Turkey, Czech Republic , Netherlands and Portugal Cards

I have just four cards to show today. The first is from Turkey. It shows Mevlana Museum and was built in the 13th century. It houses the tomb of Mevlana Rumi (1207-1273) , the great Persian poet and philosopher. The card is from fellow postcard blogger and collector Leslie. The card and the stamp on the far right were issued by the Turkish post Office in 2007 to celebrate Rumi's 800th anniversary of birth. The stamp is 1 of 4 in a very nice souvenir sheet. The middle stamp is also 1 of 4 in a 2007 multi sheet featuring farm animals. The final stamp on the left is also from 2007 and 1 of a set of 8 featuring provincial capitals , in this case Tunceli. Thanks Leslie for a great card and great stamps.

Now a card from the Czech Republic. It shows a drawing of a church in Letohrad. This is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. With about 6200 people, it lies beneath Orlice Mountain , on the river Ticha Orlice. The card is from a Postcrosser named Monika who lives 15 km from Letohrad. Monika used a most wonderful stamp from a 2009 souvenir sheet of 5 different stamps featuring owls, insects, animals, butterflies, birds, frogs, mushrooms and castles. It is just an outstanding souvenir sheet and one I would love to add to my collections. Anyone got a spare copy ? I don't usually beg like this but it is just a great issue. They also issued a similar souvenir sheet in 2008, also a great one.

Today's third card is from Arnhem, Netherlands. It shows a city view from a river. Arnhem is a city in eastern Netherlands. With about 146,000 residents it is one of the largest cities in the Netherlands. The card is from another Postcrosser who used a wonderful selection of stamps , 5 in all. Most are from 2008 .It's always good to see stamps from the Netherlands , which are not the common priority stamps.

Our final card is from Portugal, but shows Salamanca , a city in western Spain. It shows a cathedral above the Puente Romano ( Roman Bridge). This is a 400 meter, 2000 year old bridge across the Tormes River. Paula, another Postcrosser sent this along . She has a covers blog called Covers of the World. One of the two stamps that Paula used shows a windmill from a 2007 set of four on an Azores, Portugal stamp.

That's all for postcards, this week and month. As today is the last of the month, a short report can't go wrong. During January, I received a total of 27 postcards, of which 16 were through Postcrossing. I mailed out 25 cards during the month, 20 of which went to Postcrossers. I received one new country card during January. That is about average for a month.

Attention regular readers. This is the last posting for a week . I am going out of the country ( a little vacation) and and will try to mail a few cards ,while away. Where am I going, you may ask ? That would be telling, but let's just say, there will be no snow to shovel. I will be back in Canada on Tues, February 9th. Take care all.