CH-136225

An official from Switzerland.

Photo: Annemarie Oerer © fotoeigenArt.ch

CH-136225, sent by Sabrina.

The card is nice but i'd rather have cards from identified places, which is not the case.

Manuela's french cards

A bit of France sent by Manuela.

Editions RENE

Charente is a department in southwestern France, in the Poitou-Charentes region, named after the Charente River, the most important river in the department.

The card is showing the underground St. Jean Church/monolithic church in Aubeterre-sur-Dronne; La Rochefoucauld castle; vineyards and Villebois-Lavalette castle.

Photos © Yann Tierny

A bit north, in the interior of the Pas-de-Calais département,  there's the former province of Artois. The cards shows some of it's principal cities. The Bollaert stadium in Lens; Bruay-La-Buissiere Town Hall; Béthune's belfry, a ski resort in Noeux-Les-Mines and the Heroes Square in Arras.

 

Photo Edition "FRANCE REGARD"

Arnac-Pompadour is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France.

The city is famous for its chateau and its stud farm, the Pompadour National Anglo-Arab Stud, headquarters of the French National Stud and France's principal production centre of Anglo-Arabian horses. - in: wikipedia

Photos by Henri Marcou

Lisle is a small village located south west of France, located in the department of Dordogne of the french region Aquitaine.

Libéria Fort - France

The Libéria Fort, located in Villefranche-de-Conflent in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, is one of fortified buildings built by Vauban and added in 2008 to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Fortifications of Vauban consists of 12 groups of fortified buildings and this is my 3rd card representing this site. The other show the citadel of Besançon and Tour Vauban or Tour dorée (lit. "Golden Tower") in Camaret-sur-Mer.

This card was sent by Fabienne.

© Objectif Sud - Messages du Sud * Foto: C. Levillain

The fort built by Vauban following the division of Catalonia between the France and Spain by the Treaty of the Pyrenees, from 1681. The fort is connected to the village of Villefranche by an underground staircase. It thus dominates the village from a height of 150 metres approximately.

As a result of the murder scandal known as the ‘affaire des poisons’ (poison affair) which rocked France during the 17th century, several infamous lady poisoners were chained up in the ’prison des dames’ of the chateau Fort Liberia.

Following the trial of the *Marquise de Brinvilliers, who had conspired to poison her father and brothers in order to inherit their estates, there was paranoia amongst the nobility, due also to a number of other mysterious deaths. Louis XIV himself become alarmed and had his servants taste all his food before eating. There followed a period of hysterical pursuit of murder suspects, during which a number of prominent people were implicated and sentenced for poisoning and witchcraft.

Many of the condemned were transferred to France’s safest fortresses such as Salses, Fort les Bains and chateau Fort Liberia, where they were chained up and imprisoned for life. - in: http://www.anglophone-direct.com/Chateau-Fort-Liberia

Sant Feliu de Guíxols - Spain

I've almost 400 cards from Spain, mostly from the biggest and well known cities, so it's kind of nice to get cards from other places. I've never heard about Sant Feliu de Guíxols before and it seems to be a lovely place.

The card was sent by Sandra.

Photo by Paco Dalmau

Sant Feliu de Guíxols is a town in the province of Girona, Catalonia. It is situated on the Costa Brava and is an important port and tourist centre.

Located on the Mediterranean, Sant Feliu de Guíxols has idylic weather almost all year long. The coastline of Sant Feliu de Guíxols spreads over ten kilometers. It also includes many little bays with coves surrounded by pines with rocky or fine sand beaches. The beaches are cleaned daily and a modern water treatment system prevents wastewater from entering the sea. The town is engulfed by small mountains, with forests of pine, oak, and cork trees. - in: wikipedia

Alcalá de Henares - Spain

Alcalá de Henare is a Spanish city whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. It is located 35 km northeast of the city of Madrid.

This card, sent by Fabienne, shows the plateresque facade of the university.

Founded by Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros in the early 16th century, Alcalá de Henares was the first city to be designed and built solely as the seat of a university, and was to serve as the model for other centres of learning in Europe and the Americas.

The concept of the ideal city, the City of God (Civitas Dei), was first given material expression in Alcalá de Henares, from where it was widely diffused throughout the world.

The contribution of Alcalá de Henares to the intellectual development of humankind finds expression in its materialization of the Civitas Dei, in the advances in linguistics that took place there, not least in the definition of the Spanish language, and through the work of its great son, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and his masterpiece, Don Quixote. -in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/876

Lake la Cueva - Spain

The Asturias region in northern Spain was one of the possibilities for my holidays. I'm going to Catalonia instead but i'd like to visit this region in the future.

This card was in my favs and it was sent by Raquel.

© Ediciones A. M. - Fotografia: Daniel Acevedo

Lake La Cueva, together with Lake Cerveriz and Lake Calabazosa, form the so-called Saliencia Lakes.
The basin is completely closed; therefore the view is limited to the immense basin. The eastern half of the basin conserves its pastoral character while the northern section, where the mining track is found, has been artificially terraced due to hydroelectric work and has been used as a spontaneous campsite as it includes a drinking fountain and an ample surface where cars can park. The western area has been deteriorated by past mining activities.
This lake collects water from several tributaries. Another possibly exists below the normal water level. There are three floodgates to regulate the flow. One controls the flow from Lake Negro and the other two are part of the outflow pipe.
The water is transparent if not clouded by mud that accumulates at the bottom of the lake, which makes it vary between emerald green and red-ochre. - in: http://www.asturias.es/portal/site/infoAsturias/menuitem.c83ef88008e6e76cb5dd591088414ea0/?vgnextoid=855b7a3796b90210VgnVCM100000dc14e40aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ed3e28e57d59d110VgnVCM100000dc14e40aRCRD&chLang=true

Cards from the future

As i said before, next week i'll travel to Barcelona but i'll visit other places too, such as the Montserrat Monastery and Tarragona, where these cards are from.

Triangle Postales - Photo by Pere Vivas

Heidi sent me this card last december and back then i didn't know that 2 months later i would visit this place.

The mountain Montserrat with the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat lies about 45 km northwest of Barcelona.

Not only is Montserrat Monastery of significant religious importance but the natural beauty surrounding the monastery is simply breathtaking.

If you enjoy walking there are also some interesting walks through the mountains where you will experience magnificent views of some of the most unusual rock formations in the whole of Catalonia. You can take a funicular to the top of the mountain and from there you can choose a number of different walks, all with amazing views of the Catalonian countryside. - in: http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/tour/montserrat-spain.html

© foto Raymond

Ana and Paula have recently been to Barcelona and they visited Tarragona. Ana knows about this trip to Catalonia and sent this card to let me know what to expect about the city.

On the card there's one of the several roman ruins in the city, the amphitheatre.

Built in the 2nd century A.D. on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the amphitheatre was used as a venue for numerous popular events, including gladiatorial games. It has the elliptical plan which is characteristic of this type of construction. There are pits which were used for auxiliary services located beneath the arena where these spectacles took place. In the central part of the amphitheatre the remains of the plan of a Visigoth basilica are preserved (6th century) as well as those of a Romanesque-Gothic church from the 12th century. - in: http://www.spain.info/en/conoce/monumentos/tarragona/anfiteatro_romano.html