26 August 2014

Kilimanjaro

The first postcard shows Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the African continent. You've probably heard of it. The picture was taken near the town of Moshi.

postcard, tanzania, moshi
Click to enlarge

Jozani Forest is located on the Zanzibar Archipelago. I think the monkey is a Zanzibar red colobus. The other animal could be a Blue Duiker, but I don't really know.

postcard, tanzania, blue duiker, zanzibar red colobus
Click to enlarge


Ngorongoro Crater:

postcard, tanzania, ngorongoro conservation area
Click to enlarge

The stamps show a so-called waterbuck:

stamps, waterbuck, tanzanian shilling


Crusader Church

postcard, lebanon, byblos, jbeil, crusades
Click to enlarge

Jbeil is a district in the center of Lebanon. The building is St John the Baptist Church in Byblos, erected during the crusades in 1116. In 1176, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

The stamps remind that the Arab world is the birthplace (berceau) of the alphabet.

stamps, lebanon, birthplace, berceau, alphabet

13 August 2014

Island of Lemurs

is another name for Madagascar, in case you did not know.

postcard, madagascar, république
Click to enlarge
Backside reads:
République de Madagascar - de couleurs en reflets les hauts-plateaux
The photos were taken in the central highlands of the island, approximately 750 to 1500 meters high.

On the stamp it reads "Haut fourneau de Jean Laborde". He was an adventurer who came to Madagascar in 1831 and began to manufacture guns. The picture shows one of his blast furnaces.


stamp, madagascar, repoblikan'i madagasikara, jean laborde, blast furnace

Little London

postcard, brazil, londrina, lago igapó, igapó lake
Click to enlarge

Londrina is a city in south Brazil, originally founded by British settlers.The lake you can see in the foreground is called Lago Igapó.

The stamps show various professions such as cobbler (sapateiro) and seamstress (costureira). There's also a trumpet. And the stamp on the very right is dedicated to the fight against discrimination of autistic persons.

stamps, brazil, sapateiro, costureira, trompete, autismo

12 August 2014

Castillo Serrallés

Look at this wonderful mansion!

postcard, puerto rico, castillo serrallés
Click to enlarge

Castillo Serrallés was built in the 1930s and serves as a museum today.

Backside recipe:

Lemon Saffron Shrimp

- 1 pound shelled, deveined shrimp, cooked
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 1 cup wild or white rice, cooked
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3-4 saffron threads
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- salt and pepper to taste
Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk, lemon zest, and saffron, cooking over medium heat until thickened.

The stamp shows the planet’s sea surface temperatures.

usa, stamp, global, forever, sea surface temperatures

From Alef to Tav

postcard, israel, alef, tav, alphabet, hebrew
Click to enlarge
This card shows the Hebrew alphabet. Remember that you have to read it from right to left. To each letter, the designer assigned one town in Israel beginning with that letter, for example Eilat in the south or Haifa in the north. The drawings show typical scenery of those places.

The stamp is from a series commemorating the International Year of Astronomy 2009, 400 years after the first astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei. This particular stamp shows modern gravitational lensing.

stamp, israel, astronomy, international year, gravitational lensing

06 August 2014

Blue Mountains

blue mountain peak, jamaica, postcard, coffee
Click to enlarge

Description on the backside: "Hills of the Blue Mountains - home to our world-famous coffee".
I never knew there was a coffee brand from that particular place of the world. In the back you can see Blue Mountain Peak, Jamaica's highest mountain.

I'd like to thank Rachel for this very pretty card!

The left stamp shows a Century Palm, a very rare kind of tree that blossoms only after 100 years and then dies. Negril Lighthouse can be found in the very West of the island.

stamps, jamaica, century palm, negril lighthouse