Porto, Portugal

Next is a card that dear Marta sent me from a small meeting held in Porto on November 11th, last year.

If there is something typical about Portugal, it is all these beautifully decorated tiles and these can actually be seen at the São Bento Railway Station! That is really thoughtful Marta! Thank you so much!

There are approximately 20,000 azulejo tiles, dating from 1905–1916, and were composed by Jorge Colaço, an important painter of azulejo of the time. You can see different scenes, events, and personalities depicted on these walls, like the Battle of Arcos de Valdevez and Egas Moniz before Alfonso VII of Castile, D. João I in Oporto, with his fiancé and the Conquest of Ceuta,  the Battle of Valdevez, a meeting between the knight Egas Moniz and Alfonso VII of León in Toledo etc etc etc.

there is even a train sticker on the back of the card :D The stamp is from a set of 4 issued in 2017, representing Trees of the Mediterranean. This one shows a strawberry tree or Arbutus unedo.

Muito obrigada Marta!  ❤ 

Helsinki, Finland

a dreamy kind of an image..at least for me...

I received this card back in 2012 from Minna as RAS. This is how the main railway station in Helsinki looks like during the snowy winter days...I don't know if it is always so deserted and empty, but sure feels tranquil and if it wasn't (probably) freezing cold, it would be really nice to sit here for hours and find your peace of mind.....

a very, very cute Christmas stamp issued in 1996 in a set of 3 stamps. Love those auroras!!

Lviv, Ukraine

I just realized that for today I've picked another country with political unrests and all...not to mention that story about the Malaysian plane crash in Ukraine not so long ago..but my choices were surely not intentional with the idea to talk about politics and solve disputes and blah blah...you know I hate that...

here I have two cards related to the Railway Station in Lviv...and, hmm, now before I say a few words about the cards and the stamps, I wanted to mention something else which this card reminded me of...and that is somewhat related to Ukraine and Lviv, and in a few sentences, this train station (no, I haven't been there yet :))

Anyways, there is this book I read recently and really loved it, so just wanted to tell you about it...and its plot is set mainly in Lviv, so this post seemed really appropriate to mention the book as well..even though it is still in Macedonian only, hopefully in the near future it will be translated in a few other languages and will be available to the wider audiences...I highly recommend that you read it...cos come on, how many books can you say you have read by a Macedonian author? hm? =)

the book's name in English is "Gargle", as its equivalent Macedonian translation...you find out why..written by the young and aspiring Macedonian author Igor Stanojoski.
For me it was one of the books that kept my attention throughout its entirety, gave me emotional turmoils, and once I finished it I was in the 'what am I supposed to do with myself now' kind of mood..reminded me of Murakami at times...
Feel free to browse through the website dedicated solely to the book..besides in Macedonian, you can read some sections in English, Polish and Russian....hoping that I've intrigued you somewhat by now, just click on the link below ;-)

http://www.gargara.mk/english/index.html


aaaand now down to the postcards

First comes a card from Vita, showing the exterior of the Railway Station in Lviv.
Built in the Art Nouveau style,  its construction had started in 1899 and has been into service since 1904, handling over 1 million passengers per month! Such numbers always bring to mind OUR railway station..I think it would take a number of years to actually handle that many passengers...the commodity and the reliability of the service is a different story...

and how lovely when someone sending me a train/railway card, attaches some matching stamps...and at least Ukraine isn't short of fantastic train stamps! These two are from the 2010 set of 4 locomotives.


The following card - I received it TWICE! Within a month's distance! (back in 2011)
Yeah, receiving your favourite cards works in a funny way sometimes...you just wait for sooo long to receive some, and then eventually at least two or three people send it to you...but I don't mind it, cos it is just soo beautiful...the stamp-image just gives some additional charm to this one.

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One copy arrived from Viktoria as part of  a swap, and another one from Olya as an official....and here you can actually see the interior of the Lviv Railway Station...just so beautiful! And I cant help but wonder where these two trains are going to...

yesss..two train stamps again from the 2010 set...plus one more coming from a set of 8 definitives issued in 2008 - this one is showing a spinning wheel

the other card came with three copies of this definitive, also issued in 2007, showing a kumanet

PS. I still can't possibly pronounce Lviv properly...I just CAN'T!

Zürich Railway Station, Switzerland

ok, one more for today...a lovely surprise from Andy!

you may wonder, what the hell is this...yeah, it seems a bit bizarre...but this is The Guardian Angel sculpture inside the Railway Station in Zürich.  Giant and really colourful!
Weighing 1.2 tonnes and more than 11 metres high, this guardian angel protects passengers day and night...I hope it is well fixed...otherwise...

both stamps were issued in 2008...and I think you are rather familiar with both the grain and the bird stamp...

well, that would be all for today...hope you liked one or maybe more of today's posts....until next time, stay well!

The Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, Malaysia

and for my last post today (yeah, sorry, but it would be only four posts despite so much time has passed - but better something than nothing ;-)

I have two cards showing the Railway Station in Kuala Lumpur.

this one came back in 2010, unless I had mixed up something, for the Surprise RR.
The back of the card says: the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station built at the turn of the 20th century, is a beautiful example of Moorish architecture with its bold minarets and elegant arches.

the stamp is from a set of 8 definitives issued in 2005

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This one, as you can see, arrived as an official card...from someone who took the time to browse to my endless collections and tried to find something I do not have yet in there...and I am really thankful for that :)

The back of THIS card says: Designed by British Architect A.B.Hubback, the former Kuala Lumpur Railway Station has a profusion of minarets, spires and arched verandhas.

So here I got puzzled with the word 'former'....coz nothing about it is mentioned in the first card...but than taking into account the first card arrived in 2010...no wonder changes may have occurred...and from what I could google, now, only the commuter trains stop here, while all the intercity train services stop at the KL Central station, not so far away from this one...

So this is what happens when one doesn't post regular updates and lets cards pile and pile up...thank God for this second card, otherwise I would have probably remained ignorant...

and the thoughtful sender used train stamps as well :) the lovely train stamps issued in 2010.
Speaking of officials...Im going a bit nuts with how slow they have been travelling lately..I miss a more frequent Hurray! in my mailbox...and the anticipation of drawing new addresses.....

ok then, that would be all for today...have a great week ahead folks :)

Riga, Latvia

well, as for my last card today, i chose this lovely one from Latvia

im really thankful to Elena for being so kind and sending it to me...I absolutely love this card...not only coz it is railway related, but the colours feel so special too...the skies have some spectacular colour and i love the black wires crossing all over...they just give such a special touch to the overall image.

On this card you can see a railroad close to the centre of Riga while in the background is a medieval church and a modern office building of Swedbank....what a combination in total :)

thank you all for following and for giving such great contribution to my mailbox, and of course to this blog. Have a great weekend!!   

Debrecen, Hungary

A fantastic card that came with a bunch of other train cards as a surprise from dear Kriszti!

well, from what I was able to understand from the back of the card, it shows Diesel-hydraulic locomotives No. M41 2325 and 2326 of MAV ZRt (Hungarian State Railways) in Debrecen on May 13th 2007.

videos always seem to go best with such cards....even though they are maybe not of the best quality, it is nice to see these locomotives in action...





thank you sooo much again for this amazing surprise Kriszti!!! <3 

Kharkiv, Ukraine

A lovely train card sent to me by Olia.

The card shows the railway station in Kharkiv at the beginning of the 20th century.
Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine (something Ive learned just now, I must admit), located in the northeast part of the country.
The first railway connection of Kharkiv was opened in 1869. The first train to arrive in Kharkiv came from the north on 22 May 1869, and on 6 June 1869, traffic was opened on the Kursk–Kharkiv–Azov line. Kharkiv's passenger railway station was reconstructed and expanded in 1901, to be later destroyed in the Second World War. A new railway station was built in 1952.

So this is that reconstructed and expanded version I guess, before being destroyed in the war.

and just look at this fantastic stamps!!! a lighthouse and a train!! The lighthouse stamp is from a set of 6 lighthouse stamps issued in 2010 and it portrays the Illichivskyi lighthouse. While the train stamp is also from 2010 from a set of 4 called 50 Years of Kyiv Metro - Modern Metro Train. The other two stamps are definitives issued in 2008 in a set of 13 stamps representing handicrafts.
 Thank you again Olia!!! 

Minsk, Belarus

My last card for today is a great official one coming from Belarus.

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Now, you may ask, whats so special about this card? It is just another fancy building....yeah....it is...but do you know that this is actually the main building of the railway station in Minsk??! Oh yeah :)
I had no idea about it until I actually read the explanation on the back...to me it was like some shopping mall but I was highly mislead :)
It was built in 2000, so it is quite a new and modern one. I wish that our government actually decided to renovate our main train station, coz it looks awful and miserable, just as our trains. I dont say it has to look like the station above, but it should at least be decent and maybe have elevators instead people having to pull their heavy suitcases along the stairs, and the waiting rooms could be cleaner and nicer...but maybe, in some distant futue....

I think that the first three stamps are quite familiar to you....one is from the 8 garden flowers' stamps issued in 2008 (here you have the Petunia) and the other stamp was also issued in 2008 in a set of 5 wild animals' stamps and here you see the European Mink. The third stamp is the interesting one coz at least it is not one you see often on the Belarus cards. It was issued in 2005 in a set of two stamps representing Belarussian national clothes, and this stamp portrays the Mosty region.

Thank you for following and hope you have a great week ahead...and of course, I hope to see you soon :)

Damascus, Syria

Well, here are some nice postcards, in order to make a closure of something that was a tiring but lovely weekend!

Silvan again prepared a splendid surprise for my mailbox, this time sending me a postcard from Syria, and no more or less, but a railway related one!!!!
This here is the Al-Hijaz (or Hejaz) Railway Station in Damascus, a very magnificent Ottoman Building. Even though this station is no longer in use, it still makes such a perfect postcard and such a thoughtful surprise!
The Hejaz railway ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa, on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and was built in order to extend the previously existing line between Istanbul and Damascus all the way to the holy city of Mecca (eventually being able to reach only Medina due to the interruption of the construction works caused by the outbreak of World War I).

the stamp on the left is a definitive issued in 2009, representing President Bashar Al-Assad, while the other one was issued in 2006 in a set of 3 Fauna stamps, representing fish from Syria