Greetings from Kyrgyzstan

I'm starting to lose interest with this series a bit... the cards all seem so alike no and it seems like there's not much effort put into them, although that could just be me... although it does depress me that a lot of senders can't be bothered to write anything other than 'greetings from x country' on their card.

I don't even know what else to write about this card... apart from the fact that I bet there aren't 80 ACTIVE Postcrossing members in Kyrgyzstan, something that has always frustrated me about this series.

Greetings from Cyprus

I have picked some predominantly blue cards for today. ...to try and feel a bit cooler myself?? :P This postcard is from a swap with Sandra, she helped in designing this card as well which I think is pretty awesome.

The picture here shows the birthplace of Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus, which is named after the Roman goddess Venus, with whom Aphrodite was extensively syncretized. Aphrodite's major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans.

Greetings from Latvia

What does it say about this series that they aren't always even checked properly before going for printing, like here - one of the 'famous Latvians' is listed twice?! Unless I'm very much mistaken, a corrected issue was published later.. I've pretty much given up on trying to get the new issues as well because they all seem to be such hard-to-get countries and I'm not willing to pay ridiculous amounts for mint stamps/extra cards etc. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. ....and I should still be getting the new special edition Finland card as I managed to arrange a swap for it. :)

 This one is from a swap from two years ago.

I tried to find more information about this apparently very famous Arvīds Blūmentāls but Wikipedia doesn't have any information about them in English. ...and I'm too lazy to comment on anything else. :P

Greetings from Bulgaria

For some reason I thought I'd already posted about this card here. :o Nevermind... This is from a Facebook swap from last year. Another successful swap with Donka. :) Thank you so much!

This is one of the nicer cards in this series I think. I love the blue tones and the slightly darker colour - and the stormy-looking sky! :D I also love the fact that this card mentions Bulgarian yogurt. I really, really like it and tend to have at least some every time I go to Finland. For some reason I haven't been able to find it here in England (and Turkish yogurt seems impossible to find here as well for some reason, whereas it seems to be fairly popular in Finland). All you get here is Greek yogurt and while that's VERY nice as well, it's totally different. Bulgarian yogurt is a lot more sour I think (and yummy :)).

Greetings from Slovakia

Slovakia seems to be in the same category as South Africa in my postcard collection - I only have a few cards from there as well. This card is from an Instagram swap from last year.

Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. Slovakia's territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks. The capital and largest city is Bratislava. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.

The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries. In the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samo's Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which itself became part of the Habsburg Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Slovaks and Czechs established Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak Republic (1939–1945) existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reestablished under communist rule as a Soviet satellite. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

Slovakia is a high-income advanced economy. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009. Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD and the WTO.

Greetings from Singapore

Today's Greetings from... postcard comes from Singapore. I'm not sure how I feel about this one, the blue and the gray seem a little cold to me...

The background picture here is the Art-Science Museum at Marina Bay area, a bay located in the Central Area of Singapore surrounded by the perimeter of four other planning areas, the Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South and Straits View. The area surrounding the bay itself, also called Marina Bay, is a 360 hectare extension to the adjacent Central Business District.

I've got to admit, Singapore kind of fascinates me, I'd love to visit the country one day. I mean, I can't help wondering how it would be like to live in a country that basically comprises of one city?!

Greetings from New Zealand

Just one more card for today, a 'greetings from' one from New Zealand.

Mentioning the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was probably a very obvious choice here?? I do love the trilogy, they are some of my all-time favourite movies and I still remember when they came out and the anticipation for the next film... and then the extended edition dvd boxes and all the extras on those and watching them with friends. It almost got to the point where the extras were my favourite part :D Most dvds/blue rays still don't come anywhere close. Ahhh, good times! I'm getting nostalgic here... :p

 I do wonder why the kiwi fruit isn't mentioned here.. but at least the sheep are included! ;)

Greetings from Malaysia

Now, I honestly thought I'd already posted about this card in this blog. Turns out I haven't... hhmmmm. I ended up receiving two copies of this card, too, and I'll include the stamps of both of them here as they are both really nice, and one of them has really nice decorations on the back as well. I kind of wish I had that much inspiration when writing my cards!

Matthew points out that Malaysia is the only country that has land on both mainland Asia and Malay archipelago. It does make for a pretty interesting map!

 I also love the bit about multiracial society here. I was talking to my parents in Finland yesterday and some of the things we discussed made me pretty sad. I'd already read some of it in the news and just can't believe some people would be so horrible. Some Finns (and other nationals) could learn a thing or a few from Malaysia!

The stamps on the first card (from Matthew)...

...and the back of the second card. Isn't this lovely?!

Greetings from Croatia

Today's 'Greetings from' card comes from Croatia. I really like this one, the shades of blue are gorgeous, and I love the colour contrasts here. Also, is that Dubrovnik in the picture?! I only just realised I haven't written about Dubrovnik in this blog before... How did that happen?! I have plenty of postcards from there so will have to fix that.

Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea, in the region of Dalmatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its total population is 42,615 (census 2011). In 1979, the city of Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The prosperity of the city was historically based on maritime trade; as the capital of the maritime Republic of Ragusa, it achieved a high level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries, as it became notable for its wealth and skilled diplomacy.

 The beginning of modern tourism is associated with the construction of the Hotel Imperial in Dubrovnik in 1897. According to CNNGo, Dubrovnik is among the 10 best preserved medieval walled cities in the world. Although it was demilitarised in the 1970s to protect it from war, in 1991, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was besieged by the Serb and Montenegrin soldiers gathered in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) for seven months and suffered significant damage from shelling.

Greetings from Pakistan

I somehow ended up with two of these... ooops. Oh, and if the post I saw on Instagram this morning is true, I'm finally having to give up collecting this series. Well, I'll try to get them if I can but I won't be able to be too desperate anymore - apparently the next batch will include Albania, Ghana, North Korea and Oman! What the....?! I wonder if the designer has finally realised how ridiculous this has become? :P There aren't even any Postcrossers in North Korea (well, according to the stats there is one who last logged in over 5 years ago and has sent a grand total of 1 postcard, possibly from South Korea) and the only people who have been sending anything out from there have been foreigners. Maybe the batch after that one will include Antarctica, South Sudan and Somalia?? :P

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 199 million people. It is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area with an area covering 881,913 km2. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.

The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was previously home to several ancient cultures, including the Mehrgarh of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus, Indo-Greeks, Muslims, Turco-Mongols, Afghans and Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Alexander of Macedonia, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the subcontinent's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of the Subcontinent where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.

Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of four provinces and four federal territories. It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similar variation in its geography and wildlife. A regional and middle power, Pakistan has the seventh largest standing armed forces in the world and is also a nuclear power as well as a declared nuclear-weapons state, being the only nation in the Muslim world, and the second in South Asia, to have that status. It has a semi-industrialised economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector, its economy is the 26th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and 45th largest in terms of nominal GDP and is also characterized among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world.

The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, political instability and conflicts with neighbouring India. The country continues to face challenging problems, including overpopulation, terrorism, poverty, illiteracy, and corruption. Despite these factors it maintains strategic endowments and development potential while it has made substantial progress in reducing poverty giving it the second lowest headcount poverty rate in South Asia. It is ranked 16th on the 2012 Happy Planet Index, while its stock exchange has been among the highest performing in Asia.

The stamps on the first card...

....and the second.

Greetings from Belarus

Today's 'Greetings from' card comes from Belarus. It's interesting, when I first joined Postcrossing, Belarus was a fairly "rare" country. You certainly can't say that anymore!

Haha, Belarus sounds a bit like Finland in that both countries have a lot of lakes and forests. :D I must admit, my knowledge of Belarus is still pretty limited and I'm not sure how accurate the picture I've got from reading newspapers/online articles is... Not sure what to say about this card... The colours make me feel really cold! :p

Greetings from Serbia

A swap card from last year. I thought it was going to be really difficult to get this one, but I think I got lucky.. :)

This is quite possibly one of my favourites in the 'greetings from' series. I like the darker colours here - I've probably said it a few times before but I'm not much into the pastel colours that are used in so many of these cards. I prefer something a little more realistic. :P That, and the view here is pretty amazing.

If anyone reading this knows why Serbia is such a massive producer of raspberries, please enlighten me, I'd love to know! I'm genuinely puzzled by this fact. Mmmmmm, raspberries.. I do love them!

It would be great to see the owl capital Kikinda one day, too. :)

Greetings from Turkey

I just checked, and I've only ever posted about a handful of postcards I've received from Turkey in this blog. How did that happen?! :o Well, here's one, received last year.

Turkey is a parliamentary republic in Eurasia, largely located in Western Asia, with the smaller portion of Eastern Thrace in Southeast Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Syria and Iraq to the south; Iran, Armenia, and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; Georgia to the northeast; Bulgaria to the northwest; and Greece to the west. The Black Sea is to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance.

Turkey has been inhabited since the paleolithic age, including various ancient Anatolian civilizations, Aeolian, Dorian and Ionian Greeks, Thracians, Armenians, and Assyrians. After Alexander the Great's conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process which continued under the Roman Empire and its transition into the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area in the 11th century, starting the process of Turkification, which was greatly accelerated by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, upon which it disintegrated into several small Turkish beyliks.

Starting from the late 13th century, the Ottomans united Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, becoming a major power in Eurasia and Africa during the early modern period. The empire reached the peak of its power between the 15th and 17th centuries, especially during the 1520–66 reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. After the second Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683 and the end of the Great Turkish War in 1699, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of decline. The Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century, which aimed to modernize the Ottoman state, proved to be inadequate in most fields, and failed to stop the dissolution of the empire. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I (1914–18) on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated. During the war, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against its Armenian, Assyrian and Pontic Greek citizens. Following the war, the huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Turkish War of Independence (1919–22), initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues in Anatolia, resulted in the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923, with Atatürk as its first president.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The country's official language is Turkish, a Turkic language spoken natively by approximately 85 percent of the population. According to the World Factbook, 70–75 percent of the population are ethnic Turks, while the Kurds are the largest minority at 18%. The vast majority of the population is Sunni Muslim, with Alevis making up the largest religious minority. Turkey is a member of the UN, NATO, OECD, OSCE, OIC and the G-20. After becoming one of the first members of the Council of Europe in 1949, Turkey became an associate member of the EEC in 1963, joined the EU Customs Union in 1995 and started full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005. Turkey's growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power.

Greetings from Barbados

It's weird, I was expecting this postcard to be a lot more difficult to get sent from Barbados than it turned out to be. :o I seem to remember everyone being really confused about this card even getting printed - why choose such a rare country with hardly any Postcrossers?? It seems to be happening a lot more with the more recent issues, too... Most of the upcoming ones seem really hard/pretty much impossible to get hold of. ...although I suppose it's bound to happen as you run out of more "common" countries. :P

I'm not really sure what to say about this card... I do like the sunset (or is that a sunrise??) and the calm atmosphere.

On a random note, I would love to explore Caribbean cuisine a bit more. There are a lot of Jamaican restaurants over here but I'm not so sure of the other countries in the Caribbean... I used to read the Vegan In The Sun blog as I found it really inspiring, but then it didn't get updated for months on end. I just looked it up again and found out that it has moved here - I'll have to have a proper look soon!

Greetings from India

I was expecting it to be really difficult to get this card sent from India, but somehow I ended up with three copies... hhmmm?!

I must say, India's post office network is pretty impressive. I do think it's alright in England as well, at least where I live. I hope the UK won't be going down the way Finland is anytime soon, with only a handful of "proper" post offices left in the whole country! That doesn't sound very nice.

Greetings from Chile

I was expecting it to be really difficult to get this card sent from Chile, but I had sent Daniela GF UK a little earlier so she was kind enough to help me with this. ^_^ Thank you so much!

I find Chile a really interesting country as it has such varied geography.

The arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.

Greetings from Denmark

This is one of my favourite 'Greetings from' postcards so far. It's got a lighthouse and a flag on it! :) I also like the fact that it's not too sugary-sweet pastel coloured, I think those can be a little bland.

This card seems so cheerful to me, and I like the bit about 'happy place', I had no idea of Denmark being that happy!

...and Mads Mikkelsen is mentioned on the card! I've been watching the new TV series 'Hannibal' and rather enjoy it, I think it's very cleverly done and visually stunning. Mads Mikkelsen is brilliant as Hannibal Lecter as well, a lot less over the top than Anthony Hopkins, which I like.

Also, legos! I used to have a lot of them when I was a kid and loved playing with them. I'm not too impressed with some of the more modern lego sets you can buy, they seem too ready-made and seem like they don't really leave much room for imagination as you don't really have to build stuff yourself using bricks. :P Ahhhh, and this postcard came with a matching stamp!

Greetings from Russia

I somehow ended up with three of these! :O I'm quite surprised as well that it took as long as it took for this card to be made, seeing as Russia is the biggest (?) Postcrossing country at the moment, and has been for a while.

I've got a bit of a soft spot for Matryoshka dolls, I think they are really nice. I remember having one when I was a child, I wonder what's happened to it? I would love a new one but the ones I've seen in shops here have been pretty expensive and I just haven't had the spare cash. It's getting easier to find matryoshka-themed things, though, which I don't mind at all. :)

The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. With a length of 9,289 km, it is the longest railway line in the world. There are connecting branch lines into Mongolia, China and North Korea. It has connected Moscow with Vladivostok since 1916, and is still being expanded. It was built from 1891 to 1916 under the supervision of Russian government ministers who were personally appointed by Tsar Alexander III and by his son, Tsar Nicholas II. Even before it had been completed, it attracted travellers who wrote of their adventures.

Greetings from Philippines

I know I've said this before but now I really think I'll have to give up on trying to get all the 'Greetings from' postcard from Postallove sent from their respective countries of origin. It's just getting far too difficult. The next batch will include Peru, South Africa, Iceland, Slovakia, Romania and New Zealand. New Zealand seems to be the only country out of those six that I will have any chances of getting. I'm a little annoyed but then, they *are* just postcards after all, aren't they?! :P

Manila is the capital city of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities which, along with the municipality of Pateros, make up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region, that has an overall population of around 12 million.

Mount Apo is a large solfataric, potentially active stratovolcano in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. With an elevation of 2,954 metres above sea level, it is the highest mountain in the Philippine Archipelago and is located between Davao City and Davao del Sur province in Region XI and Cotabato province in Region XII. The peak overlooks Davao City 45 kilometres to the northeast, Digos City 25 kilometres to the southeast, and Kidapawan City 20 kilometres to the west.

Greetings from Indonesia

I somehow ended up with two 'Greetings from' Indonesia cards. Ooops. I don't really mind, though, as they are both lovely - beautiful stamps and gorgeous decorations on the back. ^_^

I had to look up the symbol in the middle as I seem to remember there was initially a picture of a coconut tree there but it was changed. This is what I found, and I think it's pretty cool:  

Bhinneka Tunggal Ika is the official national motto of Indonesia. The phrase is Old Javanese translated as "Unity in Diversity". It is inscribed in the Indonesian national symbol, Garuda Pancasila (written on the scroll gripped by the Garuda's claws), and is mentioned specifically in article 36A of the Constitution of Indonesia. The Garuda is a mythical bird and the mount of Lord Vishnu.

 It is a quotation from an Old Javanese poem Kakawin Sutasoma, written by Mpu Tantular during the reign of the Majapahit empire sometime in the 14th century, under the reign of King Rājasanagara, also known as Hayam Wuruk. Kakawin contains epic poems written in metres.

This poem is notable as it promotes tolerance between Hindus (especially Shivaites) and Buddhists.

...and the stamps on the second card: