Category: Countries

List of countries I received postcards from.

Manneken Pis – Brussels, Belgium

Manneken Pis (meaning “Little man Pee” in Dutch) is a landmark small bronze sculpture in Brussels, Belgium depicting a naked little boy urinating into a fountain’s basin. The 61-centimeter (24 in) tall bronze statue was made in 1619. The figure has been repeatedly stolen: the current statue dates from 1965. The statue is dressed in costume several times each week, according to a published schedule which is posted on the railings around the fountain. His wardrobe consists of several hundred different costumes, many of which may be viewed in a permanent exhibition inside the City Museum, located in the Grand Place, immediately opposite the Town Hall.

Manneken Pis postcard

Belgium stamp

Gates of Minsk, Belarus

The Gates of Minsk, or the City Gates, were built after the Second World War in the classical Soviet style and are one of the most recognizable buildings in Belarus. They are powerful structures that mark the entrance to the capital city of Belarus. Each of the towers displays sculptures of a worker, soldier, farmer and engineer, representing the foundation of Belarusian people. One of the towers has a huge clock – it’s the biggest clock in the republic. The minute hand is two meters long and the clock itself weighs 300 kilos — and it was brought from Germany as a war trophy.

Belarus City Gates postcard

Belarus stamp

Beaches of Barbados

As a tropical island Barbados is home to many beautiful beaches. On the calmer west coast, palms sway on white sandy shores while the azure waters lap gently at the shore. At the South you’ll continue to find flawless sandy Barbados beaches protected by coral reefs. The more lively surf in the south and south-east are ideal for a host of watersports. Along the east coast the beaches are wide and wind-blown. Here the shore is pounded by the Atlantic making it a delight for the surfers. In the north, coral and sandstone cliffs rise straight out of the sea reaching up to a hundred feet in height.

Barbados beach postcard

Barbados stamps

Barbados

Former British colony, Barbados is now a sovereign (since 1966) island country in the Americas. It is considered to be a part of the Caribbean, where it is ranked as a leading tourist destination. Forty percent of the tourists come from the UK. Barbados has a population of around 280,000 people, predominantly of African descent. The name ‘Barbados’ is derived from the Bearded Fig Trees once found in abundance on the island. It is believed rum first originated on the island of Barbados, and one of the common names for rum is Barbados water.

Barbados postcard

Barbados stamps

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s eighth most populous country, and one of the most densely populated. Formerly East Pakistan, Bangladesh came into being only in 1971, when the two parts of Pakistan split after a bitter war. Bangladesh’s tourist attractions include historical and monuments, resorts, beaches, picnic spots, forests and tribal people, wildlife of various species.

Bangladesh postcard

Bangladesh stamps

South Pole Station – USA Antarctic Territory

There is a US Post office at the South Pole. It’s located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. And today I received a postcard from there! Well, like the one from McMurdo Station it’s the one I sent there myself, asking to be sent to me postmarked. But I got more than that — they also added a Antarctica stamp, and their postmark is awesome! The travel time from NYC to the South Pole to St. Petersburg, Russia took just over 5 months.

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is a United States scientific research station at the South Pole, the southernmost place on the Earth. It is at the only place on the land surface of the Earth where the sun is continuously up for six months and then continuously down for six months. (The only other such place is at the North Pole, on the sea ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.) During the summer the station population is typically around 150. Most personnel leave by the middle of February, leaving a few dozen (45 in 2015) “winter-overs”, mostly support staff plus a few scientists, who keep the station functional through the months of Antarctic night. Research at the station includes glaciology, geophysics, meteorology, upper atmosphere physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and biomedical studies.

Antarctica postcard

Antarctica stamp postmark

Conch Fritters: Bahamian Style Recipe

This postcard from the Bahamas came with a traditional Bahamian recipe that is made with conch, the wonderful shellfish that is delicious but not so easy to find outside of the Bahamas:

2 Hot petters
1 1/2 Cups Flour
3 tsp. Baking Powder
1 1/2 Level tsp. Sale
3 tbs. Tomato Paste
4 Conch (skinned)
1 Sweet Pepper
2 Onions
2 Stalks Celery
2 1/2 – 3 Cups Water
Cooking Oil

Grind conch, onions, celery and peppers. Add to flower, baking powder, salt, tomato paste and water. Mix together. Drop teaspoonful of mixture into hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.

I’d love to try it one day! 🙂

Bahamas conch fritters Bahamas stamps

The Bahamas

The Bahamas consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean and is located north of Cuba. The Bahamas is the site of Columbus’ first landfall in the New World in 1492. In terms of gross domestic product per capita, the Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas (following the United States and Canada), with an economy based on tourism and finance.

Bahamas postcard

Bahamas stamp

Corvo Island, The Azores

Corvo Island, literally the Island of the Crow, is the smallest and the northernmost island of the Azores archipelago, with a population of approximately 468 inhabitants (in 2006) constituting the smallest single municipality in Azores and in Portugal. The island originated from only one volcano, which was active for the last time about two million years ago.

Interesting fact: only in 1963, the island received electricity and the first telephone cables were laid in 1973. Up to then communication with the neighbour island — when a priest, a doctor or other help was needed — was done by radio, and before that even by means of smoke signals!

Azores stamp