Nekromanteion, Greece

time ago i came across a lovely person..Despina from Greece...ok, she came across me actually...and I couldnt have resisted her offer...and im glad to know that i was the guilty person to have introduced her to Postcrossing and to have given her back the addiction for a mailbox full with cards! It is such a noble feeling you know...coz at least I know how Postcrossing has changed my life ever since I discovered it...

and one of the results of meeting each other was this lovely card arriving in my mailbox...a great place with a cool and rather scary story...Nekromanteion means 'Oracle of Death' and according to the ancient Greeks this was the entrance of the souls to the underworld.  When Christianity came to the area, a church was built on top of it, and that's what you can actually see on the card.
The temple was dedicated to Hades and Persephone.
I wonder through what sort of gate my soul would go through one day...
And I must say i love to have a card from Greece which shows something different from the usual places ive seen so far.
Btw, just after I uploaded the card, i noticed that big Hellenic Post stamp on front of the card...I dont know what it is doing there...and more over, I wonder how i hadnt noticed it while looking at the card previously....anyways, it does blend with the card nicely, so i dont mind it :)

the stamp was issued in 2008, representing the logo of the Asteras Tripolis F.C. football club.

Efharisto para poli Despina!!

Crooked River Gorge, USA

next comes an extra cool card...not only coz it is railway related..the view is just jaw-dropping!

The Crooked River High Bridge is a steel arch bridge that spans the Crooked River gorge in Oregon, which is a 150 m deep gorge located around Warm Springs and Smith Rock State Park
. The bridge is 141 metres long with a main span of 100m. The deck is 90 m above the canyon floor. The bridge was eventually unable to keep up with the growing traffic demands of U.S. Highway 97, and was replaced by the wider Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge. The old bridge is open to pedestrians. Too bad, coz it is really cool.
I remember when I was very little and i would go with my grandparents on a train visiting some relatives to Serbia...there was this bridge I ALWAYS dreaded somewhere en route....you could have simply seen the river in between the rails and you could feel how the rails themselves were all shaking under the weight of the train...i always had the feeling of 'now we're gonna crash..now we're gonna crash'...amazingly enough, the bridge did withstood all that burden..i guess nowadays it is a new modern one so (un)fortunately, you can't have an experience of that kind again :)

two stamps are affixed on the card. The top one was issued this year in a set of 5 Birds-of-prey stamps and it portrays the Northern Harrier. The other stamp is a definitive issued in 2011, representing George Washington...well, you all know who he is :)

Palau

well, it's been over a month...a rather long time, though personally, i didnt really notice when it flew away..I was out of town due to work for like almost a month, with the weekend-scheme being at home, and then on the road again...it got extremely tiring towards the end, but now i have some time to recharge for a bit...i wanted to post during this past month, but the time simply didnt allow it...so now I have like a week to squeeze in a number of updates, send a bunch of postcards before I finally take off on holiday for two weeks...oh yeah, holiday time! It was just today that it actually HIT me I was going somewhere....you know, when you are constantly out of town you dont actually get to notice and feel it since you are not at home anyways...but now it is starting to feel real! Uh...cant wait! Though im having a list of worries regarding all that...And where Im going...hmmm, well, ill keep it a secret for now...in case you already know, dont reveal it please :).
But before I reach my planned (and WELL deserved) destination, ill show you some more beauties that have arrived in my mailbox....

and first we start with a new gem in my collection...an awesome card from the small island of Palau, located in the Pacific Ocean. I was about to give the general facts and figures about the country, but then a few information caught my attention...
the first one was that Palau, in 1981, voted for the world's first nuclear-free constitution which banned the use, storage, and disposal of nuclear, toxic chemical, gas, and biological weapons without first being approved by a 3/4 majority in a referendum.
This ban held up Palau's transition to independence because while negotiating a Compact of Free Association with the United States, the U.S. insisted on the option to operate nuclear propelled vessels and store nuclear weapons within the territory.
After several referendums that failed to achieve a 3/4 majority, the people of Palau finally approved the Compact with the U.S. in 1994The second one was that On June 10, 2009, Palau announced that it would accept up to all 17 of the remaining Uyghurs detained in Guantanamo "as a humanitarian gesture". Five Uyghur captives were released without being prosecuted in 2004, and transferred to Albania in 2006. The remaining seventeen were released due to lack of evidence in 2008. I have no idea how Uyghurs ended up in Albania actually and why...funny..
Palau seems like such a peaceful place to be at...i will certainly not have associated it with nuclear weapons and detainees.....

the thank-yous for this awesome piece of card go to Patrick...and he used a bunch of fantastic stamps too!
the one on the left is a definitive issued in 2009 in a set of 10 fish stamps, showing the 'scissor tail fusilier' the bird stamps next to it are definitives issues in 2002 in a set of 18 birds' stamps which here portrays the Rufous Fantail. The Euoplea butterfly is also a definitive issued in a set of 18 butterfly stamps in 2007, while the birdy on the right comes from a set of 6 endemic birds of Palau' stamps issued in 2006, representing the Morning bird.

Ålesund, Norway

well, my last card for today is another one sigh-provoking...ahhh...

this card was for a LOOONG time in my favourites! I mean, how can it not be...just look how magnificent this place is with all these lovely colours and surrounded by water! Plus it is Norwegian :)
the entire city of Ålesund burnt down in 1904 (except for one house in the middle of the city) and it was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style. It feels like living in some fairy tale!

btw, I just remembered that today on the news I heard today was one year since the bomb attacks in Oslo and the island of Utoeya. Maybe I should have chosen a different card instead of Ålesund but while choosing the cards I honestly had no idea today was the day....plus, well, I dont feel like commemorating such a bad thing right now...however, may the victims rest in peace, and may this never happen again

the stamp is from the set of 6 issued in 2009 representing the Norwegian tourism...this one in particular shows the Stottafjorden in Meloy, Nordland

and a huge thanks for this card go to dear Catherine from Norway, who sent it to me, and my dear Rajko monster, who actually asked Catherine to send it to me as a RAS. Thank you both soooo much!! If it wasnt for you, I would not have had this card in my collection! <3

And ok, I guess it is time to announce the short holiday this blog will take..at least there will be no updates until August 10, though you can always drop by and read some of the previous stuff :)

Enjoy your summer wherever you are or wherever you may go...and keep fingers crossed i manage to find some postcards to send :)))

Hugs to you all!!!!

Madeira, Portugal

two dear friends of mine visited Portugal this summer...the dates were unfortunately inconvenient for me, so I couldnt join them..it is really a pity since it would have been soo cool to visit Portugal! But work is work, and comes first...and maybe some other time Ill have the chance to go.

they also went to Madeira for a few days and were really nice to drop me a postcard! :)
they say it is most flowery island, with lovely beaches.And this card is so nice and colourful that it definitely makes me believe it! Plus, I missed the chance to get a swim in the ocean....for the first time in my life...

the stamp comes from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2011, representing Traditional Festivals

I also had to include this card, since this Botanical Garden Cable Car is represented on one of the small pictures in the previous one :)
The Botanical Garden Cable Car has a total of twelve cabins, each with a capacity of 8 seated places, allowing the visitor a dream trip with a magnificent view over the beautiful Madeiran landscape. This trip allows a panoramic view along a 1600 metres route.
 The round trip is approximately eighteen minutes, being the maximum speed of 4,2 metres per second

UNESCO Headquarters, France

For some reason I keep confusing myself that this card comes from Brussels when it actually comes from Paris...I dont know, maybe i just have this general idea in my head that all those important buildings are situated in Brussels :)

And it is nice to see UNESCO's Headquarters! After collecting UNESCO cards for so long, and struggling with many of them since many come from such rare countries and are like impossible to get, it is nice to see where all these crazy ideas and decisions come from :)
The building is located on the Place de Fontenoy, and was inaugurated on 3 November 1958.
Nicknamed the ‘three-pointed star’, the entire edifice stands on seventy-two columns of concrete piling. It is world famous, not only because it is the home of a well-known organization but also because of its outstanding architectural qualities (here in the dark I honestly cant see any architectural qualities...or I may be at the wrong building since three more buildings complete the headquarters site. The second building, known affectionately as the "accordion", holds the egg-shaped hall with a pleated copper ceiling where the plenary sessions of the General Conference are held. The third building is in the form of a cube. Lastly, a fourth construction consists of two office floors hollowed out below street level, around six small sunken courtyards. The buildings, which contain many remarkable works of art, are open to the public.

the stamp was issued in a set of 2 in 2010 and is UNESCO related. The French Post regularly issues since 1960, some official stamps for UNESCO, which can only be used on mail from the headquarters of this United Nations agency devoted to science, culture and education. On this stamp, the Alpaca is depicted, and with these stamps UNESCO wants to remind us of the endangered species throughout the world. An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance

Dhamaka Lake, Pakistan

So, my fellow dear readers..this will be the last post before me taking off on my holidays...I cant believe it that the time has almost come! Now im in the state of panic...and in realization that I should have bought a new suitcase...mine is just NOT enough...but well, I guess Ill have to manage..Im in the middle of packing, and as usual I have no idea what to take..Im sure ill take stuff that are extra and I wont need, and that i will 'forget' something important...the beauty of all travels, eh? :))

So before I go, here is one more update, with a few lovely cards :)

First comes from dear Vera who has moved to Pakistan and who was so kind to search for some of my favourite cards so that she can send them to me! And I dont know if I had said this before, but Pakistan has AMAZING postcards and STUNNING nature in general!
The lovely card here shows the Dhamaka Lake in the Swat valley, which is situated in the north of Pakistan. It has an ancient history, but its recorded history begins with Alexander the Great, who entered Swat in 326 or 327 BC. Swat in the past used to be home to the Buddhism that spread from there to other parts of Asia (China, Bhutan, Tibet and even Japan). Many monasteries have been founded there, where Buddhist monks used to live and Buddhist teachers educated their students.
Probably another reason why this card is so appealing to me is coz it is related to Alexander, so it feels close to heart :)

Before I get down to the stamps, please take a look at the artistic beauty here..makes the card sooo beautiful and special, and I also REALLY appreciate the effort and the time that Vera took to decorate my card like this! Love it!!
As for the stamps..the one on the right was issued this year, commemorating the 150th Anniversary of St Joseph's Convent School in Karachi, while the other one...it should be a definitive..but i cant tell exactly from which year...the other definitives of that kind were issued in 1994, but this one of Rs.28 does not seem to be among them...so any help is welcome :) thank you soo much again dear Vera!!