China - Sun Tower and Moon Tower of Sanhu Lake

Sun Tower and Moon Tower of Sanhu Lake.

Sent by Joey from Shaoxing, China.

The Sun and Moon Pagodas (Chinese: 日月双塔; pinyin: Rìyuè Shuāngtǎ) are twin pagodas located in Guilin, Guangxi, China. Originally built in the city moat of Guilin during the Tang dynasty, the pagodas were reconstructed in 2001 using historical records as the centerpiece of Riyue Shuangta Cultural Park—–a park themed around the unity of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. The Moon Pagoda was built on an island in Shan Lake while the Sun Pagoda was built out in the lake. The Sun Pagoda has an octagonal base, is faced with bronze, has nine stories, and is 41 m (135 ft) tall. The Sun Pagoda is the tallest bronze pagoda in the world and is one of the few pagodas in the world that has an elevator. The Moon Pagoda has an octagonal base, is faced with glazed tile, has seven stories, and is 35 m (115 ft) tall. They were featured as the ninth Pit Stop during the fourteenth season of The Amazing Race in 2009 (read further).

Croatia - Old City of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Sent by Maris, whose hometown is Dubrovnik, Croatia.

The 'Pearl of the Adriatic', situated on the Dalmatian coast, became an important Mediterranean sea power from the 13th century onwards. Although severely damaged by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. Damaged again in the 1990s by armed conflict, it is now the focus of a major restoration programme co-ordinated by UNESCO (read further).

USA - Arizona - Petrified Forest National Park (3)

Petrified Forest National Park.

Petrified wood is made of a dense quartz material that resists erosion. This dense quartz, along with small quantities of other substances, replaces the original wood of the log and creates the rainbow color seen within the petrified wood.

Sent by Jane from Arizona, USA.

My other two Petrified Forest National Park postcards are here and here.

Russia - Saint Petersburg - Winter Palace

The Winter Palace. Fild Marshal Hall.

Sent by Polina from Mytishchi, Russia.

The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov, previous emperors, from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. The floor area is 233,345 square metres (it has been calculated that the palace contains 1,886 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases). The total area of the Winter Palace is 14.2 hectares. Situated between Palace Embankment and Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and altered almost continuously between the late 1730s and 1837, when it was severely damaged by fire and immediately rebuilt. The storming of the palace in 1917, as depicted in Soviet art and in Sergei Eisenstein's 1928 film October, became a symbol of the October Revolution (read further).

Russia - Chelyabinsk Oblast - Chelyabinsk (2)

City view of Chelyabinsk.

Sent by Polina from Mytishchi, Russia.

My other postcard of Chelyabinsk is here.

Slovakia - Museum of Kysuce Village

Museum of Kysuce Village.

Sent by Mária from Slovakia.

The ethnographic exposition in the nature of the Kysuce Museum is located in the Chmúra valley in the cadastre of the village Nová Bystrica, part of Vychylovka, which is part of the Protected Landscape Area Kysuce.

In the interiors of selected objects, original equipment is installed. The exposition also includes original buildings - cholvarky - objects of seasonal shepherd dwellings, widely used in the past. The fields near the houses present the three-field farming system that was used in the Kysuce region (read further).

Thailand - Historic City of Ayutthaya

WAT PHRA SI SANPHET AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL PARK AND WORLD HERITAGE.

Sent by Elisabeth from Bangkok, Thailand.

The Historic City of Ayutthaya, founded in 1350, was the second capital of the Siamese Kingdom.  It flourished from the 14th to the 18th centuries, during which time it grew to be one of the world’s largest and most cosmopolitan urban areas and a center of global diplomacy and commerce. Ayutthaya was strategically located on an island surrounded by three rivers connecting the city to the sea. This site was chosen because it was located above the tidal bore of the Gulf of Siam as it existed at that time, thus preventing attack of the city by the sea-going warships of other nations. The location also helped to protect the city from seasonal flooding.

The city was attacked and razed by the Burmese army in 1767 who burned the city to the ground and forced the inhabitants to abandon the city. The city was never rebuilt in the same location and remains known today as an extensive archaeological site.  

At present, it is located in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province.  The total area of the World Heritage property is 289 ha (read further)

Greece - Parthenon (2)

Parthenon, Athens, Greece.

Sent by Oksana from Athens, Greece.

This is my second Parthenon postcard. My first is here.

Germany - Bremen - North Sea

Greetings From The North Sea.

Sent from Bremerhaven by Veit from Ruhr, Germany.

The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, covering 570,000 square kilometres (220,000 sq mi).

It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave power.

The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise. The Hanseatic League, the Dutch Republic, and Britain all sought to gain command of the North Sea and access to the world's markets and resources. As Germany's only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea was strategically important through both world wars (read further).

Germany - Baden-Württemberg - Ravensburg

Multiviews of Ravenburg.

Sent by Elke from Ravensburg, Germany.

Ravensburg (Swabian: Raveschburg) is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg.

Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an important trading centre. The "Great Ravensburg Trading Society" (Große Ravensburger Handelsgesellschaft) owned shops and trading companies all over Europe.

The historic city centre is still very much intact, including three city gates and over 10 towers of the medieval fortification (read further).

USA - Washington - North Cascades National Park

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK

Glaciers, waterfalls, alpine lakes, and conifers are found in this gorgeous patch of wilderness in the Evergreen State of Washington, but the mountains themselves take center stage.

Sent by Mandy from Tacoma in Washington, USA.

Less than three hours from Seattle, an alpine landscape beckons. Discover communities of life adapted to moisture in the west and recurring fire in the east. Explore jagged peaks crowned by more than 300 glaciers. Listen to cascading waters in forested valleys. Witness a landscape sensitive to the Earth's changing climate. Help steward the ecological heart of the Cascades (read further).

USA - California - Lassen Volcanic National Park

LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK

Sulphur vents, mud pots, and lava rocks remind visitors of Lassen Peak's ruptured past and continued activity, contrasting wildflower meadows, forests, and alpine lakes in this California park.

Sent by Peggy from Monterey Bay, California, USA. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park is home to steaming fumaroles, meadows freckled with wildflowers, clear mountain lakes, and numerous volcanoes. Jagged peaks tell the story of its eruptive past while hot water continues to shape the land (read further).

USA - Oregon - Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls Hiker.

Sent by Alison from Portland, USA.

Multnomah Falls is a waterfall located on Multnomah Creek in the Columbia River Gorge, east of Troutdale, between Corbett and Dodson, Oregon, United States. The waterfall is accessible from the Historic Columbia River Highway and Interstate 84. Spanning two tiers on basalt cliffs, it is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon at 620 ft (189 m) in height. The Multnomah Creek Bridge, built in 1914, crosses below the falls, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (read further).

Bierbrauen / Brewing of Beer

Sent by Elaen from Heilbronn, Germany. Thanks for Wacken Open Air 2024 stamp.

Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, at home by a homebrewer, or communally. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archaeological evidence suggests that emerging civilizations, including ancient Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia, brewed beer. Since the nineteenth century the brewing industry has been part of most western economies (read further).

USA - California - San Diego

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

Sent by Debbie from San Diego, California, USA.

San Diego (/ˌsæn diˈeɪɡoʊ/  SAN dee-AY-goh, Spanish: [san ˈdjeɣo]) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.3 million, it is the eighth-most populous city in the United States and the second-most populous in the state of California. San Diego is the seat of San Diego County, which has a population of nearly 3.3 million. It is known for its mild year-round Mediterranean climate, extensive beaches and parks, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center (read further).

World Postcard Day 2024 (2)

Sent by Sabrina from Hamburg, Germany.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Viva Che.

Sent by Sachiyo from Kawanishi, Japan.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14 June 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.

As a young medical student, Guevara travelled throughout South America and was appalled by the poverty, hunger, and disease he witnessed. His burgeoning desire to help overturn what he saw as the capitalist exploitation of Latin America by the United States prompted his involvement in Guatemala's social reforms under President Jacobo Árbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow at the behest of the United Fruit Company solidified Guevara's political ideology. Later in Mexico City, Guevara met Raúl and Fidel Castro, joined their 26th of July Movement, and sailed to Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with the intention of overthrowing US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guevara soon rose to prominence among the insurgents, was promoted to second-in-command, and played a pivotal role in the two-year guerrilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime (read further).

Viktor Tsoi

Viktor Tsoi.

Sent by Oksana from Karelia Republic, Russia.

Viktor Robertovich Tsoi (Russian: Виктор Робертович Цой, pronounced [ˈvʲiktər ˈrobʲɪrtəvʲɪtɕ ˈtsoj]; 21 June 1962 – 15 August 1990) was a Soviet singer-songwriter and actor who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and musically influential bands in the history of Russian music.

Born and raised in Leningrad (now called Saint Petersburg), Tsoi started writing songs as a teenager. Throughout his career, Tsoi contributed a plethora of musical and artistic works, including ten albums. After Kino appeared and performed in the 1987 Soviet film Assa, the band's popularity surged, triggering a period referred to as "Kinomania", and leading to Tsoi's leading role in the 1988 Kazakh new wave art film The Needle. In 1990, after their high-profile concert at the Luzhniki Stadium, Tsoi briefly relocated to Latvia with bandmate Yuri Kasparyan to work on the band's next album. Two months after the concert, Tsoi died in a car collision (read further).

Russia - Karelia Republic - Sortavala

Sortavala. Liseo. Architect J. Ahrenberg. 1901.

Sent by Oksana from Karelia Republic, Russia.

Sortavala (Russian: Сортавала; Finnish and Karelian: Sortavala; Swedish: Sordavala), previously known as Serdobol (Сердоболь) until 1918, is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish border, 246 kilometres (153 mi) west of Petrozavodsk, the capital city of the Republic of Karelia. The closest city on the Finnish side of the border is Joensuu, which is located 136 kilometres (85 mi) from Sortavala. In 2021, the population of Sortavala was 19,215 (read further).

Germany - Schleswig-Holstein - Leck

A mapcard of Leck in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Sent by Joachim from Leck, Germany.

Leck (Danish: Læk; Mooring North Frisian: Leek) is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 30 km north of Husum, and 30 km west of Flensburg (read further).

India - Maharashtra - Barapulla Gate

Barapulla Gate

This gate is a part of the city fortification wall and was known as Barapulla as the gate is located on the banks of the river Kham and having twelve arched bridge.

Sent by Abhay from Maharashtra, India.

Germany - Ehrenfeld

43 GERHARD-WILCZEK-PLATZ / EHRENFELD

Sent by Anni from Cologne, Germany.

Ehrenfeld (German: Köln-Ehrenfeld [kœln ˈʔeːʁənfɛlt]; Kölsch: Ihrefäld [ˈi²ʁəfɛlt]) is a borough (Stadtbezirk) of the City of Cologne in Germany. It includes the seven quarters Bickendorf, Bocklemünd, Mengenich, Ehrenfeld, Neuehrenfeld, Ossendorf and Vogelsang. It has about 109,500 inhabitants (as of December 2020) and covers an area of 23.98 square kilometres. The district borders with the Cologne districts of Chorweiler to the North, Nippes and Innenstadt to the East and Lindenthal to the South-West (read further).

Ramadan Kareem - Malaysia

Salam Ramadan. Selamat Berpuasa.

Sent by Azhari and Erliani from Kuantan, Pahang.

It's Cool

Sent by Irene from Ulm, Germany.

Swimwear

Sent by Brigit from Sint Jansteen, in Netherlands.