Geography - from Germany to Guyana

I have more cards Germany than from any other country except possibly France, but the French cards have mainly been purchased while the German cards have been exchanged via Postcrossing. Above you can see just a few beautiful German castles.

Below, at the other end of the scale, are cards from countries where I have less than a handful: Gambia, Ghana and Guyana. In fact the map of Guyana is the only one I have from that country and also the only one resulting from an exchange.

N is for Nürnberg or Nuremberg

It's hard to write anything about Nuremberg without starting on a lengthy essay, if not a dissertation. I'll be brief.

It's a beautiful and very old city, towards the south east of Germany, dating back to 1050, or even earlier.  That is, at least, the date of the first documented mention of the city.  It was considered for a time to be the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, partly because of the general assemblies and courts held in the castle which you can see on the horizon in the picture.

The postcard shows signs of damage from the post office sorting machines.  This type of damage leads a lot of people to collect only unused postcards but for myself, I prefer them to show signs of their travels, within reason of course. I also like to have the postmark on the back, for dating purposes if nothing else.

C is for Czech Republic

From one extreme showing a beautiful medieval (yes, again) castle in the Czech Republic...

The back of the card says the following which I have tried to translate using the Google translator:

The former guardian of the western borders of the kingdom, the powerful and ancient castle Loket has opened its doors to visitors during the winter. In addition, snow can conjure up a becoming hat, along with the charming town beneath the castle.

..to the other of an industrial complex

From the back of the card:

The old steel works. The idea of establishing an ironworks using untapped black coal deposits dates back to 1767. The works originally had been intended as mere departments of the Frýdlant foundry, but before starting construction in 1829 this plan was abandoned and Vitkovice emerged as an independent enterprise

The town of Ostava is the most industrialised of the Czech Republic although it was originally an agricultural village.  Mining stopped in 1994 and part of the ironworks closed in 1998.  There is now a Mining Museum there, the largest of its kind in the world.  The old steel mill is part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

It may seem odd to you, it seems odd to me too, that I collect postcards showing beautiful medieval buildings as well as industrial heritage.  I'm not at all sure why I find it so fascinating but maybe Mrs. Brown, my history teacher, drummed the details of the Industrial Revolution into me better than I realised at the time.

Neuschwanstein Castle - winter

Neuschwantstein Castle must be one of the most unmistakeable and most photographed castles in the world. they must do a roaring trade in postcards because it doesn't look like anyone could take a casual snapshot very easily.  The airways around it must be buzzing with helicopters.

Although the castle is of course in Germany, the card came from Russia and was published in Russia.  I like this dramatic winter view.  Six years ago (so long!!) I posted another card showing it with autumn colours on the trees.

Hradec nad Moravici - White Castle

I haven't received many shaped cards but here is a recent one from the Czech Republic.  I'm always slightly surprised that they get through the postal systems without being damaged.

The card shows the White Castle of Hradec nad Moravicí, in the Moravian Silesian region (Moravskoslezský kraj) which is in the north east of the Czech Republic. The coats of arms belong to the towns of the area, with the larger one at the top for the region itself and the bottom one is for the town of Hradec nad Moravicí.

Schloss Augustusburg

Schloss Augustusburg, "Crown of the Ore Mountains", is built on the peak of a long extinct volcano in Saxony, Germany.  It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site at Brühl along with the Castle of Falkenlust.  Between them, they are early examples of royal residences of the 18th century.

It overlooks the river Zschopau on which there are 7 other castles within about 130 km (about 80 miles). The Ore Mountains (Das Erzgebirge) are a mountain range that for centuries marked the border between Saxony and Bohemia and now between Germany and the Czech Republic.

A castle, of sorts

I have on my Postcrossing wishlist that I'd be happy to receive postcards with medieval castles.  Someone with a great sense of humour sent me this one from Las Vegas.  The Excalibur was opened in 1990, which in Las Vegas terms makes it an old hotel.  On the reverse it states: "a luxury hotel and casino disguised as a medieval castle".

Trakai (or sometimes Little Marienburg)

I'm going to be away for almost all of this week, so I thought I'd leave you some reflections.

Two postcards of the Trakai Island castle in Lithuania, both with wonderful reflections in Lake Galve.  I also have a postcard showing the inner yard of the castle.


"You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair. "
~ Proverb

Deal Castle through the years

Deal Castle, as I've mentioned before, was built in 1539/40 by Henry VIII as part of a chain of castles along the south coast.  When it was built it didn't have the crenellation/castellations along the battlements.  Those were a later addition in the 18th century.  At the same time they added a captain's house which you can see on the right in the lower postcard, which dates from 1911.  The house was demolished but rebuilt in 1802.

Bombing during World War II destroyed the house and fortuitously restored the castle to its original form.

The cards above are still in publication.


A post for Sepia Saturday.  A click on the button will take you to the Sepia Saturday blog where you can find links to all the other people taking part.

The Vatican and Rome

It seems an appropriate time to show a postcard of Rome in Italy when all eyes of the Catholic church, and many others too, are turned in the direction of the Vatican waiting for the news of a new Pope.

The card is an aerial view of the city of Rome with St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican in the background on the left, and Castel Sant' Angelo of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" fame (amongst other things :) ).

I have other cards of the same views:  the river Tiber and St Peters and Castel Sant'Angelo

Heidelberg Castle and its Krautturm

The publishers of this card provide descriptions in German, English and French.

The German states: "Schloß mit Krautturm, gesprengt 1693".
The English version: "Castle with Cabbage Tower, exploded in 1693".

In fact a "Krautturm" has nothing to do with cabbage at all and means a gunpowder tower, and also known as "Pulverturm" the powder (again as in gunpowder) tower, or "Gesprengter Turm" the blown up tower.   Checking with Google translate provides the helpful translation, "Castle tower blown up with cabbage, 1693".  It does conjure up a lovely image but maybe the original publishers weren't so bad at translation after all.

Mark Twain described this tower when he visited Heidelberg Castle:

One of these old towers is split down the middle, and one half has tumbled aside. It tumbled in such a way as to establish itself in a picturesque attitude. Then all it lacked was a fitting drapery, and Nature has furnished that; she has robed the rugged mass in flowers and verdure, and made it a charm to the eye.

Although the card was sent from the USA, it was bought in Germany.

Heidelberg

On the reverse of the beautiful card showing Heidelberg Castle came this stamp celebrating - in song - 150 years of the German Choral Association!

I have several postcards of Heidelburg Schloss or Castle in Germany but this is by far the most attractive to date.  It looks as though it was taken in the setting sun.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Ljubljana

How do you pronounce Ljubljana?  It took me a while to get my tongue around that one.  Lyublyanna, more or less.

With fewer than 300,000 people living there, it's the largest Slovenian town.  Its position has meant it has been a crossroads or meeting point for Slavic, German and Roman cultures.

The picture shows the old centre of the town, including the castle which dates from the 12th century.  The first castle started to fall into disrepair and was converted in to a prison and then into a home for poor families.  In 1960 a major renovation was started, taking 35 years to finish.  Now the castle is open to the public and used for cultural events.

Trakai

From the back of the card:

"Gothic style castle was constructed by the Lithuanian Grand Dukes - Kestutis and Vytautas at the end of XIV century and the first decade of the 15th century."

Stunningly beautiful.

The Royal Palace of Olite

The Palace of the Kings of Navarre at Olite.  Navarre is an autonomous community in Spain, bordering France and next to the Basque country.  The north of the area is primarily Basque speaking and the south is mainly Spanish speaking.

The old part of the palace is now a Parador, a type of hotel almost always in a historic building.

The Kazan Kremlin

Kazan is the name of the capital of Tatarstan in Russia. Its Kremlin was built by Ivan the Terrible on the ruins of an earlier stone fortress.  It is now on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list as being the only surviving Tatar fortress with some evidence of the original town structure.

The nations Russian and Tatar cultures have developed together and can be seen as a place where east meets west, and where Christians and Muslims live together peacefully.

Trakai Island Castle

Trakai Island Castle was built in three phases, starting in the 14th century and finishing almost 100 years later.   The island on which it's built is one of 21 islands in Lake Galvė, south eastern Lithuania.   Many of the lakes and islands in the area, and the castle too, are said to be haunted.  Nevertheless, or maybe because of it, the castle is a great tourist attraction.

International stamp exhibition 1980

In 1980 there was an International Stamp Exhibition in London and the Royal Mail issued the 50p stamp shown on this card to commemorate the event.  It seems to show most of the interesting buildings in London, pretty much superimposed and taking liberties with scale.  Tower Bridge seems to be dwarfed by Big Ben and St Paul's Cathedral.  In those days 50p was a considerable amount, on Monday it will be enough only to send a second class letter within the UK.

They must have been building it up for some time because apparently stamps were issued in 1978 and 1979 as a lead up.  There is no telling that this was the intention from the cards or stamps alone, as I have, but the miniature sheets did mention the exhibition.  The 1978 set showed historic buildings.

I have three of this set of cards with the individual stamps on each and postmarked First Day of Issue.  I'm not sure where Hampton Court has disappeared to but maybe I've just misplaced it.

The 1979 set were the Rowland Hill set, one of which I've shown previously.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Mir for all seasons

I love postcards which show the seasons but I hadn't anticipated two views of the same castle, Mir in Belarus, one in winter and one in summer.  I imagine the top card is an older one and that the tree seen there has been felled, but I may be wrong.  it may be something to do with the camera angle that has cut it out of the second picture.

The castle dates from the end of the 15th century although, as usual, it has had many later additions, extensions and reconstructions.  It was badly damaged during the Napoleonic Wars but later restored.  During WWII it became a prison camp.  The present restoration started about 30 years ago.  It is a very distinctive castle, built of red brick with white plaster decoration.  It has four towers, all different, and a central tower gate. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Suomenlinna

Now  popular picnic place, a community, a cultural centre, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but once Suomenlinna was a sea fortress built as protection against Peter the Great of Russia.  At that time Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom and the fortress was called Sveaborg.  It was renamed Suomenlinna, Castle of Finland, in

I have completely lost my rhythm of posting this week.  this should have been posted on Tuesday, for Our Wonderful World Tuesday.  Instead I'm hastily scheduling it in for last Wednesday, on Friday.