temple in Central Java after Borobudur.

Barong TM Postcards © Pitoyo S.
The Sewu temple was likely built somewhere during the 8th century. The fact that this temple was built near the Prambanan temple, which is a Hindu Temple, indicated that the Hindus and Buddhist lived in harmony during this time.
 The grand scale of this temple complex suggests that Candi Sewu was a Royal Buddhist Temple and one of the most important religious centers in ancient Java. - in: http://www.worldsiteguides.com/asia/indonesia/sewu/

SG-66480

This is my 2nd official card from Singapore (the 1st was a chinese card though) and today i've got a 3rd official from there but it's an ad card and i don't collect ads.


SG-66480, sent by Geraldine.
The Downtown Core is a 266-hectare urban planning area in the south of the city-state of Singapore. The Downtown Core surrounds the mouth of the Singapore River and southeastern portion of its watershed, and is part of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. It is one of the most dense areas in Singapore, even more than other divisions in the Central Area, to the extent that much of it is filled with skyscrapers. As its name implies, it forms the economic core of Singapore, including key districts such as Raffles Place and key administrative buildings such as the Parliament House, the Supreme Court and City Hall as well as numerous commercial buildings and cultural landmarks. - in: wikipedia

Thursday, May 17, 2012

JP-262333

This official from Japan and the macthing stamp shows one of the newest attractions in Tokyo, the Tokyo Sky Tree.

 Published by NBC Inc. Japan
JP-262333, sent by Aya.
Tokyo Sky Tree is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634.0 metres (2,080 ft) in March 2011, making it the tallest tower in the world, displacing the Canton Tower, and the second tallest structure in the world after Burj Khalifa (829.84 m/2,723 ft).
Led by Tobu Railway and a group of six terrestrial broadcasters headed by NHK, the tower project forms the centrepiece of a large commercial development equidistant from Tokyo Skytree and Oshiage train stations, 7 km (4.3 mi) north-east of Tokyo station. One of its main purposes is to relay television and radio broadcast signals; Tokyo's current facility, Tokyo Tower with a height of 333 m (1,093 ft), no longer gives complete digital terrestrial television broadcasting coverage because it is surrounded by many high-rise buildings. The project was completed on 29 February 2012, with the tower's public opening due on 22 May 2012. - in: wikipedia

Shanghai - China

This card is also from China but it wasn't sent by Lyan. Yu wanted one of my cards and in return i got this card from Pudong, Shanghai.


Pudong is an area of Shanghai, China, located along the east side of the Huangpu River, across from the historic city center of Shanghai in Puxi. Formerly a little-developed agricultural area linked only by ferries, Pudong has grown rapidly since the 1990s and emerged as China's financial and commercial hub. It is principally administered as the Pudong New Area, a district of Shanghai.
Pudong is home to the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and many of Shanghai's best-known buildings, such as the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Building, the Shanghai World Financial Center. It is also the site of the future Shanghai Tower. These modern skyscrapers face directly across from Puxi's historic Bund, the remnant of Shanghai's former concessions. - in: wikipedia

Bayinbulak - China

Lyan went on a trip to Xinjiang, West China. I've just seen some of her pictures on FB. I don't know if she visited Bayinbulak grassland but it looks really beautiful.


Under the administration of Hejing County and 270 kilometers from Korla, this is a summer-season grassland. In summer, the Mongolian herdsmen drive their animal herds to this plush carpet, and every year in the beginning of August, a grand commodities fair is held here on the grassland.
During the fair, the grassland comes alive with all kinds of activities and excitement. Besides business, the herdsmen take part in horseracing, wrestling, singing and dancing, and take the opportunity to pay a visit to their relatives and friends. A visitor during this season can truly appreciate not only the beauty of the grassland, but also the customs and habits of the Mongolian herdsmen in Xinjiang. - in:
http://www.silk-road-china.com/korla/bayinbulak-grassland.htm

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Sagarmatha National Park - Nepal

This card is also from a missing Unesco site, in this case, Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal and it was also sent by Christa. With this, i only have 2 cards from Nepal.

© Himalayan MapHouse (P) Ltd
Sagarmāthā National Park is a protected area in the Himalayas. The park was created on July 19, 1976 and was inscribed as a Natural World Heritage Site in 1979.
The Sagarmatha is an exceptional area with dramatic mountains, glaciers and deep valleys, dominated by Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world (8,848 m). Several rare species, such as the snow leopard and the lesser panda, are found in the park. The presence of the Sherpas, with their unique culture, adds further interest to this site.http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/120/

Khiva - Uzbekistan

Khiva is a city of approximately 50,000 people located in the northwest of Uzbekistan. I've got this card because the the walled inner town of the city, Itchan Kala, was one of my Unesco missing sites. Itchan Kala was the first site in Uzbekistan to be inscribed in the World Heritage List (1990). The card was sent by Christa.

The old town retains more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, dating primarily from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Djuma Mosque, for instance, was established in the tenth century and rebuilt from 1788 to 1789, although its celebrated hypostyle hall still retains 112 columns taken from ancient structures.
The most spectacular features of Itchan Kala are its crenellated brick walls and four gates at each side of the rectangular fortress. Although the foundations are believed to have been laid in the tenth century, present-day 10-meters-high walls were erected mostly in the late seventeenth century and later repaired. - in: wikipedia
The card shows the Medresseh of Alla-Kuli, built in 1835 in an awkward space near the east gate of the inner town, is a celebrated example of harmonious blending into an ancient urban fabric.

Monday, May 14, 2012

BY-432719

Gomel, also Homiel or Homel, is the administrative center of Gomel Voblast and the second-largest city in Belarus. Gomel is situated in the southeastern part of the country, on the right bank of Sozh river. 
This official card shows the Gomel oblast library named after Lenin.


BY-432719, sent by Marina.
The Gomel oblast library n.a. Lenin was established in 1928. The construction of the main building of the library was built in 1961. In September 2001 an extension to the library with the area of 1,440 square meters was added. The library has become one of the biggest cultural centers of the republic. It has a considerable informational potential: its book stocks comprise 980,000 books. The readership of the library amounts to about 60,000 people. The private book collection, earlier owned by Duke Paskevich, is a pearl of the library. The collection includes rare editions of the 16th -17th centuries. - in: http://www.gomel-region.by/en/culture/cultural

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sochi - Russia

Sochi is a russian city situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of  Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast.
 Sochi will host the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games in 2014, as well as the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 until at least 2020.[9][10] It is also one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. - in: wikipedia
The card was in my favorites gallery and it was sent by Anastasiya. It shows the observation tower in Mount Ahun, the highest point of the coast of Sochi.


The lookout tower on Mount Ahun done in a Romanesque medieval style, though built in the 30-'40s. Height of 30 meters, the tower is made of white limestone. From the tower you can see the magnificent scenery, stunning views here in Sochi and Adler, as well as the mountains and the Black Sea coast. In good weather, people with good eyesight can consider the mountains of Turkey, located on the opposite shore of the sea. The tower is a branch museum of flora and fauna of the Caucasus Reserve. - in: http://readymadeanswers.com/index.php?newsid=19478

High Coast - Sweden

In the last days i've received a few cards from new Unescos sites. Now i've more than 650 sites :) I'd like to get 700 sites this year but i think this nay not be that easy. For now, i've 5 new sites to show. The High Coast in Sweden is one of those new sites. This card was sent by Merja "merjade".

 Photo by Lars Viklund, Östersund
The High Coast (Swedish: Höga kusten) is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, situated in the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik and notable as a type area for research on post-glacial rebound and eustacy, in which the land rises as the weight of the glaciers melts off of it. This phenomenon was first recognised and studied there; since the last ice age the land has risen 800 m, which accounts for the unusual landscape with tall cliff formations.
UNESCO, while inscribing the area on the World Heritage List in 2000, remarked that "the High Coast site affords outstanding opportunities for the understanding of the important processes that formed the glaciated and land uplift areas of the Earth's surface". - in: wikipedia

Friday, May 11, 2012

The Forth Bridges - Scotland

 This is a card from my favorites and also a card from an Unesco Tentative Site in Scotland. The British government nominated in May 2011, the Forth Rail Bridge, for addition to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Scotland.
The card was sent by Sonya "Boo".

Photo by Ian Mills
The Forth Bridges cross the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland.
The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge in east central Scotland. The bridge opened in 1964. It replaced a centuries-old ferry service to carry vehicular traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians across the Forth; rail crossings are made by the adjacent and historic Forth Bridge.
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth , to the east of the Forth Road Bridge, and 14 kilometres (9 mi) west of central Edinburgh. It was opened on 4 March 1890, and spans a total length of 2,528.7 metres (8,296 ft). It is often called the Forth Rail Bridge or Forth Railway Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge, although it has been called the "Forth Bridge" since its construction, and was for over seventy years the sole claimant to this name.
The bridge connects Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, with Fife, leaving the Lothians at Dalmeny and arriving in Fife at North Queensferry; it acts as a major artery connecting the north-east and south-east of the country. - in: wikipedia

Leipzig - Germany

Monday and yesterday i didn't get any cards but today i've got a lot. I wasn't expecting this one. It was one of the 2 extra cards Judy sent me together with an Unesco card from Benin.

© Schöning GmbH & Co.
Leipzig is one of the two largest cities (along with Dresden) in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. Leipzig is situated about 200 km south of Berlin at the confluence of the Weisse Elster, Pleisse and Parthe rivers.
Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing. After World War II, Leipzig became a major urban centre within the Communist German Democratic Republic but its cultural and economic importance declined.
Leipzig later played a significant role in instigating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, through events which took place in and around St. Nicholas Church. Since the reunification of Germany, Leipzig has undergone significant change with the restoration of some historical buildings, the demolition of others, and the development of a modern transport infrastructure. Leipzig has many institutions and opportunities for culture and recreation including a football stadium which has hosted some international matches, an opera house and a zoo.
In 2010, Leipzig was ranked 68th in the world as a livable city, by consulting firm Mercer in their quality of life survey. Also in 2010, Leipzig was included in the top 10 of cities to visit by the New York Times. - in: wikipedia

Favorites from Germany

I've lots of cards from Germany and i still want to get more and more. My favorites from there are mostly castles and churches. These 2, sent by Sabine, are a very good example of how great german cards are.

  © Schöning GmbH & Co.
 Granitz Hunting Lodge is located on the German island of Rügen in the vicinity of the seaside resort of Binz.
From 1837 - 1851, during the flowering of Classicism, Wilhelm Malte I, the prince of Putbus, had the lodge built under the direction of the famous Berlin architect Johann Gottfried Steinmeyer.
The hunting lodge served the nobles of nearby Putbus primarily as a guest house. Beginning in 1900 the family allowed visitors paying a fee to tour the castle. Since its restoration the lodge has become one of the most visited day-trip destinations on the island. The tower 144 metres above the sea affords a panoramic view of the uniquely beautiful Rügen landscape. - in: http://www.live-like-a-german.com/points_of_interest/show/180/binz-ruegen/hunting-lodge-jagdschloss-granitz

 © Herst u. verlag Schöning & Co + Gebr. Schmidt
Saarlouis is a city in the Saarland. Saarlouis, as the name implies, is located at the river Saar. It was built as a fortress in 1680 and named after Louis XIV of France.
The Ludwigskirche (St. Louis Church) in Saarlouis has gone through so much transformation that not much remains of the original baroque church built at the time of the city's founding. The nave was demolished for the first time in 1864 due it its unsafe condition and was replaced with a neo-Gothic nave. After a fire destroyed most of the church in 1880, a neo-Gothic tower was built to compliment the style of the nave. Again, in 1965 the nave had to be demolished as the groundwater level had fallen and caused structural instability. The new monolithic nave was completed in 1970. The only parts of the church remaining from the original baroque church are the two small corner buildings. - in: http://lostimagesofww2.com/photos/places/saarlautern.php

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

NL-1171570

A dutch official card from the province of Zeeland.

 © Uitgeverij van der Meulen bv Sneek 
NL-1171570, sent by Elly.
 Zeeland is exceptionally suited to be a perfect holiday province, because nowhere else in The Netherlands can you find the ideal combination of sea, beach, dunes, woods, polders, historic villages and towns and water, lots and lots of water. Ten reasons to enjoy the Light Breeze of Zeeland:
1. In Zeeland you enjoy the cleanest beaches in The Netherlands with the most hours of sunshine and where even on the busiest days you can find a quiet spot.
2. In Zeeland you can find many delightful places for walking, cycling, skating and horse riding through the dunes, over the beaches, on the flower dikes, but also along the mud flats and the growth at the outside of the dikes.
3. In Zeeland you will see the meadow polders that follow straight lines through the landscape, but also the centuries old winding polders embedded between the dikes.
4. In Zeeland you can enjoy the salty and sweet delights of the area. Not for nothing have we a three star and a two star restaurant, but also at least five restaurants with one star, local produce is high on the menus.
5. In Zeeland we have terrific festivals for the lovers of film, theatre and art that draw fans from all over the world, but also small cultural events, such as concerts in the villages and local art routes that can be worth investigating.
6. In Zeeland you can trace the footsteps of history, hunt for fossilized shark teeth on the beach or visit the imposing traders houses built in the golden age or find out more about the dramatic floods of 1953.
7. In Zeeland you can see why The Netherlands is famous throughout the world for its fight against the sea, the Deltaworks are impressive.
8. In Zeeland you can find all types of water, so that all sorts of water sports are available and there is always a beach nearby.
9. In Zeeland you can sleep in a beach hut or overnight in a luxury hotel and everything in between (except camping on unauthorized sites).
10. In Zeeland you can experience six very different holidays, yet still be in Zeeland. - in: http://www.vvvzeeland.nl/en/introductie

Portuguese coast

I don't know exactly where in Portugal is this card from but it looks nice. The card was sent by José "PilotOne".
The Portuguese coast is extensive; in addition to approximately 943 km (586 mi)) along the coast of continental Portugal, the archipelagos of the Azores (667 km) and Madeira (250 km) are primarily surrounded by rough cliff coastlines.

Photo by Oswaldo Santos
 Most of these landscapes alternate between rough cliffs and fine sand beaches; the region of the Algarve is recognized for its tourist-friendly sand beaches, while at the same time its steep coastlines around Cape St. Vincent is well known for steep and foreboding cliffs. - in: wikipedia

Saturday, May 5, 2012

US-1645464

I've a few Colorado cards but this one is my 1st city view. Denver was one of the american capital cities missing in my collection.  

 Photo by Lou Poulter
US-1645464, sent by Dede.
Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver City was founded in November 1858 as a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.
The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The building is intentionally reminiscent of the United States Capitol. Designed by Elijah E. Myers, it was constructed in the 1890s from Colorado white granite, and opened for use in November 1894. The distinctive gold dome consists of real gold plate, first added in 1908, commemorating the Colorado Gold Rush. - in: wikipedia