Indonesia

A wonderful map card from the lovely Shinta in Indonesia.



I actually received an envelope full of beautiful postcards from Shinta, and it's difficult to choose my favourite. I do have a soft spot for maps so it was pretty obvious I'd post about this card.

Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. It comprises 17,508 islands. With a population of around 230 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the world's largest population of Muslims. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta.

Years and years ago I used to have a Finnish penpal who moved to Jakarta for over a year as her dad got a job there. I remember reading her letters and marvelling at a place so different from Finland and so far away. Sadly I haven't heard from Terhi for ages now, she was such a nice person. I hope she's doing well.





Shinta always uses the most gorgeous stamps on her postcards and envelopes, and this one was no exception.

The silver stamp is from a set of 6 stamps issued in 2009 for theInternational Year of Astronomy. The two yellow stamps next to it commemorate the World Cup in South Africa this summer. The final stamp I couldn't find any info about, so all I know is that it depicts Indonesian folktales.

Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

It was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, earlier this week, so I thought it would be appropriate to post about this card that I received a few weeks ago from a swap.



Olga who sent me this card was a bit wary of sending me this card at first, as in my postcrossing profile I state that I prefer not to receive any overly religious postcards. We had some discussion over this card - I really like postcards showing people in traditional clothes, but as Olga pointed out, in Israel, religion and traditions are very closely knit together. I have to say it here, too, then, that I don't mind receiving this kind of cards showing religious themes, it's mostly cards explicitly promoting a religion or for example offering to pray for me that I don't like.

This card shows Israel from a slightly different angle. Olga tells me that "except for the Shofar (the big horn) you can see this picture in Jerusalem every day and not only on religious holidays. There are lots of ultra religious people in Jerusalem, and in this way it is very different from all other cities in Israel. They wear heavy black coats all year round, even in +40C!"



The bigger stamp is from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2008 under the theme "Festivals 2008". This one here shows a Turkish Torah Crown. The smaller stamp is from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2003, representing National symbols, this one here being The Menorah (Candlestick).

Sousse, Tunisia

One more post about an African country, this time Tunisia.





I won't write much about Sousse here as I've already done so here. I couldn't resist posting more cards of the place, though, because I find it so fascinating. I could probably spend days on the alleys of the Medina, taking photos and just looking at all the gorgeous buildings and little details. Mmmmmm...!

Liubov of Russia who sent me these cards, wrote this on the back of one of the cards:

Tunisia was a French colony until 1956. French is a second official language. Most of the population are Arabs, 95% Muslims. Women in Tunisia have equal rights with men. Allowed divorce and polygamy is forbidden. Absolutely officially operate brothels under state control. In general Tunisia is poor but rather prosperous tourist country where everything is under total control of the state.

This is quite topical, then, seeing as most of the population of Tunisia are muslims and Ramadan is about to finish this year. It's such an interesting concept, I've been reading a bit more about it this year as there have been posts about it in one of my favourite blogs recently.

Morocco

A wonderful map card that came from a swap with Naomi who was visiting Morocco.



This is my first written and stamped postcard from Morocco as well. I have a few more now, thanks to Naomi, but this one is so lovely, I really do like map cards. It's so much fun to discover new places! It also reminds me a bit of the famous Finnish board game "Afrikan tähti" ("the star of Africa"). Tangiers is one of the starting places in the game so that name is particularly familiar to me.

It always confuses me how near Morocco is to Spain. It's so close, and yet so far away. Morocco really fascinates me and I'd love to visit the country one day. The architecture there seems gorgeous, as does the culture in general, and the cuisine is very tempting, mmmmmm... And I'd love to taste Moroccan mint tea. :)



I couldn't find any info on the stamp, but it looks like it's from a set of definitive stamps issued in 2008, depicting Moroccan tapestries.

Ghana

Another swap card, from the lovely Helen in the USA.



Helen told me she was supposed to go with her college friend to Ghana, but decided against it at the last minute as she's already used up so many vacation days. I wish I could say the same personally... *sigh* I'd really love to travel more and see a bit more of the world, but there's no way I could afford that. Postcards are a nice substitute, though (and books!).

I don't know anything about the place shown on this card, except that it's quite obviously an open air market. Looks really nice, too! A little bit about the country...:

The Republic of Ghana is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan Kingdoms, including the Akwamu on the eastern coast, the inland Ashanti Empire and various Fante and non-Akan states, like the Ga and Ewe, along the coast and inland. Trade with European states flourished after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874.

The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the first sub-Saharan African nation to do so and the name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa. Ghana is a member of the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union, and an associate Member of La Francophonie. Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world and is also home to Lake Volta, the largest artificial lake in the world by surface area.



This postcard was mailed from the USA, too. Here are two more stamps from the "Sunday Funnies" issue from earlier this year, and a definitive stamp "American Clock".

Ecuador

Postcards from Central and South America are pretty rare in my collection, and most of those are from Brazil. Here's something different: Ecuador.



This card was not actually mailed from Ecuador but from the USA instead, but it's still precious as I think this is only my second postcard of Ecuador.

I don't know much about Ecuador, and I'm not entirely sure of the exact name of the place on this card. It seems like it's from somewhere in the Imbabura Province, and in the background you can see the Andes Mountains. It might help if I knew some Spanish - there's some text on the back but I don't understand it. :( ("San Pablo Del Lago Con El Imbabura (4.660 mrs.)") The mountains look pretty amazing. Roxane, who sent me this card, said that they "have the feel of a much older magical time" and I'm inclined to agree.



So yeah, this card was mailed from the USA. The stamp on the right is from a set of 5 stamps issued earlier this year, depicting "Sunday Funnies". This one here is Calvin & Hobbes, a comic I really like and even used to cut out strips from a newspaper in Finland! The middle stamp was issued this year, too, and comes from a set of 4 stamps called "Cowboys of the Silver Screen", this one here showing Tom Mix. The small stamp is a definitive one.

I scanned a bit more of the back of the card here as I really like the little frog. :)

Montezuma, Costa Rica

I've got a bunch of postcards I want to post about here, and I actually have some different countries as well. Costa Rica is one of those places I don't receive postcards from too often. It looks like such a beautiful country, though. For a long time I used to associate the words "costa rica" with coffee as there used to be a brand of coffee with that name sold in Finland (I don't know if it still is). It's nice to learn something about the country for a change. :p



This postcard shows Montezuma, a town in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica which began as a remote fishing village and has gained popularity since the 1980s among tourists on a budget. The town features a mix of local residents as well as foreign backpackers and eco-tourists who come for the beaches, rivers, and scenic waterfalls that surround the village. The nearby Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve draws a large number of visitors to the area. Montezuma has well-known healing arts and yoga communities and is also home to the annual Costa Rica International Film Festival held every November.



The stamp on the card is pretty and huge! It's from a set of six stamps issued in 2009, commemorating the 60th Anniversary of ICE - Electricity and Telecom company.

Mdina, Malta

Another postcard from an island... This one is from Malta and came from a swap with Leena (a Finnish woman living on Malta!). I'm trying to collect this year's Europa stamps from as many countries as possible, and she offered to send me Malta's issues. In return I'll send her the Winnie the Pooh stamps when they are issued next month (I really can't wait to use them, they are SO cute!).



This is one of the two cards Leena sent me (the other one shows Valletta, but since I've already posted a card from there earlier here, I thought I'd choose this one instead). It's a street corner in the Old Town of Mdina, the old capital of Malta. Mdina is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the centre of the island. Mdina is commonly called the "Silent City" by natives and visitors. The town is still confined within its walls, and has a population of less than three hundred, but it is contiguous with the village of Rabat, which takes its name from the Arabic word for suburb, and has a population of over 11,000.



So yeah, here you can see that this was a stamps-related swap. The postage here is totally excessive - normally it costs 37 cents to send a postcard from Malta! ..which is the postage on the other card. There are two different stamps in Malta's contribution to this year's Europa stamps. If I understand correctly, this one shows the cover of a book called "Meta l-Milied ma giex" by Clare Azzopardi.

Mooragh Park, Ramsey, Isle of Man

This is the second card Wendy sent me.



This one is from Ramsey as well, showing Mooragh Park. Wendy tells me this park is a two minute walk from their home! I wish I had something this pretty near to my home... although I probably wouldn't want to live on the Isle of Man, it seems so small. My aikido instructor once told me that he's visited the Isle of Man and that he was bored to death there. Apparently there was nothing going on there...



Here is the stamp, another one from the set of ten stamps issued earlier this year, depicting Island Life.

Ramsey Harbour, Isle of Man

Isle of Man is so close to England, and yet for some reason postcards from there are quite a rarity, or at least I don't have many... I did receive an official from there a couple of years ago but until now that has been my only card from there. Now I have two more, thanks to a family friend who lives there. I saw Wendy in a party this summer and asked her if she wouldn't mind sending me a couople of postcards from there. I didn't think she would remember, but she did!



This is the Harbour in Ramsey, a town in the north of the Isle of Man. It is the second largest town on the island after Douglas. Its population is 7,309 according to the 2006 census. The harbour is one of the biggest on the island, and has a prominent derelict pier, called the Queen's Pier. It was formerly one of the main points of communication with Scotland.



The stamp is from a set of ten stamps issued earlier this year, depicting Island Life.

Blarney Castle & Rock Close Gardens, Ireland

Life is getting back to normal again, and on Friday I was back in my volunteering job (and had tons of work waiting for me there :P). I do still miss Finland, but hopefully next time I'll get to go there a bit sooner than in a year and a half.

I do have to confess, though, that it would be nice to have a holiday somewhere else occasionally. One of my dream destinations is Ireland, and it might actually come true one day as it's so close. Matt's sisters went there a few weeks ago, I'm jealous! Well, at least Rachel sent me a postcard. :)



From the back of the card:
Blarney Castle & Rock Close Gardens situated 7 km from Cork City is famous for its stone which has the traditional power of conferring eloquence on all who kiss it. The word 'Blarney' has found its way into the English language and has been described as pleasant talk, intended to ???? (there's a postmark that partly obscures the text) without offending. The famous stone is set in the wall below the battlements, and to kiss it, one has to lean backwards (grasping for an iron railing) from the parapet walk.

Back home!

I've been back home for a few days now. I had a fantastic holiday (apart from falling ill near to the end, and I still have an annoying cough :() and wouldn't have minded staying a bit longer. It was so good to see family and friends again, see familiar places, eat good food and just relax. I took tons of photos, too, have yet to upload a selection to my flickr.

I bought lots of postcards, too. The selection in Finland is AMAZING, no wonder postcrossing is so popular over there when it's so easy to get hold of nice postcards. The downside is, postcards are really expensive over there! One euro was a standard price, and apart from some discount buys at Kirjatori shops, the cheapest viewcards were around 50 cents. *shakes head*



I totally fell in love with this one postcard series I found in Helsinki. The cards are all panoramic I think, and show nice little details of Helsinki. They're a bit different from the usual touristic cards, which is probably why I like them so much.

The card above is from this series. On the left it shows the Helsinki market square (Kauppatori) at the end of Esplanadi, and on the right you can see a courtyard in Vallila (a suburb near the centre of Helsinki). I didn't go to Kauppatori this time, I much prefer the Hakaniemi market place. It feels more down to earth somehow and there are less tourists there. That, and the Hakaniemi Market Hall is amazing. Lots of cute little shops selling all kinds of goodies, including yummy foods and postcards. I even found a shop selling Nouvelles Images postcards there! The day before I left back to England I went to eat lunch there with mum and dad in this lovely little place called Soppakeittiö ('Soup Kitchen'). They only sell different soups, but it's all SO good, and the portions are very generous. I had a bowl of jerusalem artichoke and goats cheese soup, which was heavenly.

Hopefully next time I'll go back a bit sooner than in a year and a half... Me and Matt have been talking of going some time early next year/spring. We'll see...