Czechoslovakia II

A postcard from my archives of the Czechoslovakian spa resort of Mariánské Lázně in eastern, modern-day Czech Republic. The spa was popular with the nobility of Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century, when many celebrities and top European rulers came to enjoy the curative carbon dioxide springs and features a wealth of fine architecture from the period. The spas hosted the likes of Goethe, Frédéric Chopin, Thomas Edison, Richard Wagner, King Edward VII of England, Russian Czar Nicholas II, and Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I, and many others. On the Czech Republic UNESCO Tentative List as a part of the West Bohemian Spa Triangle.

Groovy stamp from 1987 about atomic energy.

Netherlands Antilles

Another card from the archives that I was able to upload while home for the Christmas holidays, this time sent from the no longer extant Netherlands Antilles. My retroactive thanks to my then coworker, Tani, for sending this and helping me get the Netherlands Antilles into my collection before it disappeared off the maps.

There were two island groups in the Netherlands Antilles; the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao off the Venezuelan coast, and the SSS islands of Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius southeast of the Virgin Islands. Aruba became a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986. The rest of the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved on 10 October 2010. Sint Maarten and Curaçao became two new constituent countries of the Netherlands with their own postal systems. The other islands became special municipalities within the Netherlands and make up the new postal entity "Caribbean Netherlands".

Card shows the Fort Amsterdam Peninsula on Little Bay, which has been designated an important breeding area for brown pelicans by BirdLife International.

Top stamp from the 1988 definitives series featuring the component islands of the Netherlands Antilles, in this case the small island of Saba, which ironically has the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mount Scenery (877 m). Lower stamp from 2000 commemorates fathers.

Czechoslovakia

Home for the holidays and able to rifle through the postcard archives for another card sent by my Dad on his tour behind the Iron Curtain, which launched me on my postcard collecting quest. Seen here is the Old Town Square of Prague and the imposing Church of Our Lady before Týn in the background. Construction of the Church began in the fourteenth century and continued in fits and spurts until 1511 when the south tower was completed. Part of the Historic Centre of Prague World Heritage site.

Stamp featuring the Carpathian newt, Lissotriton montandoni, a common species in the temperate rivers, marshes, and ponds of Central and Eastern Europe.

Mayotte

Postcard from the French island of Mayotte in the Mozambique Channel separating the mainland from Madagascar. The island had been a colony but voted overwhelmingly (95.2%) to become an integral part of France, akin to the status of the United States of America's Alaska or Hawaiʻi. Despite such strong support, the move was not without controversy. Neighbouring Comoros claims the island as its own and, until relatively recently, had fairly strong support for this claim in the United Nations. Mayotte also has traditional Islamic law governing some aspects of day-to-day life that will be gradually abolished and replaced by France's civil code, to the chagrin of local religious leaders. Many in France also question the benefit of changing Mayotte's status, as the island's economy is poorly developed and the cost of social programmes will be borne by French taxpayers.

There is even implications for postcard collectors too! French overseas territories such as Martinique and French Guiana do not have their own postal systems and use the normal French postal service. This means that Mayotte stamps will no longer be produced and Mayotte will cease to exist as an separate postal entity. My many thanks to Françoise for helping me get this one in under the wire!

Stamp showing tamarind tree and its fruit. Tamarind is native to tropical Africa, but its cultivation has spread around the world due to it popularity as an ingredient in many types of cooking and for its value as a medicinal plant.

Soviet Union

Another card from the archives. When I was young, my dad went on a business trip to several Eastern Bloc countries, sending me postcards as he went. Back in the old days, anything from behind the Iron Curtain seemed terrifically exotic, and these onion-domed spires seemed more fairytale than real. To hold a piece of something so faraway was magical to young me. It prompted me to declare that I would collect a postcard from every country in the world, not realising how many countries there were (and today there are even more!). Now, more than twenty years on, I'm still at it and, at last count with 114 countries and postal entities left to go, still rather a ways from reaching the goal. But, as they say, getting there is certainly half the fun!:-)

A very special thanks to my Dad for launching me into this amazing quest.

Stamp on the left from the 1988 definitive series features a statue of Mercury in promotion of international trade cooperation. Four kopek stamp from the same series printed as a postage paid part of the postcard shows Spassky Tower and Lenin's tomb in Red Square, Moscow.

Yugoslavia

A special blast-from-the-past postcard that I dug out of my archives from the no longer extant country of Yugoslavia. It was sent to me by a Serbian friend I met when I lived in China. The card features some of the Belle Époque windows gracing the buildings of the capital, Belgrade. Many thanks to Vesna for this slice of history in my collection!

Left and centre stamps are from a 1996 series on monasteries, thirteenth century Sopoćani Monastery and fourteenth century Bogorodica Ljeviška Monastary, respectively. Stamps on the right featuring manuscript illustration are from 1997.