Mauritius

Hello all and welcome to the first post of April...which brings some nice recently and not so recently received cards..

and for starters here is a nice one from Mauritius sent by Alvin last year...more precisely, last January...yeah it is really cool during the cold gloomy winter days to retreat to a place like this...and Alvin really makes some cool winter travel destinations :)

well here you can see some different pictures from the island, starting from beaches, crystal waters, to flowers and iguanas....not my favourite type of animal, but as long as it is on a card, I don't mind :)

a very nice stamp from the  2014, 3-set Flora and Fauna issue, showing the Rodrigues flying fox or Rodrigues fruit bat. At first glance it looked like an eagle to me, but when I took a better glance, it is a bat indeed.

Alvin, thank you! :)

Suriname

So hello there...time  for a new update, with some new and not so new cards :)

And first on the list today comes a great card from Suriname, sent by Sonia last year. I think that in just a few sentences she has grasped so much about this country, that it just makes you wanna go there, like right now!
She says Suriname to be a very interesting country with a mix of cultures and languages and as you walk you can see people of Chinese, Indonesian, African, Indian and Dutch descent. And although Dutch is the main language, you hear many others spoken as well.
And what has won my heart here, Sonia says that she has never seen so many spices in her life and that the smells on the market are wonderful. (You know I am a sucker when it comes to spices and markets...
The only downside - it is very hot - 32°C to 37°C...I have such temperatures and worse like, every summer...and I hate that time of the year...and then people tell me 'but why do you wanna go to Norway, it is so cold there!' - heh...

With regards to the card...I guess it represents a man during some working activities...or I don't know...with his back turned I can't really see what he is doing ( I hope this has nothing to do with me being short-sighted)...did you notice the flag around his waist though?

Sonia used three birds stamps from a set of 8 issued in 2008 - here you can see the Caryothraustes canadensis (or the yellow-green grosbeak), then the Megaceryle torquata (or the ringed kingfisher) and the Chloroceryle aenea (or the American pygmy kingfisher)

Vienna, Austria

It has been a while since I've posted something from my trips here and cards have seemed to pile up, so it is about time to decrease that pile and take a short tour from my last year trips...and a few extra cards :)
Now before I get down to this, in case you sometimes don't get a card from me from my travels, it may be cos of a few reasons:

- time-constraints....sometimes my agenda is so tight, that I just dont have that right time to write some cards =/

- finances...frankly, this may be the most frequent reason...being a freelancer, I travel on the budget most of the time, and sometimes money is unfortunately limited =/

- change of address...some of you people end up moving and I either had no idea about it, or hadn't noted the correct address down and the card doesn't reach you...although I must point out the Norwegian Postal system has done a tremendous job here, delivering a card to someone who didn't live at the address for over a year :)

- and last but not least, the card gets lost....and right now I am so frustrated with the Spanish postal system, cos it has delivered like just half of the cards I've sent from my last trip..HALF! And we are speaking about like more than 40 cards here....HALF delivered...and it's been a month!! It is just outrageous!! It is not just about the money here, but also the thrill, you know...you send surprise cards to people, and then there is no sign of it...disastrous!

well, anyways, lets see what was on the agenda last year...I did this update somewhat chronologically...


First in April, it was Vienna...

Even though I've been to Vienna before, I didn't mind having it on the agenda again cos my previous encounter with this fantastic city was in 2004, so it was about time to refresh those memories...and what can I say, I fell in love with it again...
Went there with my two travelling buddies, Marija and Sašo for the Easter holidays, and it was a cool trip from the very start...we went by bus (yeah, I know I know Vienna is far, but here a lot of trips are organized by bus since it also makes them very affordable)...and for the first time in my life I got to sit right behind the driver...and had this fantastic view in front of me while we were on the road...no other people's heads or seats, just a great view! I was so thrilled, that I barely slept...just didn't want to miss out something...ok, I admit, the driver was this charming man, so I just kinda wanted to chat with him, even though I am quite terrible when chatting to people I don't know and extremely clumsy when it is a person I like in question....but well making a fool of myself isn't something new :)

Then we had to cross the Hungarian border...but the guy from the Travel Agency got a call that there is a huge line of buses waiting at the Horgos-Roszke border that's usually used, so they all decided that we would go to the Kelebija-Tompa one...based on my passport stamp.
Even though we arrived there in the middle of the night, last thing I'd expected was that we would wake up the people working there...they were actually surprised to see us, wondered how on Earth did we know about that border crossing and openly told us NOT to come to their border crossing on our way back....huh?!!
One of the man who was stamping the passports asked our tour-guide to sing something in Macedonian if we wanted to cross the border...huh again??  And it is one of those moments when you don't know if you should burst out laughing or play it cool cos you don't know what consequences it may have...

Anyways, we arrived in Vienna, in beautiful sunshine, and the first day of course was the usual sightseeing...that's when I found this Hundertwasser card, scribbled it on the bus and dropped it in the mailbox...Hunderwasser is like one of my favourite spots in Vienna...it is like the Austrian Gaudi.

We also got to visit the Belvedere...and a bit later I posted it on Facebook...just to realize that my friend from Taiwan, HsuPeng was also there just an hour or so later! I couldnt believe it at the coincidence...I mean what are the chances that you end up at the same spot with a friend from a totally different part of the world?!! Well, we didnt manage to see each other then of course, we both had our own packed agendas, but we caught up a few months later here in Skopje :)

On the second day we weren't really in Vienna (see the next post), and on the third day, we went to the Donaturm first - me hanging there

and then afterwards, most of the people went to Schönbrunn...but being that I've already visited the place, didnt feel like going again...well one of my friends has been there too and our first idea was to go back to Belvedere and see the Klimt exhibition...but I changed my mind and went to Prater instead...I like Klimt, but honestly I'm kinda fed up with museums and cathedrals and all...don't get me wrong about this..I love art and history...but sometimes when my time at a place is so limited (and it always is), I don't feel like spending half or an entire day at a museum...Id rather be doing something else even if that means just chilling out with coffee and observing people or just walking around...anyways, this time Prater won, cos I totally love roller-coasters and there was no way Id choose Klimt over this :)

well, of course, the meeting point later was at Schönbrunn, so since my friend and I arrived there a bit early, we took a walk around the gardens...and of course, took a few pictures :)

and unfortunately, after Schönbrunn, we started our journey back home...so yeah, a really short stay...but a great one...and it wouldnt be me if I didnt get to drink coffee/eat something sweet whenever possible :) Highly recommend the Ice Cream parlour on Schwedenplatz...and the other ones were awesome, but can't possibly recall the names...the one with the Mozart liquer was Castelletto - that was actually more like a restaurant, but with a really cool atmosphere...and I think the one with the cake was somewhere on Stephansplatz...I always kinda mix Schweden and Stephansplatz...

are you still with me??!! Good :)

two stamps on the card...the one on the right was issued in 2003 in a set of two stamps titled "Holidays in Austria" and this one shows Mondsee...the bird stamp is from the two Fauna stamps issued in 2010, with this one showing European Roller.

so, briefly..or maybe not that briefly, that was Vienna :)

Bratislava, Slovakia

As I mentioned above, we didnt spend the second day in Vienna, but took a one day trip to Bratislava instead....since they had shopping on the agenda...and the thought of it makes me cringe....and we could have just wandered around Vienna again, but the thought of going to Bratislava was much more appealing :)

                                

Well Vienna and Bratislava are like the two capital cities with the shortest distance between them and there is a train every hour going from Vienna to Bratislava, and the trip takes like an hour, so just really feasible...and off we went...not really a high-speed train, I still haven't been on one of those but it is a train!! There was the option to go by boat/ship whatever...but I told my friends they can go by boat if they want, I am going by train and we will meet in Bratislava, no negotiations there...and of course we all went by train in the end :P

and there it is, the Central Station in Bratislava welcoming you :)

Bratislava is one of those places where you have this Old Part of the town, which IS the touristy spot and worth seeing...and the new part of town that you can see from above and that is just not so appealing...unfortunately most of the Bratislava pictures are with my friend...and I still havent gotten those, so ....

On our way to the castle....oh boy...while we were walking up this street, at the distance, I noticed this cute little cat...and I started calling 'mac mac mac - which is the Macedonian version for 'kitty kitty kitty'....and just when we got closer I realized it was a dog...with its owner...thank God the owner didn't understand Macedonian..or at least I hope :)  (and my t-shirt here is about cats too btw :))))

I think that everyone takes pictures with this fella :)))

the Old Town of Bratislava is really worth seeing and a few hours are more than enough...quite a lot of tourists though...and after all that walking we wanted something to eat an chose something that was supposed to be Traditional Slovak Cuisine at a place called Slovak House...I don't remember the name of this thing I ordered.... but this was simply tasteless...and actually what my friends ordered as well and from what I could try, it was all just tasteless...that is even what I've written on my own card - awful cuisine..awful! :)

they say they have the best beer though, and my friends could confirm that...I am one of those people that just HATE beer :)

and here we were waiting for our train back to Vienna at the Central Station...yep, not one of the most impressive Train Stations...but a cool one...and you have this kind of 'ding-dong' prior to each announcement that we kept laughing about...I don't know why...

Cultural Heritage of Slovakia issued in 2009

Zagreb, Croatia

next comes Zagreb at the end of June...and the amazing edition of InMusic Festival...

I don't know if it is still too early, but so far Im kinda not impressed with this year's line up....I am like all the time praying for Sigur Rós to be announced since they will already be on tour at that time, and they will mostly be playing at music festivals, so it is kinda logical that the guys from InMusic should try and bring them to Zagreb....but so far, they are not even giving any indications for such a possibility even though people, including me, have posed the question...so far, what has excited me the most was yesterday's announcement of Django Django coming (a cool British rock band)...and for that I would consider going...other than that, some of the cool artists that will be playing are Wilco and PJ Harvey, but still not that good enough to take that 800 km something road...though now with Django Django, it may be considered...anyways, this post should be about last year, not this one :)

So first of all, Id like to wholeheartedly thank Agi for making me company during the last InMusic...she was like the perfect company and it just contributed to the greatness of the entire festival.
 It was also my first sleeping-in-tent experience (yeah, I know it is kinda strange I haven't done it yet, but there goes my tent-virginity...) and it is something I'd do it again (well I already did it actually last August when I went mountain climbing, but that is a completely different story  and cannot compare the two).

it is a fantastic surrounding to camp at, dont you think?

and after trying to figure it out for a while..

we were set! voila!!

Anyways, the festival lasted three days, so it was three nights in the tent...and the first and the third one were ok...but oh my the second...that one is unforgettable...to me at least....even though the first day was all sunny and warm, things drastically changed during the second while we were in town...it started raining and there was this wind blowing and we were of course under equipped so we started freezing and were desperate to find some cheap umbrella or a rain coat, but guess what - all rain coats were like sold out..so at last we got into H&M and even though I am the anti-shopping kind of type, this time I felt like blessed and found this sweater for like 3 euros that felt so welcoming on my skin...I still wear it today, it is a nice one...now if we did get through the day, the night was a different issue...I think that I put on all the clothes I had with me, but it was just impossible to warm up...impossible....I think I barely slept that night...well, my mistake, didnt bring any mattress for underneath the sleeping bag...but then again,  I didnt really expect the temperatures would drop down so much that day....
Third day was good...the sun came out and everything felt different....and music-wise it was also a fabulous one, so the whole rain, freezing thing was like just forgotten...

Chillin' out with some JJ Cooler if I recall correctly (Agi discovered this one and it was really cool!)

The very main reason I decided to go to the last edition of InMusic were Placebo...and they played the very last like for closing the event...and boy were they awesome...awesome!!! I even managed to get myself in the very first row and was like aaaaahhhhh....yeah, I always do that at concerts...if it aint first row, doesnt count :) And Brian Molko is still one of the most charming and charismatic men out there....and yes, they played "Running Up that Hill" - even though it is a cover song (Kate Bush sings the original...sorry Kate, but Placebo beat you to this one)

yes, his majesty, Mr. Brian Molko

me after it was over...and there were fireworks marking the end of the 10th InMusic Festival

So as I said, Placebo were absolutely fantastic...but if it wasnt for them or if I was not so biased maybe, I would have announced the appearance of Of Monsters and Men as the absolute best - an Icelandic indie folk band that sounds sooo powerful on stage, cannot find the words to express that...so if you ever get the chance to watch them live, I ABSOLUTELY recommend it...they are just way too amazing!!
Another appearance worth mentioning from Day 3 would be the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - kinda pity I haven't listened to them much before but gave them more credit once I got back home...

As for the other two days - day one started with Paulo Nutini....Scottish guy with some Italian origin...found out about him before the festival, gave him a listen and loved it...and yeah, a great appearance on stage, great voice, charming guy...he played my favourite, Iron Sky...downside, he didn't play "Diana" but I may be asking too much...
Another band for that night which I learned about prior the festival and loved them...and which proved to be awesome, "Future Islands"...an American synth-pop band which have something so unique in their sound and stage appearance and that is so haunting and so catchy...one of those bands that I regret not having discovered earlier (they've been around like since 2006 and I discover them almost 10 years later =[

In the end I will mention FFS (or Franz Ferdinand and the Sparks) - they were like headliners I think but FFS is NOT the same as FF...it just isn't =/ I don't wanna say I was disappointed cos I didn't have expectations on this one, but it is like they have the popularity based on the good old glory days...

After all those concerts, Agi and I went to this Silent Music party that turned out so cool! You know, you have these headphones with like four different music stations and you choose which one you like most and you like dance and sing to it...but of course nobody listens to the same thing and everyone moves in his/her own rhythm...kinda really cool....well now there were groups of people that were singing altogether but still...loved the concept...too bad we couldn't do it the other two nights...but on the second night after having frozen during the day I wasn't really much into it...

Speaking of Day 2, I'd mention Death Cab For Cutie (aside from Placebo, another reason I decided to go to InMusic, since I've been listening to them for ages)....and you know,  everything kinda fit together that night...with the rain falling, their music and lyrics were just right...and you have this slow music and the rain falling on your face...though they have some strange lyrics..I mean who else would sing something like
'Love of mine, some day you will die' or
'But I'm thinking of what Sarah said that "Love is watching someone die" So who's going to watch you die?..'
I don't know where that obsession of love and death comes from...kinda wicked and creepy, but I still say they are a fantastic band...

But most importantly, they played "Transantlanticism" - that is like my all time favourite by them and I almost cried when they played it....oh and I ended up with a guitar-pick as a souvenir :D

ok, apart from the festival, we spent some time in the city as well, and this was when Agi showed me the beauties of Umami - an awesome Asian-Fusion restaurant...delicious food and reasonable prices!


wondering if Id know how to eat with chopsticks (that is the sweater that saved me btw =))

yummie!! yummie! yummie!!

and then there was this great pancake place (Milky whey or something) but the pancakes were awesome...and so rich that I didn't manage to finish mine....I tried, but I just couldn't...

and the great cakes at Amelie and the kind people working there (I think I will tell you that story in some future post cos I already talked way too long here, Im kinda sure I lost you somewhere on the way :))

so, as with all good things, this one came to an end..but hoping for a new edition this summer

farewell...

*bonus photo and the million dollar question, what the hell was I doing here...

I don't know how relevant the stamp would be after so much rambling, but it is a lighthouse, so I cannot not mention it (yeah, Agi took me to the philately shop so I could choose some nice stamps for the cards ;-)

It is from the set of 4 lighthouse stamps issued in 2015 - this one shows the Grebeni lighthouse.

Photo credits within this post go to Agi! Big hug to her for letting me use them here :*


huh, I seriously need a break before moving on to Turkey...and I actually started all this two days ago...

Kuşadasi,Turkey

So summer time came...and Marija, Sašo and I thought of going somewhere...and our first idea was actually Romania, but that kinda turned out complicated to be organized, since we had to do the entire organization ourselves...and then as a second best option, but which I think turned out perfect, was Turkey (and my FIRST time in Turkey!! Yay!!!). We found this cheap offer through the travel agent's (by bus again, of course) and we set out on the long journey to Kuşadasi....I don't mind long journeys, but with this one I almost lost my sanity....cos of the two families who decided to go as well, with their small little children, age btw 2-5.....it was a brain-torture, and no I am not overreacting...and we had the luck to be sitting like just across them...one of them was like constantly crying...the other one was constantly just talking some gibberish (something of this type 'dad!' 'what?' 'dad!' 'what?!' 'dad!' 'what?' 'dad!' 'what?!' 'dad!' 'what?' 'dad!' 'what?!' 'dad!' 'what?' 'dad!' 'what?!'
no actual conversation, just playing tennis with words...and the  third one kept either talking or playing games on her iPad, with the volume as loud as possible, and would start objecting each time some of her folks would try to turn it down...after which she immediately would turn it up....and it all went on and on...and just when we kinda fell asleep, the father for some reason didn't feel like sleeping, so he was just like standing above our heads, talking to his wife, or whatever she was, who was sitting two seats ahead...I mean, Jesus!!!  What a f***ing way to start it all...instead of feeling relaxed since, we are going on holiday, right? They managed to stress me out to an enormous extent! Arghhhhh!!!

So finally we arrived..got to the hotel...and with our luck, turns out that they had to move us to another one since there was some technical problem with our room??!! But on this I'm not gonna complain since we went to a better one..well at least it was more spacious...the fact that there was no cleaning lady or change of sheets or anything for 10 days, that is a different story :)

Now, I think I won't be making a long post here, since even though we stayed for like 10 days, half of the time we traveled some place else, so I will talk of that in some future post (no cards sent from the other places btw, so I will have to manage with something received).
Speaking of postcards, no great choice in Kuşadasi frankly...I expected more...but tried from the not so good selection to choose the better ones...and here is part of it (this corner was like our resting place on the way back to the hotel, since all the time you are like going uphill and eventually it starts getting tiring..)

funny thing, there is no Post Office...the one that was marked on the map was actually non-existent (closed some time ago)...no mailboxes in street...so all the mail goes to this mailbox in front of this shop....and you just wonder if this thing is actually working or all your cards will go in vain...and funny though, it was working!  Took a while for the cards to arrive, but at least most of them have arrived...
So this is the place where the fate of all cards is decided....had to be documented

As for Kuşadasi itself..well it is mainly a touristic spot....not much to see...and this place we wanted to see, was like closed for the public....but thing is, it is by the sea...and when I am by the sea, I am like a completely different person....I feel like newborn...so in general, I don't need much else but the sea and the sunshine...and just hoping for a not-so-crowded-yet-clean beach :)

chillin' out...

being foolish....

what I loved about one of the beaches was that they had this small library! And I did well the first day..but during the next ones I could barely concentrate and would like immediately fall asleep right there on the beach bed...

another thing you will often come across are things like this....

....and the greatest choice of fake Converse you could ever imagine...where a pair costs like 7 euros (I ended up buying 4 different ones with these being my absolute favourite - these were actually a love at first sight! )

if you are a cat lover (like me), then youd enjoy the fact that wherever you go, there would be some stray cats (sad for them though...I remember on our first morning while having breakfast at the terrace, we witnessed this dog almost killing one of those poor stray cats since it dared to step onto his territory)

                                                                           this one is at the exchange office....

I must mention the Turkish cuisine, that I absolutely love! LOVE!! Esp all kinds of Gözleme (the one with Tahini is heavenly!) + Ayran!!

And the drink that rules, Yeni Raki :)

just that it is insanely expensive in Turkey...5 euros for a glass...here in Skopje I have it for 1.5 euros....but every pleasure has its price...

and ok, I seem to have talked way too long again...we were lucky a day or two before we left, there was this street market in the vicinity of our hotel...and boy do I love street markets! We bought some fruits, that eventually we didn't eat...not because we didn't like them, but because it was too much at the moment and there was no fridge in the room, so you get it...

*bonus picture - Marija had her birthday while we were there, so we went to this bar chosen at random...and before we knew it, we realized we had a stripper for free.....:P

the thing about the stamps is that they will charge you differently at different places...for the EXACT same stamps, and always MORE than the actual value...but it is just impossible to debate about it, since they like don't understand English or pretend not to understand English, so it is like 'take it or leave it'....

the stamp on the left is from 2010, from a set of four definitives featuring Ataturk. The other one was issued in 2012 in a set of 8 Tourism stamps - this one features Izmir, and that is one of the places we went to, but for that story in some other update :)

ok, just one more post...which blogger just doesnt want to put it on the same page...I really need to change something about this template...it has been misbehaving for a while...