Thursday, March 30, 2017

Hanseatic city of Paderborn | Germany


Hanse Paderborn

Postcard
Paderborn is a historic town in north-west Germany. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and 'born', an old German term for the source of a river. The Pader is actually  Germanys shortest river. In 1295 Paderborn joined the Hanseatic League.

The Paderborn Town Hall was built in the 17th Century in the style of the 'Weser-Renaissance'. This architectural style is found in the area around the River Weser in central Germany.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Hanseatic city of Tartu | Estonia


Hanse Estonia
Postcard
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia, situated 186 kilometres southeast of capital cityTallinn. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi ("Mother river"), which connects the two largest lakes of Estonia.

In medieval times the town became an important trading city. In the 1280s Tartu (then Dorpat) joined the Hanseatic League.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Hanseatic League member Hannover | Germany



Postcard
Initially established as a tiny fishing village on Leine river, at the crossing of two trade routes, Hanover was made a borough in 1241 and by the end of the 14th century was prospering as a merchant town. Hannover joined the Hanseatic League in 1386. By that  time the city had a population of about 4000.

Stamp
Both stamp and special postmark celebrate the Bremer Stadtmusikanten, a folktale written by the Brothers Grimm.

In the story a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster, all past their prime years in life and usefulness on their respective farms, were soon to be discarded or mistreated by their masters. One by one they leave their homes and set out together. They decide to go to Bremen, known for its freedom, to live without owners and become musicians there.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Hermann Castle | Estonia


Hanseatic League Estonia
Postcard
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns. The Hansa existed for some centuries. Originally it was an organisation of merchants, but as their guilds were connected to the towns where they lived, it soon became an organisation for towns.

Narva is the third largest city in Estonia. It is located at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, at the Russian border, on the Narva River. Trade, particularly Hanseatic long distance trade was important for this city throughout the Middle Ages.

Some sources claim that Narva never became part of the Hanseatic League. Other however claim the opposite.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Ærø Island | Denmark


Postcard
There are about 406 islands in Denmark. Some 70 of them are populated but the remainder are uninhabited.

Ærø is one of the Danish Baltic Sea islands. The name comes from the Danish words ær, menaning maple, and ø meaning island. The island has a population of about 6,500.

Stamp
Did you know that 25 Danish Krone is about 3.35 euro. Wow, amazing postage!

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Historical Center of São Luís | Brazil


UNESCO WHS BRAZIL
Postcard
São Luís (Saint Louis in Portugese) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The historic city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city with a population of about 1,4 million is located on an island.

Originally founded by the French in the early 17th century and under Dutch occupation for a short time, Sao Luis is perhaps the most Portuguese of all the cities in Brazil.

Great Smoky Mountains | USA


Postcard
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Château de Fontainebleau | France


Unesco whs France
Postcard
The Château de Fontainebleau is located 55 kilometres southeast of the centre of Paris. This medieval castle was the residence of French monarchs from Louis VII through Napoleon III.

Napoleon I abdicated his throne there before being exiled to Elba. Today, it is a national museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge | Bosnia Herzegovina



Unesco whs Bosnia Herzegovina
Postcard
The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge is a historic bridge in Višegrad, over the Drina River in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bridge was built at the end of the 16th century by the court architect Mimar Koca Sinan, one of the most celebrated builders of the Ottoman Empire.

Stamp
Look at the odd shape of the stamp on the right. Never seen a stamp shaped like this.



Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Old Rauma | Finland


Unesco whs Finland

Postcard
Rauma is a town on the west coast of Finland, known for the old wooden architecture of its centre, which is a Unesco world heritage site.

Stamp
Part of a set of 4 postcrossing stamps (2013).

Monday, March 20, 2017

Qutab Minar Tower | India




Postcard
Qutab Minar is a 73 meters-high tower of victory, built in the early 13th century by Qutab-ud-din Aibak immediately after the defeat of Delhi's last Hindu kingdom. The tower has five distinct storeys. At the foot of the tower is the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, the first mosque to be built in India.

The tower is part of UNESCO World Heritage site incribed under the name Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Sopoćani monastery | Serbia


Serbia Unesco whs

Postcard
The medieval Serbian monastery of Sopoćani was built around 1260. The monastery is part of UNESCO World Heritage site Stari Ras and Sopoćani.

Included in this property are Stari Ras (the remains of the first capital of Serbia), Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery and the Holy Apostles St Peter and St Paul Church (St Peter’s Church).

Sanctuary of Oropa | Italy


Santuaro di Oropa Unesco whs Italy

Postcard
The Sanctuary of Oropa is a group of Roman Catholic buildings and structures in the municipality of Biella, Italy. It is located at a height of 1,159 metres in a small valley of the Alpi Biellesi.

The sanctuary is part of UNESCO World Heritage site Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy. This property consist of a series of nine separate complexes located in the mountains of Northern Italy (Varallo, Crea, Orta, Varese, Oropa, Ossuccio, Ghiffa, Domodossola, and Valperga). These complexes are groups of chapels and other architectural features created in the late 16th and 17th centuries and dedicated to different aspects of the Christian faith.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Tokaj Wine Region | Hungary


Unesco whs Hungary
Postcard
The Tokaj Wine Region is a historical wine region located in northeastern Hungary and southeastern Slovakia. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2002.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

The smallest post office in the USA


Smallest post office USA
Postcard
The post office at Ochopee, Florida, is the smallest in the USA. The building, once a tool shed, was converted into the post office after a fire in 1953 destroyed the original Ochopee Post Office.

Stamps
Matching special postmark!


Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Taos Pueblo | USA


Unesco whs USA
Postcard
Pueblos are modern and old communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material. These structures were usually multi-storied buildings surrounding an open plaza.

Taos Pueblo in New Mexico is a centuries old Pueblo Indian settlement, dating back to the 13th century. Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Tequila | Mexico


Postcard
Tequila is a town is Mexico, about 25 miles from Guadalajara. The famous liquor, named after this place, is made from the blue agave plant, native to this area. The small pictures show a traditional factory.

Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Lutherstadt Wittenberg | Germany


UNESCO whs Germany
Postcard
Lutherstadt Wittenberg is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Four buildings in Wittenberg are designated as a UNESCO world Heritage site: Castle Church, the Luther House, St. Mary's Church, and the Melanchthon House.

One of the oldest buildings in Wittenberg is the Church of St. Mary's. Here Martin Luther preached.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Archaeological site of Tiya | Ethiopia


Unesco whs Ethiopia

Postcard
Just outside the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, the archeologically wondrous Tiya Stelae can be found, mysterious carved stones whose purpose is still unclear.

Tiya is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Lutherstadt Eisleben part two | Germany


UNESCO whs Germany
Postcard
In my previous post I showed a card of Lutherstadt Eisleben. Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The houses in Eisleben where Luther was born (1483) and died (1546) are included in this Unesco site.

As this card is showing both Martin Luther's Geburtshaus and his Sterbehause (birth house and death house), it is definitely UNESCO. Actually I received this second Luther card by surprise, only a few days after the first.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Lutherstadt Eisleben | Germany


Martin Luther
Postcard
Lutherstadt Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Martin Luther was born in this city in 1483. Martin Luther was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and an important figure in the Protestant Reformation.

Luther rejected several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed his understanding of the Catholic view on indulgences, that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. In the end it resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.

Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

But... as Dustin pointed out in the comments, only the houses in Eisleben where Luther was born (1483) and died (1546) are included in this Unesco site. So in the end this postcard can't be marked as Unesco.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

The old town of Bardejov | Slovakia


Unesco whs Slovakia

Postcard
Bardejov is a small but exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a fortified medieval town, located in eastern Slovakia.

Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

International Women's Day 2017 | China




The theme for International Women's Day 2017 is "Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030" (#BeBoldForChange).
Globalization, digital innovation and climate change, among other factors, continue to change the world in which we work — posing both challenges as well as opportunities in realizing women’s economic potential for a better tomorrow. 

Postcard
The Lisu people are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group who inhabit mountainous regions of Myanmar, southwest China, Thailand, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

For untold generations, villagers, young and old, living along the torrent Nujiang, or “Nu River” in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, have used makeshift ziplines to crisscross its banks. Today government-built bridges are quickly replacing their traditional form of mode of transportation.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Langkawi Island | Malaysia



Langkawi Malaysia
Postcard
Langkawi, officially known as Langkawi the Jewel of Kedah, is an archipelago of about 100 islands in the Andaman Sea. The islands are a part of the state of Kedah, which is adjacent to the Thai border.

Langkawi Island is the main island and one of the two inhabited islands in this archipelago.

Stamp
The stamp is part of a series of six stamps about orchids, issued February 2017. The 60 sen stamp shows Rhynchostylis, commonly known as the foxtail orchid.

thx again SL!

Monday, March 6, 2017

Koh Dong Island | Thailand


Tarutao National Park Thailand

Postcard
Satun is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, close to the Malaysian border. Today, the South Andaman Sea of Thailand in Satun is a popular travel destination among foreign and Thai travelers.

One of the main attractions is the 51 islands that make up Tarutao National Park, Thailand’s first Marine National Park (established in 1972). All but one of the 51 islands are uninhabited. Like many of the islands in this region, koh Dong is a popular diving spot.


thx SL!

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