August's First View of Postcards

Well it's August again. The year sure flies when you're having fun with your postcards. So, let's have a little more fun and start off August the right way. First we're off to St Helena, the most extraordinary place on earth. A tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean., 4000 km east of Rio and 1950 km west of Africa. It's part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. St Helena was the place of detention for Napoleon Bonapart from 1815-1821. Getting to St Helena should be a little easier next year . A new airport is expected to be fully operational by February of  2016, with flights to and from South Africa and the U.K.
On the card you can see Jamestown, the island's capital at night, with the Royal Mail Ship St. Helena at anchor in James Bay.

 

Melissa at the Tourism office in Jamestown sent this card to me. She used a
couple of the fish stamps in the 2008 set of 12 showing Marine Life of St. Helena.

Before leaving St Helena, I just have to say that St. Helena is certainly on my Bucket List and with the new airport opening , who knows ?


Balluta. Balluta is a bay on the northeast coast of Malta. A popular recreation spot for swimming, diving and other water sports. Near the center of the card is the Parish Church of Our Lady of Mount Caramel. It dates from 1859 but was rebuilt in 1877, 1900 and again in 1958.

Johan used a definitive from 2009. It's from a set of 17 and shows the Maltese Cross, a symbbol of protection and a badge of honour.

I've received a few Postbox postcards these past number of years and here's another one. I used to think that all postboxes were red, but not any more. I have received cards with them blue,  yellow and now it's a green one. This is an Irish post box. The green post box is a familiar sight on many urban streets  in Ireland.

David used a 2015 m/sheet of 4 featuring Animation.

Next is a card from the Rainbow Nation, South Africa with a number of colorful portraits of Nelson Mandela or Madiba. I wrote some words about   this great South African in my blog back on April 17 of this year. Check it out , it's worth reading that card again.

Bruce used a really impressive souvenir sheet of 1 , issued for Mandela's 90th birthday back in 2008.

A card from Ravindra from Sri Lanka is next on the agenda. It's deer locking antlers in combat in Yala National Park. The park covers an area of 979 sq km and is located about 300 km from Colombo.

Ravindra used a number of fine stamps, all from 2014.  On the left is a stamp featuring a Frog, issued to celebrate World Wilelife Day , March 3rd of 2014. The upper right stamp was issued to commemorate the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. The lower right stamp is 1 of 10 in a mini sheet featuring 10 different bodies in our Solar System. A really nice mini sheet indeed, certainly one I should have in my collection.

Maison Kammerzell. The Kammerzell House is one of the most famous buildings of Strasbourg. It is also one of the most ornate and well preserved medieval buildings around anywhere. Built in 1427, it has been transformed twice, in 1467 and then in 1589. Located on cathedral square, today it house a restaurant and hotel.

Dominique used a stamp from 2014 on this card. It highlights Locmariaquer in north western France and its megaliths.

Here's the last card for this time. It's from Andorra, and was posted through the Spanish Postal Service. Andorra is a sovereign landlocked microstate in southwestern Europe. It is the sixth-smallest nation in Europe. Things must be good there though as it has the highest life expectancy in the world - 81 years.

Jean Pierre used a 2014 definitive from a set of 5  Coat of Arms issue.

That's it for this time. Thanks to Johan, Melissa, David, Bruce, Ravindra, Dominique and Jean Pierre. Great cards from you all. Hope to get back here again in a couple of days. See you then.