3318 GREECE (Eastern Macedonia and Thrace) - Giola in Thassos Island

Located in the south of the island of Thassos, near of little village Astris, Giola is а natural seа lagοon carved in rоcks. Separated from the sea by a narrow strip of rocks, it looks like a pool of crystal clear water, carved into a coral reef that rises above it, with sizеs 2Ox15 meters. The height of the rocks reaches up to 8 meters from where the swimmers can dive into the clear waters. Legend says that the pool was created by the Greek god Zeus, and Aphrodite went swimming there, so it is also known as "The tear of Aphrodite."

3317 MOLDOVA - Postcrossing Meetup, Chișinău, 23 June 2018

3317 The eighth postcard of the series
"100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (8/12)
- Old Orhei landscape.

The previous postcard of the series "100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (7/12)

Another meeting of the Romanian postcrossers in the year of the Centenary of the Great Union took place on June 23, 2018, in Chișinău. Actually it was the second Postcrossing meeting between members from Moldova and Romania, which took place on the occasion of the launch of a stamp dedicated to the Postcrossing project. Mihnea Răducu chose for the postcard a landscape from Orheiul Vechi Archaeological Landscape (about which I wrote here), submitted by Moldova to UNESCO for inclusion among the World Heritage Sites.

3316 ITALY (Basilicata) - The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera (UNESCO WHS)

3316 View of Sasso Caveoso in Matera, from the Murge

Lying in a small canyon carved out by the Gravina River, Matera is known as la città sotterranea (the underground city), because its historical centre Sassi contains a complex of houses, churches, monasteries and hermitages built into the natural caves of the Murgia. This remarkable and intact troglodyte settlement contains more than a thousand dwellings and a large number of shops and workshops. The morphology of the territory, characterized by deep ravines (gravine) and bare highland plateaus, integrated with ancient cave churches, shepherd tracks marked by wells, and fortified farmhouses, form one of the most evocative landscapes of the Mediterranean.

3315 UNITED STATES (California) - San Francisco

Located on the West Coast of the United States at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula, San Francisco includes significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. There are more than 50 hills within the city limits, and some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated. The nearby San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for much earthquake activity, although neither physically passes through the city itself. Although it is only the 15th-most populous city in the United States with almost 900,000 residents as of 2018, is the second most densely populated large U.S. city.

3314 MYANMAR (Sagaing Region) - Settawya Pagoda in Mingun

Located on the west bank of Irrawaddy river, a mere 230 meters SE of the Mingun Pahtodawgyi, the Settawya Pagoda is a small, whitewashed Buddhist chapel constructed along classical Pagan lines, built to house a marble footprint of the Buddha. It was build between 1804 and 1811 under the direction of King Bodawpaya Konbaung (r. 1782-1819), who spent most of his attention on the much grander but ill-fated Mingun Pahtodawgyi pagoda. The completed temple included a set of marble stairs leading down to the river, creating a grand entrance for visitors approaching by water.

3288, 3313 ROMANIA (Hunedoara) - The Bison Reserve Silvuț-Haţeg

3313

Posted on 10.12.2019, 28.12.2019

Bison is a type of massive herbivorous animal from the ruminant category, belonging to the Bovinae subfamily, which was once widespread as a wild animal in the northern hemisphere. The only living representatives of the bison are its two varieties, the American bison (Bison bison) and the European bison - the wisent (Bison bonasus). European bison were hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 20th century, with the last wild animals of the Carpathian wisent subspecies being shot in the Białowieża Forest (on the Belarus-Poland border) in 1921, and the last of Caucasian wisent in the northwestern Caucasus in 1927.

3288

 

In Romania, the wisent disappeared in the 18th century; with the last exemplar in the wild being killed in Transylvania in 1790. The species that can be found in Europe at present is a hybrid between the Caucasian Bison and the Lowland Bison. A Caucasian Bison was captured in 1908 and taken to Germany, where he lived 18 years in captivity. There, he bred with females of the Lowland species and produced the species known today as the European Bison. The wisent have been successfully reintroduced in the wild since 1951, and now is found in Poland, Belarus, Romania and Moldova, herds also existing in Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

3312 ISRAEL (Jerusalem) - Via Dolorosa - part of The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls (UNESCO WHS)

Via Dolorosa (Sorrowful Way‎) is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem, believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion. The winding route from the former Antonia Fortress to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - a distance of about 600 metres - is a celebrated place of Christian pilgrimage. The current route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions. It is today marked by nine Stations of the Cross; there have been fourteen stations since the late 15th century, with the remaining five stations being inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

3310 ROMANIA - Postcrossing Meetup, Bucharest, 14 July 2018

3310 The seventh postcard of the series
"100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (7/12)
- traditional Romanian dance named hora.

The previous postcard of the series "100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (6/12)

The seventh meeting of the Romanian postcrossers in the year of the Centenary of the Great Union took place on July 14, 2018, in Bucharest, and Mihnea Răducu chose for the postcard a traditional Romanian folk dance named horă. The dancers hold each other's hands and the circle spins, usually counterclockwise, as each participant follows a sequence of three steps forward and one step back. The dance is usually accompanied by musical instruments such as the cymbalom, accordion, violin, viola, double bass, saxophone, trumpet or the pan pipes.

3309 UNITED STATES (Hawaii) - Pearl Harbour

Located on the island of Oahu, west of Honolulu, near the center of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland and about 4,000 miles from Japan, Pearl Harbor is well known as the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, that finally propelled the United States into WWII. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage 21 American naval vessels, including 8 battleships, and over 300 airplanes. 2,390 Americans died in the attack, and another 1,178 were wounded.

3282, 3308 BULGARIA (Plovdiv / Stara Zagora) - Picking-up of roses in Rose Valley

3282

Posted on 04.12.2019, 27.12.2019
Located just south of the Balkan Mountains, between them and the eastern part of the lower Sredna Gora chain to the south, the Rose Valley consists of two river valleys, those of the Stryama to the west and the Tundzha to the east. The valley is famous for its rose-growing industry which have been cultivated there for centuries, and which produces close to half (1.7 tonnes) of the world's rose oil. The centre of the rose oil industry is Kazanlak, while other towns of importance include Karlovo, Sopot, Kalofer and Pavel banya.

3308

Roses need moisture and warmth and this is why almost all fields of rose oil are located there, where the winters are short and mild and the springs long and hot. Each year, festivals are held celebrating roses and rose oil. The picking season lasts from May to June. The gathering process, traditionally a woman's task, requires great dexterity and patience. For the production of 1 kg rose-water is used 1 kg of rose blossom, for the production of 1 kg rose-oil is used approximately 3500 kg of rose-blossom. To form a rose bush and start picking are required three years after planting it.

3307 GERMANY (Saxony) - Brühl's Terrace in Dresden

Brühl's Terrace is a historic architectural ensemble in Dresden, which stretches high above the shore of the river Elbe. Located north of the recently rebuilt Neumarkt Square and the Frauenkirche, is one of the favourite inner-city places for walking, people watching, and having a coffee. Its name is a reference to Count Heinrich von Brühl, Minister of Elector Frederick Augustus II, who from 1737 had a city palace built on the location. In 1747 the whole terrace was given to him by the Saxon elector as a gift for the innovative introduction of a betterment tax.

3306 CZECH REPUBLIC (Vysočina) - Postcrossing Meetup, Jihlava, 27 January 2018

Masaryk Square in Jihlava, with Saint Ignatius Church and City Hall

Situated on the Jihlava river, on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia, Jihlava is the oldest mining town in the Czech Republic, approximately 50 years older than Kutná Hora. Among the principal buildings is the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, built in the years 1683-89 by Jacopo Brascha, an Italian builder. This single-bay church with three pairs of side chapels and a flat chancel termination is a typical early Baroque structure, and formerly belong to the Jesuit Order.

3305 INDIA (Rajasthan) - Amber Fort - part of Hill Forts of Rajasthan (UNESCO WHS)

Situated on a forested hill promontory in Amer, at 11 kilometres from Jaipur, Amber Fort overlooks Maota Lake. The settlement was founded by Raja Alan Singh, a ruler from the Chanda clan of Meenas in 967 CE, and the fort, as it stands now, was built over the remnants of this earlier structure during the reign of Raja Man Singh, the Kachwaha King of Amer. The structure was fully expanded by his descendant, Jai Singh I. Even later, Amer Fort underwent improvements and additions by successive rulers over the next 150 years, until the Kachwahas shifted their capital to Jaipur during the time of Sawai Jai Singh II, in 1727.

3244, 3304 IRELAND - Irish writers

3244

3304

Posted on 12.01.2018, 24.12.2019
For a comparatively small place, the island of Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to world literature in all its branches, in both the Irish and English languages. The island's most widely known literary works are undoubtedly in English. Three of the four Nobel prize Irish winners (William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney) were born in Dublin, making it the birthplace of more Nobel literary laureates than any other city in the world.

3303 MALAYSIA (Kuala Lumpur) - National Monument (Tugu Negara)

The National Monument is a sculpture that commemorates those who died in Malaysia's struggle for freedom, principally against the Japanese occupation during WWII and the Malayan Emergency, which lasted from 1948 until 1960. Located in Perdana Botanical Gardens (formerly Perdana Lake Gardens, Lake Gardens and Public Gardens), in the Federal capital, Kuala Lumpur, near the Malaysian Houses of Parliament, is the world's tallest bronze freestanding sculpture grouping, with 15 meters tall.

3302 ETHIOPIA (Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region) - Gurage Landscape

Gurage is a zone named for the Gurage people, an Habesha Ethiosemitic-speaking ethnic group whose homeland lies in this zone. Most parts of this area are heavily eroded, which required farmers to protect their enset fields with stone and soil bunds. During the 1930s, about 20% of the land in Gurage was covered with natural forests, which has since been almost completely cut down. According to the historian Paul B. Henze, the Gurage people origins are explained by traditions of a military expedition to the south during the last years of the Kingdom of Aksum, which left military colonies that eventually became isolated from both northern Ethiopia and each other.

3301 GERMANY (Hamburg) - Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin, 8th largest city in the European Union with a population of over 1.84 million, and also Europe's third-largest port. Located on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster and Bille, it is at a sheltered natural harbour on the southern fanning-out of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the northeast. The name Hamburg comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle which the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in AD 808.

3300 ROMANIA - Postcrossing Meetup, Bucharest, 17 June 2018

3300 The sixth postcard of the series
"100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (6/12)
- Pelicans in Danube Delta

The previous postcard of the series "100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (5/12)

The sixth meeting of the Romanian postcrossers in the year of the Centenary of the Great Union took place on June 17, 2018, in Bucharest, and Mihnea Răducu chose for the postcard some pelicans, probable great white pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus), in Danube Delta (UNESCO WHS, about which I wrote here). The great white pelican is a huge bird (140 to 180 cm in length) with a 28.9 to 47.1 cm enormous pink and yellow bill, and a dull pale-yellow gular pouch. The wingspan measures 226 to 360 cm, the latter measurement being the highest among extant flying animals outside of the great albatross. It mainly eats fish.

3298 ROMANIA (Alba) - Câlnic Citadel - part of Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania (UNESCO WHS)

The Câlnic Citadel began around 1270 as a residence for a Graf (Chyl de Kelling, whose family gave the village its German name), one of the last such to be built in Transylvania. The strong parallelepiped structure, with a ground floor and three floors for living space, came to be known as the Siegfried tower. Subsequent, frequent Ottoman attacks led the keep to be fortified with a defensive level and surrounded by a massive wall. The oval precinct around the keep was fitted with a guard tower to the south and a gate tower to the north. The structure was surrounded by a water-filled moat, with access only by drawbridge.

2026, 3297 FINLAND - The land of the thousand lakes

3297

Posted on 11.11.2015, 22.12.2019
Much of the geography of Finland is explained by the Ice Age. The glaciers were thicker and lasted longer in Fennoscandia compared with the rest of Europe. Their eroding effects have left the Finnish landscape mostly flat, covered largely (86% of land area) by coniferous taiga forests and fens, with little cultivated land. Finland is known also as "the land of the thousand lakes", because it has about 188,000 lakes, among which the largest is Saimaa, the fourth largest in Europe. The area with the most lakes is called Finnish Lakeland.

2026

Nothing is more Finnish than spending summer holidays at a lakeside or island cottage, known in Finnish as a mökki. Most mökki are constructed from wooden logs on lakesides or beaches and usually contain a sauna, boat dock, and a outdoor cooker. Around a fifth of Finns own their own cottages, with many more renting one during the summer season. Many people also visit cottages owned by their friends and relatives, particularly just in time for the Midsummer holiday.

3296 UNITED STATES (New York) - MV John F. Kennedy in New York Harbor

In 1805, an 11 year-old boy from Staten Island named Cornelius Vanderbilt quit school to work full-time on his father's ferry. At 16, he started his own ferry business and in 1838 he took sole control of the main ferry service between Staten Island and Manhattan. By the end of the Civil War, he was known as the Commodore, the wealthiest American who had ever lived, controlling 10% of the entire nation's wealth. The Staten Island Ferry was then sold to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1884, and the City of New York assumed control of the ferry in 1905.

3295 ROMANIA - Postcrossing Meetup, Bucharest, 5 May 2018

3295 The fifth postcard of the series
"100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (5/12)
- "The passage of the Romanian army to Dobruja"
by Henryk Dembitzky.

The previous postcard of the series "100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (4/12)

The fifth meeting of the Romanian postcrossers in the year of the Centenary of the Great Union took place on May 5, 2018, in Bucharest. This time Mihnea Răducu chose for the postcard dedicated to the meeting the lithography The passage of the Romanian army to Dobrudja by Henryk Dembitzky (1830-1906), a Polish artist, graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, refugee in Romania. He made his debut as a lithographer in Bucharest, in 1877, therefore in the very year in which Romania proclaimed its independence, and his lithographs in colors related to the War of Independence are very well known by the Romanians.