Almeria, Spain

Almeria
Un Paseo por Almeria (A stroll around Almeria)
Costa de Almeria (The Coast of Almeria)

Fotografia: Jesus Gomez

This unused postcard is from 2015.

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Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.

When Something Goes Wrong...

When something goes wrong in your life 

- Just Yell - "PLOT TWIST!" and move on. 

This funny postcard is postmarked in 2016. 

USA stamp 2015

Coastal Birds

Spoonbill

Postcard Rate

The World Trade Center in Bahrain

World Trade Center
Kingdom of Bahrain

This postcard is postmarked in 2015 from Saudi Arabia.

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The Bahrain World Trade Center is a 240-metre-high (787 ft), 50-floor, twin tower complex located in Manama, Bahrain. The towers were built in 2008 and are the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design.

The two towers are linked via three skybridges, each holding a 225kW wind turbine, totalling to 675 kW of wind power capacity. Each of these turbines measure 29 m (95 ft) in diameter, and is aligned north, which is the direction from which air from the Persian Gulf blows in. The sail-shaped buildings on either side are designed to funnel wind through the gap to provide accelerated wind passing through the turbines.

The wind turbines are expected to provide 11% to 15% of the towers' total power consumption, or approximately 1.1 to 1.3 GWh a year. This is equivalent to providing the lighting for about 300 homes.

Saudi Arabia stamp 2003

Mosques, 1 SR 

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Saudi Arabia stamp 2003

Rare Fish of the Red Sea

Canthigaster pygmaea

Pufferfish, Toby Fish

1 R

The Dome of The Rock in Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem

Photography by Garo Nalbandian

Jerusalem
The Dome of the Rock.

Worthy of praise is he who took his servant by night from the sacred mosque to the distant mosque, the presents which we have blessed.  (Koran Soura)

This postcard is postmarked in 2015 from Palestine.

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The Dome of the Rock has been called "Jerusalem's most recognizable landmark".

The site's significance stems from religious traditions regarding the rock, known as the Foundation Stone, at its heart, which bears great significance for Jews and Muslims.

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The Dome of the Rock is situated in the center of the Temple Mount, the site where the Jewish First Temple and Second Temple had stood. During the Byzantine era, Jerusalem was primarily Christian, and pilgrims came by the tens of thousands to experience the first church of Christianity and places where Jesus walked.

Palestine stamp 2011

Ramadan, 250 FILS

A Happy Easter

A Happy Easter

Printed in Germany
Series 389 H

This postcard has writing on it but was never mailed.  The crown Jesus is wearing, the flag, letters and dots are all metallic. 

It's Easter - A Postcard featuring Olaf

This is Olaf the snowman from the Disney movie Frozen saying "It's Easter!" This was a greeting card that had the top cut off and made a postcard out of it.  A few days later, someone else sent me the entire card, so now I have both.  I do not save cards, but this one I will :D

It is postmarked in 2015 from Canada with a 1.20 baby goat stamp.

Canada stamp 2014

Baby Wildlife

Mountain Goat, 1.20

Jaap van Zweden, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Jaap van Zweden - Music Director

Swire Maestro Series
Pictures At An Exhibition
25 and 26 Mar 2016

This great advertising postcard is postmarked in December, 2015, from Hong Kong.

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Jaap van Zweden (born December 12, 1960 in North Holland) is a Dutch conductor and violinist.  At age 15, he won a violin competition; this allowed him to attend The Juilliard School.  At age 18, Van Zweden became the concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra—the youngest violinist ever to assume that position, which he held until 1995.

Van Zweden began to work as a conductor after Leonard Bernstein invited him to lead an orchestra rehearsal in Berlin. In January 2016, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra announced that van Zweden will formally take over the orchestra's music directorship in 2018, after appointing him Music Director Designate in the 2017-2018 season.

Hong Kong stamp 2014

Landscapes of Hong Kong 

Kang Lau Shek, 3.70

The Western Wall / Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem, the Western Wall

Photography by S. Mendrea.

This postcard is postmarked in 2015 from Israel.

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The Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a small portion of the structure which originally was part of the western retaining wall of the Second Jewish Temple on top the hill known as the Temple Mount.

Israel stamp 2015

The Cyrus Declaration, 8.30

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The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several fragments.

The text on the Cylinder praises Cyrus, sets out his genealogy and portrays him as a king from a line of kings. The Babylonian king Nabonidus, who was defeated and deposed by Cyrus, is denounced as a wicked oppressor of the people of Babylonia and his low-born origins are contrasted to Cyrus's kingly heritage. 

The Cylinder's text has traditionally been seen by biblical scholars as corroborative evidence of Cyrus' policy of the repatriation of the Jewish people following their Babylonian captivity (an act that the Book of Ezra attributes to Cyrus).

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Here is one more postcard of the Western Wall...

Prayer at the Wailing Wall

When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, We were like them that dream. (Psalm 26:11)

The sender writes:

I am on a science seminar at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  The first part of my trip started by touring the northern part of the country for a few weeks.  Then I spent five days on a nature-study field school, which consisted of climbing mountains and studying the topology of the dead sea area.  I climbed Mt. Masada at 2:30 in the morning and watched the sun rise.  It was magnificent, the excavations there are very exciting.  

I love Israel.  It is a very beautiful country in many ways.  The people have a very strong identity and spirit and a strong sense of purpose to survive. Israel is a fascinating country. 

This is postmarked  with two Israel stamps. I can't make out the year but one of the stamps is from 1972.

Israel stamp 1972

Campaign for Jewish Immigration

Star and words:

Let My People Go, 0.55

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Israel stamp

Airmail

Winged Deer

Elizabeth Taylor Starring in: Suddenly Last Summer, 1959

Elizabeth Taylor, Suddenly Last Summer, 1959. Photographer Unidentified
made in Hollywood: Photographs from the John Dobal Foundation Archive, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

I bought this in Australia in 2012.

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Suddenly, Last Summer is a 1959 American Southern Gothic mystery film based on the play of the same title by Tennessee Williams.

A title card at the start of the film sets the story in the year 1937.
The film tells the story of Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor), a young woman institutionalized for a severe emotional disturbance that came about when her cousin, Sebastian Venable, died under questionable circumstances while they were on holiday in Europe. The late Sebastian's wealthy mother, Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn), makes every effort to deny and suppress the potentially sordid truth about her son and his demise. Toward this end, she attempts to bribe the state hospital's administrator, Dr. Hockstader (Albert Dekker), by offering to finance a new wing for the underfunded facility – in Sebastian's name – if he will coerce his brilliant young surgeon, Dr. John Cukrowicz, (Montgomery Clift) into lobotomizing her niece, thereby removing any chance that the events surrounding her son's death might be revealed by Catherine's "obscene babbling".

Konigsse, Berchtesgadener Land, Germany

Konigssee

Berchtesgadener Land (a district in Bavaria)

Schone GruBe as den (Greetings from the) 

Berchtesgadener Land

St. Gartholoma am Konigssee 

(St. Bartholomew's Church)

This postcard is postmarked in 2015 from Germany.

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The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park.

St. Bartholomew's is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage church that can only be reached by ship or after a long hike across the surrounding mountains.

Germany (Deutschland) stamp 2015

Asterix and Obelix Cartoon Series, 

Asterix, 62

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Germany (Deutschland)  stamp 2005

'Tagetes' (African Marigold flower) 20

Tajikistan Girls Dancing for Nowruz

Tajikistan Dushanbe

The sender writes:
On this card you can see the celebration of Nowruz in Tajikistan.  Every year on the 21st until the 28th we celebrate! The girls are wearing our national dresses while dancing!

This postcard is postmarked in 2015 with two Tajikistan stamps.

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Nowruz is the name of the Iranian New Year.  It marks the first day of spring or Equinox as and the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.

Tajikistan (Tadzhikistan) stamp 2007

Previous Issue of the stamp from 1994:

'The 70th Anniversary of the Capital Dushanbe' 

new surcharge, 

Overprint 0,75

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Tajikistan (Tadzhikistan) stamp 2014

Architecture Definitive 

Rudi Garden

Rudaki Park, Dushanbe - 0.10

Oregon State Capitol

Oregon State Capitol

Salem, Oregon

This, the third capitol building, was built in 1938.  The architectural design is Modern Greek.  In the foreground is the Capitol Mall and Sprague Fountain.

This postcard is postmarked in 2015.

The sender writes:

We drove (slowly) past this impressive building on our trip to Salem / Keizer.  The "Gold Man" on top is an Oregon pioneer.

USA stamp 2015

Coastal Birds

King Eider 

Postcard Rate

Issue Date:  June 01, 2015

Art Director/Designer:  Greg Breeding

Banksy Rat Mural Street Art in SoHo, New York City

Banksy Rat Mural, SoHo, New York City.

Banksy, the anonymous British artist, has been creating street art in NYC since the early 21st century.  In fact, his hometown of Bristol, England is the only locale that has been favored with more of his creations.  Curiously, Bansky often portrays himself as a rat, an animal all too familiar to New Yorkers. The city is home to two rat species, the Brown Rat and the Black rat.  The larger and more adaptable Bown rat has largely crowded out the Black rat, and there are estimates of as many as 4 Brown rats for every person in New York City.  That's around 32 million rats - yikes!!! So though the Bansky rat may be elusive, he's certainly not alone here.

Photo by Carina Dev

This postcard is postmarked in 2016.

Russian Astronaut Alexey Leonov and Voskhod 2

ВО ИМЯ МИРА И ПРоГРЕССА!
(Peace and Progress!)

The back is written in Russian and in English.  The English words are:

In the Name of Peace and Progress!
1965

The sender writes that Voskhod 2 was a Soviet manned space mission March (18th-19th) 1965.  It established another milestone in space exploration when Alexey Leonov became the first person to leave the spacecraft in a specialized spacesuit to conduct a 12 minute 'Spacewalk'.

This is a reproduction postcard that is postmarked in 2015 with two stamps from Russia.

Russia stamp 2008

Helicopter Ka-32, 7.00 

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Russia stamp 2015

Postcrossing, 23 P

An Ellen Clapsaddle postcard for St. Patrick's Day

"And its, O, the green Shamrock"

Ellen H. Clapsaddle

This is postmarked in 1909 with a one cent stamp.

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Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle (January 8, 1865 - January 7, 1934) was an American illustrator/commercial artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Not only is her style greatly admired and well recognized, today she is recognized as the most prolific souvenir/postcard and greeting card artist of her era.

USA stamp 1908

Benjamin Franklin

1 cent

Falmouth, Jamaica

Falmouth, Jamaica

This postcard is unused and from 2015.

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Falmouth was founded by Thomas Reid in 1769.   It was named after Falmouth, Cornwall in the United Kingdom, the birthplace of Sir William Trelawny, the Governor of Jamaica, who was instrumental in its establishment.

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In 2011 a new $180 million port was built to accommodate the newest and largest cruise ships, including Royal Caribbean International's Oasis class.  -- On a side note, my husband and I were on the maiden voyage of Oasis's sister ship the Allure of the Seas, but because this port was not finished yet, our ship don't go here even though it was on the itinerary.  We still LOVED the ship and the cruise though.  

Iowa State Capitol Building

Iowa State Capitol
Des Moines, Iowa

Recognized as one of the most beautiful state capitol buildings in the nation, 29 kinds of marble were used in finishing this building.

Photo by Mac Miller

This postcard is made by Dexter Press and is postmarked din in 1983.

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The building was constructed between 1871 and 1886, and is the only five-domed capitol in the USA.

USA stamp 1981

Flag over Supreme Court, 20 cents

Pi = 3.1415

Pi = 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288

4197169399375105820974944592307816

406286208998

Happy Pi Day

This is postmarked on the Ultimate Pi Day - 3-14-15 (March 14, 2015) with two Harry Potter stamps,

Dumbledore (Richard Harris) and The Weasley Brothers (James and Oliver Phelps)

Agra Fort, India -- UNESCO

Agra Fort: Agra, India

This is postmarked in 2015.

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The Agra Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city.  

The present-day structure was built by the Mughals, though a fort had stood there since at least the 11th century. Agra Fort was originally a brick fort known as Badalgarh. It was mentioned for the first time in 1080 AD when a Ghaznavide force captured it.

India stamp 2015

Charkha Spinning Wheel

Peti Charkha, 5.00

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India stamp 2015

Charkha Spinning Wheel

Bardoli Charkha, 5.00

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India stamp 2009

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar 

2.00

Cayucos Sea Glass Festival, Mermaids in March

 Cayucos Sea Glass Festival
March 12 - 13, 2016
great food! live music! at the base of the pier!

Don't miss our handcrafted mermaids!
seaglass is also known as "mermaid tears"

Mermaids in March
All Month Throughout Town

Printed on the back (it is in handwriting, not type, but it is pre-printed):

Greetings from California's beautiful central coast -
Sea Glass Festivals are always looked forward to each year because I get to see old friends and beach bums.  Get to check out all of the neat and so cool sea glass jewelry, eat fish tacos and enjoy the great music.
But what I'm really excited about this year is that we have a new pier!
The old pier was originally built in 1872 by Capt. James Cass, the founder of this town.  On July 5th 2013 it was discovered to be unsafe and it was closed.  After many dollars were raised through donations, a four million dollar restoration project began a few months later.

On October 31st they did a big ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially re-open the pier.  I rolled a hand truck loaded with broken glass out to the end of the pier and dumped it over the side... man, the way that people reacted - I may have just as well thrown a few gunny sacks full of puppies into the sea.  Right before I was about to be hand cuffed by some California State Parks guy the mayor came to my aid.  This town's mayor was crowned miss Sea Glass Festival at the very first Sea Glass Festival five years ago.  She remembered me as being a tireless volunteer and all-round nice guy.  It helped too when it was explained that all of that broken glass had done time in an old cement mixer to ensure that all sharp edges had been removed.

Life's a Beach,
Steve

Steve Howell
Postcard Collector

This postcard is postmarked in 2015 with 4 vintage postage stamps.

USA stamp 1945

Franklin D.Roosevelt

Hyde Park, 1 cent

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USA stamp 1977

Americana Issue

The Ability To Write

A Root of Democracy

1 cent

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USA stamp 1981

Transportation

Omnibus 1880's

1 cent

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USA stamp 1995

Christmas

Children Sledding

32 cents

El Yunque, Caribbean National Forest, in Puerto Rico

El Yunque National Forest

Puerto Rico

Cascada La Mina (La Mina Falls) drops over 35 feet through a jumble of huge rocks and into a refreshing pool where hikers can choose to swim in the 60-degree waters or merely rest and enjoy the view. 

Photo: J. Scott Graham

This postcard is postmarked in 2015.

The sender writes:

We took a two and a half hour hiking tour thru the El Yunque Rain Forest.  Definitely the highlight of our trip.  Truly gorgeous! 

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El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Luquillo National Forest and the Caribbean National Forest, is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System.  It is located on the slopes of the Sierra de Luquillo mountains in Puerto Rico and encompasses 28,000 acres (43.753 mi2 or 113.32 km2) of land. 

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Here is a postcard with it was called the Caribbean National Forest....

La Mina Falls
Caribbean National Forest
Puerto Rico

El Yunque
One of the best hiking trails in El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest, has been carefully marked by forest rangers.  The trail, which combines La Mina and Big Tree Trail, takes 2 hours round trip and ends up at La Mina waterfall.  Visitors take an after lunch swim in the refreshing pool.

Photo: George Collazo

This postcard is postmarked in 2015.

The sender writes:
This rainforest was so beautiful!   We took pictures in front of the fall.