Christmas cards

On Christmas time a lot of Christmas cards arrived. All of them are great. Thank you all :D

These are the cards sent by Katy "katts1985" from Estonia, Carol "adobe" and Lori from USA, Essi "hadassah" from Finland, Maritere "maritekia" and M. Angeles "maer" from Spain, Laura "laurarual" from the Netherlands, Márcia "magl" from Portugal, Marie "renegade_cavalcade" from Canada, from Germany Claus "elbe" and Charlotte "purple_girl" from UK.

Unesco gift

A few days ago i've received an envelope from Germany with these cards. I couldn't believe when i realized that all of these cards were new unesco cards and from places not so easy to get. This was a great Christmas present. The generous postcrosser was Claus, "elbe" a trully Santa Claus :D Vielen Danke.

" Uxmal is a large pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya civilization in the state of Yucatán, Mexico.

While much work has been done at the popular tourist destination of Uxmal to consolidate and restore buildings, little in the way of serious archeological excavation and research has been done; therefore, the city's dates of occupation are unknown and the estimated population (about 25,000 people) is at present only a very rough guess subject to change upon better data. Most of the architecture visible today was built between about 700 and 1100.

Maya chronicles say that Uxmal was founded about 500 A.D. by Hun Uitzil Chac Tutul Xiu. For generations Uxmal was ruled over by the Xiu family, was the most powerful site in western Yucatan, and for a while in alliance with Chichen Itza dominated all of the northern Maya area. Sometime after about 1200 no new major construction seems to have been made at Uxmal, possibly related to the fall of Uxmal's ally Chichen Itza and the shift of power in Yucatan to Mayapan. The Xiu moved their capital to Maní, and the population of Uxmal declined. After the Spanish conquest of Yucatán (in which the Xiu allied themselves with the Spanish), early colonial documents suggest that Uxmal was still an inhabited place of some importance into the 1550s, but no Spanish town was built here and Uxmal was soon after largely abandoned." - in: wikipedia

" Tucked away amid the modern urban area of Cairo lies one of the world's oldest Islamic cities, with its famous mosques, madrasas, hammams and fountains. Founded in the 10th century, it became the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century." - in: http://www.unesco.org/ 

Cheomseongdae Observatory in South Korea is one of the oldest structures in Korea. 'Ch'eomseongdae' means 'Star Gazing Tower'. Designated as National Treasure 31, it was built during the reign of Queen Seonduk of the Old Silla kingdom in 634. Cheomseongdae Observatory is the oldest existing observatory in the Far East and one of the oldest scientific installations on earth.
Cheomseongdae is part of the Gyeongju Historic Areas, an Unesco whs since 2000.

PT 3rd travelling envelope

These are the cards i've got from the 3rd travelling envelope in the portuguese community. The postcrossers in this group were valdagua, joaninha, nelsonpsoares, luciano, Carla and me.

This is a card from the brazilian capital city, Brasília.

A typical street in Sintra, Portugal.

And a card from London with the St. Paul's Cathedral.
"St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral on Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The present building dates from the 17th century and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is generally reckoned to be London's fifth St Paul's Cathedral, all having been built on the same site since 604 A.D. The cathedral is one of London's most famous and most recognisable sights at 365 feet high. It was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1962, and its dome is also among the highest in the world, St Peter's Basilica in Rome being higher. The Monument to the Great Fire of London, also designed by Wren and the tallest doric column in the world, would fit inside the cathedral's interior." - in: wikipedia

Alvor - Portugal

This was one of the cards in my favorites album and Ana "ninocas" sent it as a RAS card.

I really love it.

Thanks Ana.

West Karangasem - Indonesia

A card from Bali, Indonesia, sent by Relie.

Matekap is a process that uses cows to plough muddy paddy fields in Bali, however these days are getting harder and harder to find this rare activities. Famers prefer to use machine instead.

RU-92052

I really like churches and russian churches are always so beautiful, aren't they?
This is the St. Nicholas Church in Khamovniki.

RU-92052, sent by Alyona.

"Church of Saint Nicholas in Khamovniki is a late 17th century parish church of a former weavers sloboda in Khamovniki District of Moscow. The church is a federal listed memorial building. It marks the corner of present-day Komsomolsky Prospect and Leo Tolstoy Street, two blocks beyond the Garden Ring. The church yard occupies a whole block between Leo Tolstoy and Timur Frunze streets and includes a row of small old houses.

First records of a presumably wooden church on this site are dated 1625. The main five-domed church was built in 1679-1682; belltower and refectory were completed around 1694. Present day church sources claim that the belltower in Khamovniki is one of the highest tent-style belltowers in Moscow region.

The church is an example of late Muscovite Baroque that preceded short-lived Naryshkin Baroque of 1690s. It belongs to a numerous class of bonfire temples – church buildings without three internal load-bearing columns, crowned with layers of small circular kokoshnik-type gables. Each gable is a symbol of a heavenly fire (biblical thrones - angels or seraphs); a tightly packed group of gables is an architectural metaphore for the Throne of God." - in: wikipedia

Officials from USA

US-556761, sent by Sara.
This is a reproduction of an antique card from 1907.
"A Merry Christmas - Thine own wish wish I thee."
From the collection of Gabriela Oldham.

US-552943, sent by Michelle.

Saragatoga Spa State Park in Saragatoga Springs, New York.

Distinguished by its classical architecture, Saragatoga Spa State Park encompasses over 2000 acres of landscaped grounds, woodlands, streams and picnic areas, offering a multitude of recreation activities.