#1649 Estonia - Russia - Austria - Azerbaijan - Croatia - Turkey

Jõgeva County (Estonian: Jõgeva maakond), or Jõgevamaa, is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in eastern part of the country and borders Ida-Viru County to the north-east, Lake Peipus to the east, Tartu County to the south, Viljandi County to the south-west, Järva County to the north-west and Lääne-Viru County to the north.

Wikipedia.org

Thank you all !

Sent on: April 7, 2018

Received on: August 21, 2018

#1550 Estonia-Russia-Azerbaijan-Turkey-Switzerland

Thank you !

Received on: March 9, 2018

#1081 Lviv, Ukraine

Date of Issue: May 29, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van

Date of Issue: April 15, 2016 | Europa CEPT 2016 'Think Green'

Thank you, Roman !

Received on: May 13, 2016

#900 Seville, Spain

 The Friary of La Rábida is a Franciscan friary in the southern Spanish town of Palos de la Frontera, in the province of Huelva and the autonomous region of Andalucia. The friary is located 13 km (8 mi) south of the city of Huelva, where the Tinto and Odiel rivers meet.

The Friary of La Rábida has been Franciscan property since the thirteenth century. It was founded in 1261; the evidence is a papal bull issued by Pope Benedict XIII in that year, allowing Friar Juan Rodríguez and his companions to establish a community on the coast of Andalucia. The first Christian building on the site was constructed over a small pre-existing Almohad building that lends its name (rábida or rápita, meaning "watchtower" in Arabic) to the present monastery. The Franciscans have held great influence in the region ever since.

The buildings standing on the site today were erected in stages in the late fourteenth century and the early fifteenth century. The friary, and the church associated with it, display elements of Gothic and Moorish revival architecture; their walls are decorated with frescos by the twentieth-century Spanish artist, Daniel Vázquez Diaz (1882-1969). There is also a cloister and a museum, where numerous relics of the discovery of America are displayed.

The buildings on the site have nearly 20,000 sq ft (1,858 m²) of floor space and an irregular floor plan. Throughout its five hundred years of existence, the monastery has been refurbished and repaired countless times, but the most extensive modifications were undertaken as a result of damage from the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

Christopher Columbus stayed at the friary two years before his famous first voyage, after learning that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had rejected his request for outfitting an expedition in search of the Indies. With the intervention of the guardian of La Rábida and the confessor to Isabella, Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, he was able to have his proposal heard.

Wikipedia.org 

Date of Issue: April 23, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

Thank you, Jesus !

Sent on: May 25, 2015

Received on: June 1, 2015

#814 Tbilisi, Georgia

Svaneti or Svanetia (Suania in ancient sources) (Georgian: სვანეთი Svaneti) is a historic province in Georgia, in the northwestern part of the country. It is inhabited by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.

Wikipedia.org 

Preserved by its long-lasting geographical isolation, the mountain landscape of the Upper Svaneti region is an exceptional example of mountain scenery with medieval villages and tower houses.

The property occupies the upper reaches of the lnguri River Basin between the Caucasus and Svaneti ranges. It consists of several small villages forming a community that are dominated by the towers and situated on the mountain slopes, with a natural environment of gorges and alpine valleys and a backdrop of snow-covered mountains. The most notable feature of the settlements is the abundance of towers.

The village of Chazhashi in Ushguli community, situated at the confluence of the lnguri and Black Rivers, has preserved more than 200 medieval tower houses, churches and castles. The land use and settlement structure reveal the continued dwelling and building traditions of local Svan people living in harmony with the surrounding natural environment. The origins of Svaneti tower houses go back to prehistory. Its features reflect the traditional economic mode and social organization of Svan communities. These towers usually have three to five floors, and the thickness of the walls decreases, giving the towers a slender, tapering profile. The houses themselves are usually two-storeyed; the ground floor is a single hall with an open hearth and accommodation for both people and domestic animals, the latter being separated by a wooden partition, which is often lavishly decorated. A corridor annex helped the thermal insulation of the building. The upper floor was used by the human occupants during summer, and also served as a store for fodder and tools. A door at this level provided access to the tower, which was also connected with the corridor that protected the entrance. The houses were used both as dwellings and as defence posts against the invaders who plagued the region.

The property is also notable for the monumental and minor arts. The mural paintings are outstanding examples of Renaissance painting in Georgia.

Property No #709

Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 1996

Date of Issue: December 22, 2014 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

Aitäh, Meelis !

Sent on: February 16, 2015

Received on: February 23, 2015

#645 Czech Republic

Prague Castle (Czech: Pražský hrad) is the official residence and office of the President of the Czech Republic. Located in the Hradčany district of Prague and dating back to the ninth century, the castle has been a seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors, and presidents of Czechoslovakia. The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept within a hidden room inside it.

The Guinness Book of Records lists Prague Castle as the largest ancient castle in the world. It occupies an area of almost 70,000 m², at about 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide.

Wikipedia.org

Prague Castle is part of UNESCO WHS as a part of Historic Centre of Prague.

Property No #616

Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 1992

Date of Issue: May 2, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

Thank you, Trung Nguyen Thanh !

Sent on: May 30, 2014

Received on: June 5, 2014

#642 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands

Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital. The province has approximately 394,758 inhabitants (2011) and consists of 6 municipalities.

After a flood in 1916, it was decided that the Zuiderzee, an inland sea within the Netherlands, would be enclosed and reclaimed: the Zuiderzee Works started. Other sources indicate other times and reasons, but also agree that in 1932, the Afsluitdijk was completed, which closed off the sea completely. The Zuiderzee was subsequently called IJsselmeer (lake at the end of the river IJssel).

The first part of the new lake that was reclaimed was the Noordoostpolder (Northeast polder). This new land included the former islands of Urk and Schokland and it was included in the province of Overijssel. After this, other parts were reclaimed: the Southeastern part in 1957 and the Southwestern part in 1968. There was an important change in these post-war projects from the earlier Noordoostpolder reclamation: a narrow body of water was preserved along the old coast to stabilise the water table and to prevent coastal towns from losing their access to the sea. Thus Flevopolder became an artificial island joined to the mainland by bridges. The municipalities on the three parts voted to become a separate province, which happened in 1986.

Flevoland was named after Lacus Flevo, a name recorded in Roman sources for a large inland lake at the southern end of the later-formed Zuiderzee. Draining the Flevoland polders revealed many wrecks of aircraft that had crashed into the IJsselmeer during World War II, and also fossils of Pleistocene mammals.

In February 2011, Flevoland, together with the provinces of Utrecht and North Holland, showed a desire to investigate the feasibility of a merger between the three provinces. This has been positively received by the Dutch cabinet, for the desire to create one Randstad province has already been mentioned in the coalition agreement. The province of South Holland, part of the Randstad urban area, visioned to be part of the Randstad province, and very much supportive of the idea of a merger into one province, is not named. With or without South Holland, if created, the new province would be the largest in the Netherlands in both area and population.

Wikipedia.org

Date of Issue: April 22, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

Thank you, Jan !

Sent on: May 30, 2014

Received on: June 5, 2014

#630 Hungary

The Budapest Metro (Hungarian: Budapesti metró) is the rapid transit system in the Hungarian capital Budapest. It is the oldest electrified underground railway system on the European continent, and the second-oldest in the world, predated only by the 1890 City & South London Railway (now part of the London Underground). Its iconic Line 1, completed in 1896, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2002.

The Metro consists of four lines, each designated by a number and a color.

Line 1 runs northeast from the Pest city center to City Park along Andrássy Avenue.

Line 2 runs generally east to west from the transit hub Örs vezér tere on the city's east side, and provides a connection between Keleti railway terminal and Déli railway terminal through the city center.

Line 3 runs northwest from the transit hub Kőbánya-Kispest in the city's southeast, along Üllői út to the city center, and then north to the district of Újpest.

Line 4 runs southwest to northeast from the transit hub of Budapest Kelenföld railway station in the city's most populous district of Újbuda across the inner city district of Józsefváros to Keleti railway terminal.

Lnes 1–3 converge at Deák Ferenc tér in the city centre, which was long the system's only transfer station. This bottleneck has been remedied by the opening of Line 4, which crosses Line 2 and Line 3 at different stations.

The Metro forms a separate system from the Budapest HÉV commuter rail, though Line 2 of the Metro provides transfers to the termini of two of the four HÉV lines. Integration of the incompatible HÉV system into the Metro is a long-term goal, and forms the basis of the proposed Line 5.Except for short stretches near the depots of each line, the system is mostly underground.

Wikipedia.org

The Metro 1 (Officially: Millennium Underground Railway or M1) is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro system.

M1, the oldest of the metro lines operating in Budapest, has been in constant operation since 1896.

The original purpose of the first metro line was to facilitate transport to the Budapest City Park along the elegant Andrássy Avenue without building surface transport affecting the streetscape. The National Assembly accepted the metro plan in 1870 and German firm Siemens & Halske AG was commissioned for the construction, starting in 1894. It took 2000 workers using up-to-date machinery less than two years to complete. This section was built entirely from the surface (with the cut-and-cover method). Completed by the deadline, it was inaugurated on May 2, 1896, the year of the millennium (the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of the Magyars), by emperor Franz Joseph. One of these original cars is preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States.

The line ran underneath Andrássy Avenue, from Vörösmarty Square (the centre) to City Park, in a northeast-southwest direction. The original terminus was the Zoo (with extension to Mexikói út in 1973). It had eleven stations, nine underground and two (Állatkert and Artézi fürdő) overground. The length of the line was 3.7 km at that time; trains ran every two minutes. It was able to carry as many as 35,000 people a day (today 103,000 people travel on it on a workday).

Wikipedia.org

The Metro 1 is listed as UNESCO WHS as part of Tokaji Wine Region Cultural Landscape.

Property No #1063

Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 2002

Date of Issue: May 3, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

The miniature sheet of the Magyar Posta (Hungary) contains two different stamps featuring an old and a new postman van of Magyar Posta.

Posteurop.org

Thank you, Mihnea !

Sent on: May 27, 2014

Received on: June 2, 2014

#628 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands

Houten is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht.

The main town in the municipality is Houten, a commuter town about 9 km southeast of Utrecht. In 2012, on the 1st of January, the town had 48,314 (CBS) inhabitants. The built-up area was 5.08 km² (1.96 sq mi) in area, and contained 18,451 residences. The slightly larger statistical district of Houten had a population of about 39,100 in 2004.

Remains of a Roman villa have been found in the old centre of Houten, made visible in a street pattern. There used to be a Roman villa on that spot. This building was discovered in the fifties. In the Dark Ages Houten took shape as a rural centre. The area of the municipality of Houten was divided in the so-called 'gerechten' (districts). The names of these districts are still in use: Schonauwen, Wulven, Waijen, Heemstede.

A lot of elements in present-day Houten are reminders of its history. Prominent in the old centre 'Het Oude Dorp' are the Roman Catholic Church (1884) and the Protestant Church (1563). The first accounts of this church date from the ninth century, the oldest parts of the church are probably from the eleventh century. Another prominent building is the restaurant/cafe 'De Engel', already mentioned in the 16th century as a tavern.

Former access roads to the old centre are still recognisable by their names, such as the 'Odijkseweg' and 'Loerikseweg'. Houten had many orchards, but few have survived.

Modern Houten started to take shape in the last decades of the 20th century (1966–1998). It was first designated by the office of Wissing-Derks as a 'Groeikern' - a centre of growth - to meet the needs of the growing city of Utrecht. From the beginning urban planner-designer Robert Derks was involved with the development of the New Town Houten. In 1979 the construction of 10,000 dwellings started and the population grew from 4,000 to more than 30,000 late in the nineties.

Until 2015, some 7,000 new houses are being built in Houten-Zuid, following the same urban design principles as the existing Northern part of Houten, but with some differences. The body of water to the east is large in comparison with water bodies in the old parts of Houten. The pentagonal green zone in Houten-Zuid embracing the centre is different from the greenzone in Houten-Noord, which runs through the whole city in a linear structure, crossing the new city centre and with larger parks at either end. Another difference is that in some places cars share the road with bicycle paths (this concept was later applied in the northern part as well). The southern part was also designed by Robert Derks and his office for urban design Stedebouw BV.

Wikipedia.org

Date of Issue: April 22, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

2 stamps showing the different vans the postal service of the Netherlands used over the last 100 years. Every stamp shows 4 different vans.
Posteurop.org

Thank you, Jan !

Sent on: May 30, 2014

Received on: June 2, 2014

#612 Vilnius, Lithuania

St. Anne's Church (Lithuanian: Šv. Onos bažnyčia) is a Roman Catholic church in Vilnius' Old Town, on the right bank of the Vilnia River. It is a prominent example of both Flamboyant Gothic and Brick Gothic styles. St. Anne's is a prominent landmark in the Old Town of Vilnius that enabled the district to be included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The first church at this site, constructed of wood, was built for Anna, Grand Duchess of Lithuania, the first wife of Vytautas the Great. Originally intended for the use of Catholic Germans and other visiting Catholics, it was destroyed by a fire in 1419. The present brick church was constructed on the initiative of Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander in 1495–1500; the exterior of the church has remained almost unchanged since then. A reconstruction of the church, funded by Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł and Jerzy Radziwiłł, was carried out following severe fire damage, in 1582. Abraomas Kulvietis preached in the church between 1538 and 1541. In 1747, the church underwent a repair under supervision of Johann Christoph Glaubitz. In 1762, side arches of the main portal were hidden in order to strengthen the support for the facade.

According to a well-known legend, Emperor Napoleon, after seeing the church during the Franco-Russian War in 1812, expressed a wish to carry the church home with him to Paris 'in the palm of his hand'. The church was renovated in 1902–1909 when the side arches were uncovered and the walls were strengthened with iron and again in 1960–1970 when the towers in bad shape were restored. On August 23, 1987 the Lithuanian Freedom League held a rally in a square near the church and the monument of Adam Mickiewicz to protest the ongoing Soviet occupation, which was broken up by the militia. Most recent reconstruction followed in 2009: the roofing was replaced, facade elements were reinforced and long-missing side spires were rebuilt.

Wikipedia.org

Date of Issue: April 27, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

Thank you, Ilona !

Her blog: http://ilona-stampsoftraditionalfolkcostumes.blogspot.com/

Sent on: May 26, 2014

Received on: May 28, 2014

#606 Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Vitebsk or Vitsebsk (Belarusian: Ві́цебск, Łacinka: Viciebsk; Russian: Ви́тебск; Polish: Witebsk, Yiddis: וויטעבסק), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city. It is served by Vitebsk Vostochny Airport and Vitebsk air base.

During the First Partition of Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth in 1772, Vitsebsk was annexed by the Russian Empire.

Under Imperial Russia the historic centre of Vitebsk was rebuilt with Neoclassical architecture.

In 1919, Vitebsk was proclaimed to be part of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia, but was soon transferred to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later to the short-lived Litbel. In 1924, it was returned to Belarus.

Wikipedia.org

Date of Issue: April 26, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

Thank you, Anna !

Sent on: May 15, 2014

Received on: May 26, 2014

#591 Mérida, Spain

Badajoz (Formerly written Badajos in English; Extremaduran: Baajós) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The population in 2011 was 151,565.

Conquered by the Moors in the 7th century, Badajoz became a Moorish kingdom, the Taifa of Badajoz. After the reconquista, the area was disputed between Spain and Portugal for several centuries with alternating control resulting in several wars including the Spanish War of Succession (1705), the Peninsular War (1808–1811), the Storming of Badajoz (1812), and the Spanish Civil War (1936). Spanish history is largely reflected in the town.

Badajoz is the see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz. Prior to the merger of the Diocese of Mérida and the Diocese of Badajoz, Badajoz was the see of the Diocese of Badajoz from the bishopric's inception in 1255. The city has a degree of eminence, crowned as it is by the ruins of a Moorish castle and overlooking the Guadiana river, which flows between the castle-hill and the powerfully armed fort of San Cristobal. The architecture of Badajoz is indicative of its tempestuous history; even the Badajoz Cathedral, built in 1238, resembles a fortress, with its massive walls. Badajoz is home to the CD Badajoz 1905 and Cerro Reyes football clubs and the AB Pacense basketball club. It is served by Badajoz Railway Station and Badajoz Airport.

Wikipedia.org

Date of Issue: April 23, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

The stamp depicts an electric van by Spanish company Comarth, with 300 kilograms of cargo, maximum speed of 50 kilometres and a range of up to 100 kilometres.
Posteurop.org

Thank you, Luis !

Sent on: May 15, 2014

Received on: May 20, 2014

#581 Oslo, Norway

This postcard shows stamps issued in Norway in 2013.

Date of Issue: June 10, 2013 | Europa CEPT 2013 'The Postman Van'

NOK 13,00: 
Harley Davidson, 1932 mod. 
In Oslo several of these motorcycles were used from 1926 an some years onwards to collect mail from letter boxes.

NOK 15,00:
Ford El-Connect. 
Electric cars have been used by Norway Post since 1994. Today Norway Post has around 650 electric vehicles in use.
Posteurop.org

Thank you, Tonni !

Sent on: May 13, 2014

Received on: May 15, 2014

#482 Portugal

Porto (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpoɾtu]) is the second-largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon, and one of the major urban areas in Southern Europe and the capital of the second major great urban area in Portugal. Its administrative limits (an area of 41.66 km²/16 sq.mi) include a population of 237,584 (2011) inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes. The urban area of Porto, which extends beyond the administrative limits of the city, has a population of 1.3 million (2011) in an area of 389 km² (150 sq mi), making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. The Porto Metropolitan Area includes an estimated 2 million people. It is recognized as a Gamma- level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group, being one of five cities on the Iberian Peninsula with global city status, (the others being Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and Valencia).

Located along the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its Latin name, Portus Cale, has been referred to as the origin for the name "Portugal", based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin. In Portuguese the name of the city is spelled with a definite article as "o Porto" (English: the port). Consequently, its English name evolved from a misinterpretation of the oral pronunciation and referred to as "Oporto" in modern literature and by many speakers.

Wikipedia.org

Property No #755

Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 1996

Date of Issue: May 9, 2013 | Europa 2013 "The Postman Van"

The mail delivery in the Azores is ensured by a 125cc motorbike, that best suits the characteristics of each Island.
Posteurop.org

Thank you, Sara !

Sent on: January 23, 2014

Received on: February 3, 2014