Category: Countries

List of countries I received postcards from.

Tourism in Cyprus

Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in the 2nd millennium BC. Today Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean. Europe represents the lion’s share of tourist arrivals. Over 80% of visitors come from Northern, Western and Eastern Europe, while British tourists remain the most traditional. Several factors contribute to this, including widely spoken English as well as the traditional links from British colonialism and the presence of British military bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

Cyprus postcard

Cyprus stamps

The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus. However, the Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts: the area under the effective control of the Republic, located in the south and west, and comprising about 59% of the island’s area; and the north, administered by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 36% of the island’s area. Another nearly 4% of the island’s area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the northern part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces.

Rovinj, Croiatia

Rovinj is a city in Croatia. It is a popular tourist resort and one of the last true Mediterranean fishing ports. The old town is contained within an egg-shaped peninsula, as pictured on this postcard: crowded houses, narrow streets and small squares, still untouched by modern urbanism. The town is officially bilingual, Italian and Croatian.

Croatia postcard

Croatia stamp

Postcard from Crimea, Russia

Received this cool postcard from Crimea, my first one from there, and it came via Postcrossing. And just now realized, that Russian postcrossers can send to and receive official postcards from Russia even with “you would like to send and receive postcards to and from your own country” option turned Off 🙂

Russian stamp and Russian Post postmark from Sevastopol, Crimea. UA postcrossing code:

Russia stamp

Russia Crimea postcard

Tayrona National Natural Park, Colombia

The Tayrona National Natural Park in Colombia was created to preserve the local ecological environment, and is located in the Colombian northern Caribbean region. The foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountain in the world, plunge into the sea forming beautiful bays and coves, with their sandy white beaches surrounded by mangrove swamps, bushes and forests and bathed in the crystal clear water of the Caribbean sea. The Park offers magnificent beaches, and has archaeological ruins of an ancient city of the Tayrona people. Interesting fact: there is an obligatory environmental education introductory talk when you visit.

Colombia postcard

Colombia stamps

Cocos Keeling Islands – Prison Island

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are a remote territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. Its 2 coral atolls comprise 27 tiny islands with white-sand beaches, palm trees and lagoons. Pictured on this postcard is the Prison Island. This now tiny island housed a prison in the early days of settlement, though little remains of this today except the name. In local language, Malay, it is known as Pulu Beras – ‘rice island’. Prison Island is also a place of legend – the Cocos Malay people say that a mermaid lives there and that she calls back home any Cocos-born people who leave the islands’ shores.

Cocos Keeling Islands postcard Cocos Keeling Islands stamp

China

China is the world’s most populous country (with a population of over 1.381 billion), and world’s second largest state by land area. It is also one of the world’s earliest civilizations.

I don’t really know what is pictured on this postcard. But it came from China, so I assume it is somewhere in China 🙂

China postcard China stamps

Ancient Chilean Pictographs

Several sites of prehistoric rock art exist in Chile. The works comprise the three main techniques employed by the pre-Hispanic artists: petroglyphs (engravings), pictographs (paintings) and geoglyphs (markings or designs on the land). The ones pictures on this postcard are the pictographs of Milla: “On one of the panels, two camelids with blank faces, one with an empty womb, are depicted walking, followed by a person wearing a feather plume and preceded by another dressed in a tunic decorated with a zigzag motif and headdress similar to the traditional conical hats of the Tamarugal Pampa.”

Chile postcard

Chile stamp

Postcard from Hell, Cayman Islands

Hell is a group of short, black, limestone formations located in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Located in West Bay, it is roughly the size of half a soccer field. It is claimed that the name “Hell” is derived from the fact that if a pebble is thrown out into the formation, it echoes amongst the limestone peaks and valleys and sounds as if the pebble is falling all the way down to “Hell.”

Cayman Islands postcard

Cayman Islands stamp

Canada’s Nature

The world’s second largest country, Canada is blessed with a stunning variety of landscapes, seascapes, flora and fauna. Its incredibly spectacular scenery – and the many species that make their homes in its midst – is a source of great pleasure and pride. If you love the outdoors, Canada is a wonderful world of natural delight.

Canada postcard

Canada stamps