LOS SANTOS DE MAIMONA (BADAJOZ) - SPAIN

Last Monday I received more postcards from this Spanish city. 
This time from Los Santos de Maimona sent me by Oficina de Turismo. Thanks a lot! A new town in my collection! 
We can see Pilar de Vistahermosa and Fuente/Fountain de La Bellota.

ESPOLLA - SAINT QUIRZE DE COLERA

Today I received more 4 postcards. This time from Espolla sent me by Oficina de Turismo. Thanks a lot! A new town in my collection! 
We can see a estepa flower, a scenic view of St. Quirze de Colera, the apses of Sant Quirze de Colera romanesque monastery and the pools of Jonquera and Mount Neulos.

Visit: http://www.espolla.cat/

FRANCE - 3 GROTTES - Villefranche de Conflent

Today another surprise in my mail box. I received 8 postcards from 3 Grottes in France - Next Villefranche de Conflent.

Thanks a lot!

Visit: http://www.3grottes.com/

We can see Les Aiguillettes, Le trapeze and Le lac aux Atolls. 

In Cova Bastera we can see a Prehistoric scenes. 

NIAGARA FALLS - NEW YORK STATE

Last ones today. 

Yes I received 2 postcards from Niagara Falls! Anyone in Niagara Tourism sent me this 2 beaty cards for my collection. Thanks a lot!

It´s the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York.

Visit http://www.niagara-usa.com/

SPAIN - HOTEL PELAYO - COVADONGA (ASTURIAS)

Today I received this beauty card from Gran Hotel Pelayo in Covadonga.
I like hotel postcards. If you have any hotel postcards please send me for my collection!
Visit ánd booking  http://www.granhotelpelayo.com/

SPAIN - LOS SANTOS DE MAIMONA (BADAJOZ)

Today I received more 6 postcards. This time from Los Santos de Maimona sent me by Oficina de Turismo. Thanks a lot! A new town in my collection!
We can see a village church, aerial village view, Town Hall site, a typical spanish fountain, la Puerta del Perdón and a typical street lamp.

Visit http://lossantosdemaimona.com/

LUXEMBOURG - CITY OF LUXEMBOURG

I received today 2 postcards from Luxembourg too sent me by City tourist office.

We can see Vieille Ville (Unesco site) and Fortress Museum and Europa Square. 

Thanks a lot!

SLOVENIA - LJUBLJANA

Today received postcards from Slovenia sent me by Ljubljana Office Tourism Centre. Thanks a lot!

We can see Robba Fountain, Bulding of the former Cooperative Bank, a castle, Riverbanks, selling flowers and Cobbler´s bridge in 1st postcard.

In 2nd postcard we can see a General postcard with scnenic views from Slovenia.

BRAZIL - RIO DE JANEIRO

I´ll be back.

Someone in Brazil - Rio de Janeiro sent me that postcard. Thanks a Lot.
I wait more postcards from Brazil soon.

BUENOS AIRES - AV. 9 DE MAIO AND RETIRO (MONUMENTAL TOWER)

Hello. A special gift by family. Thanks a lot.

We can see 9 de Julio Avenue, located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the widest avenue in the world. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816.

The avenue runs roughly 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the west of the Río de la Plata waterfront, from the Retirodistrict in the north to Constitución station in the south. The avenue has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each. There are two wide medians between the side streets and the main road.

Torre Monumental and before 1982 Torre de los Ingleses (Tower of the English) is a clock tower located in the barrio (district) of Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is situated in the Plaza Fuerza Aérea Argentina (formerly Plaza Británica) next to the Rua San Martín and Avenida del Libertador. It was a gift from the local British community to the city in commemoration of the centennial of the May Revolution of 1810.

Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires

STRASBOURG - LES MUSEES DE LA VILLE

Palais Rohan - Synode Salon - Decoratif Arts Museum

 Outside site of Alsatian Museum - Renascent Epoque

Hello again, a special gift from Strasbourg Museums. Thanks a lot.

Alsatian Museum - is a museum of art and folk tradition, offering museum visitors a charming tour of Strasbourg’s old houses linked together via staircases and wooden passageways (like we see in postcard). 

Museum of Decorative Arts - Located on the ground floor of the Palais Rohan, the former residence of Bishop-Princes from 1732 to 1742

Visit: http://www.musees.strasbourg.eu/

MALDIVES - REETHI BEACH MALDIVES (PARADISE SITE)

Postcard sent me by Reethi Beach Team. Thanks a lot! 

I love hotel postcards. Please send me more!

We are located on a tiny island in Baa Atoll, a scenic 35-minute seaplane flight from Male’. The elegant and spacious detached and semi-detached villas are built from natural materials in typical Maldivian-style, providing first class comfort in a unique setting. Rooms are air-conditioned and set amid tropical foliage fringing a long expanse of powder soft beach or on stilts over the clear blue lagoon. There are five restaurants and five bars, poolside and beachfront. Facilities include a PADI 5-star dive centre; a Spa and wellness retreat; Water Sports Centre; Sports Complex and a wide variety of group and private excursions have been carefully selected to enable you to explore the untouched beauty of Baa Atoll and the rich culture of its inhabitants.

Visit and booking: http://www.reethibeach.com/

DANMARK - HORSENS

Postcard sent me by Hans J. Thanks a lot Hans! I send you a postcard from Portugal soon.

Horsens lies at the end of Horsens Fjord in eastern Jutland. The city is surrounded by typical moraine landscape with low hills and valleys created by glaciers during the last ice ages. Horsens is 50 km (31 mi) south of Aarhus and 30 km (19 mi) north of Vejle, and approximately 200 km (120 mi) from Copenhagen.

Visit http://www.horsenskom.dk/OmKommunen/English1.aspx

GUARDA - HISTORICAL CITY

As I tell I met  Marta in Guarda, her home city. 

She´s a portuguese postcards collector. She offers me 40 cards!! It was an amazing present too! 

She offers us a guided tour in Guarda. Amazing and mountain city! Snows in Winter time. She explain us a sign of a gargula in Cathedral...

We eat a very good crepe (a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour) with a ice cream.

The whole city of Guarda has always been a hymn to granite, sung in the Romantic art of the Mileu Chapel, the Gothic and Manueline style of its cathedral, and in the streets, squares and walls of its medieval citadel. This hymn had its echo in Neolithic times as well, with the Pêra do Moço dolmen and the polished stone axe heads exhibited in the Guard Museum. It continued down through the bronze age and the Roman period in the camps of Tintinolho and Jarmelo and in the stretch of Roman road beside the Dorna Fountain.

Finally in 1199, the second king of Portugal, Sancho I, founded the city, gave in the power of Bishop of Egitânia and dedicated a friendly rhyming song to it, in praise of an old love.

In the reigns of Afonso II and Afonso III, the walls were completed, at the time with five gates. Nowadays all that remains is the Ferreiros Tower and the Erva and d'El Rei gates, overloocked by the Keep and linked by a tracery of fascinating streets that serve the Jewis quarter and the baronial Largo do Paço do Biu, and among which Rua Direita, now Rua Francisco dos Passos, was the main street. In Praça Velha, or Praça Luís de Camões, what is today the Holy See was built from 1390 to 1540. Form that time on centuries have gone by, as have styles and monuments, but all of them are marked by their granite features, retained by the city for all time.

Visit: http://postaisdamarta.blogspot.pt/

MAURITIUS - BAYSTONE BOUTIQUE HOTEL E SPA

In my mailbox my last postcard in my vacation time.

New country in my collection.
A postcard sent me from Mauritius Island show Baystone Boutique Hotel e Spa. Thanks a lot! I like hotel postcards!

Five stars Luxury Hotel, the Baystone Boutique Hotel & Spa, located on the North-West coast of Mauritus in Pointe aux Canonniers near Grand Bay, displays a modern and refined appearance playing with fresh and light tones and for which furniture has been designed and custom made by New York architect, Albert Angel.

This luxury and yet friendly hotel & Spa offers an elegant and an intimate atmosphere and has all the ingredients to make your holidays in Mauritius a unique and exceptional experience.

Visit and booking http://www.baystone.mu/en/

It´s a paradise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SPAIN - TIERRA DE LOS CABALLEROS - TABLAS DE DAIMIEL (HISTORIC ROUTE)

Valdepeñas - Nª Sra. de la Assuncion Church

Almagro - Plaza Mayor (Central Plaza)

Ciudad Real - Toledo Gate (islamic)

Daimiel - National Park of Tablas de Daimiel

Villanueva de los Infantes - San Andres Church

Villarrubia de los Ojos - Landscape Mancha from San Cristobal (church)

Postcards sent me by Ayuntamiento de Valdepeñas in Spain during my vacation time. Thanks a lot!
That collection show us 6 cities and landscapes from Central Spain. 

Visit: http://www.valdepenas.es/VLDSedeWeb/Modulos/VLDPortal.nsf/wfMenuInicio?ReadForm

HONDURAS - HOTEL GRAN CENTRAL (TELA)

Another new country in my collection. Thanks a lot someone in Honduras. I thinks that postcard sent by someone in France!

We can see Hotel Gran Central in Tela in Honduras.

Hotel Gran Central of Tela Honduras is a testimony of the last century Banana Republic when the Standard Fruit Company had its main activity there. At that time Tela was a very busy harbour with a large pier carraying the train, loading the large ships with all kind of tropicals fruits: banana, pineapple, grapefruits…in a coming and going motion, heading to United States, Europe or South America.
At that time Hotel Gran Central was already the place to rest for travellers, located in front of the Tela Railroad Company station wich will soon become a Historical and Cultural Center of Tela.
It is a very special two stories colonial buiding with 8 beautiful rooms located a few yards from the magnificent beach of Tela on the carribean coast of Honduras.
Completely restaured, it kept it’s architectural style: large terraces, colonades, high ceilings, doors and windows frames made of exotic woods of Honduras give a special touch of authenticity. On the main floor, you will be able to rest after a busy day and enjoy a drink at the bar. You will also be able to discover the restaurant for breakfast, the special yoga center and the flowered patio with the most beautiful orchideas from the Honduras forests.

AUSTRIA - INNSBRUCK

Return to Lisbon i had in my mail box a lot of postcards.

Someone in Austria sent me 3 postcards from Innsbruck. Thanks a lot to Innsbruck Tourismus office.

We can see:

- Igls - Every hiker finds here a unique Alpine nature paradise. On the way from alp to alp you have stunning views over the nearby and distant mountains. Having a rich Tyrolean snack you will be able to explore the Tyrolean cuisine.
- The University of Innsbruck is a public university in the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded in 1669.

It is currently the largest education facility in the Austrian Bundesland of Tirol, the third largest in Austria behind Vienna University and the University of Graz and according to The Times Higher Education Supplement World Ranking 2010 Austria's leading university. Significant contributions have been made in many branches, most of all in the physics department. Further, regarding the number ofWeb of Science-listed publications, it occupies the third rank worldwide in the area of mountain research.

- Ambras Castle (German: Schloss Ambras) is a Renaissance castle and palace located in the hills above Innsbruck, Austria. Considered one of the most popular tourist attractions of the city, Ambras Castle was built in the sixteenth century on the spot of an earlier tenth-century castle, which became the seat of power for the Counts of Andechs. The cultural and historical importance of the castle is closely connected with Archduke Ferdinand II and served as his residence from 1563 to 1595.

Visit: www.innsbruck.info

SWITZERLAND - UNESCO WELTERBE TEKTONIKARENA SARDONA

Return to Lisbon i had in my mail box a lot of postcards. 

Here we can see 3 postcards from Unesco site of Welterbe Tecktonikartena Sardona.

The area in which the thrust is found was declared a geotope, a geologic UNESCO world heritage site, under the name "Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona." The area of this "tectonic arena" encompasses 32,850 hectares of mainly mountainous landscape in 19 communities between the Surselva, Linthtal and Walensee. 

In the arena are a number of peaks higher than 3000 meters, such as Surenstock (its Romansh name is Piz Sardona, from which the name comes), Ringelspitzand Pizol.

The region was declared world heritage in July 2008, because "the area displays an exceptional example of mountain building through continental collision and features excellent geological sections throughtectonic thrust.

Visit: http://www.unesco-sardona.ch/

MANGUALDE / FIRST ARTIFICIAL BEACH IN EUROPE AND NOSSA SENHORA DO CASTELO SANCTUARY

My photo /Live Beach Mangualde

                                                               My photo /Live Beach Mangualde

I spend my first time of holidays in a city of Mangualde in Portugal. 
That town have since 2013 a first artificial beach in mountain! 

It]s true with sand but not a very salt water, more like a swimming pool water.
Visit http://www.livebeach.pt/

I stay here Hotel Senhora do Castelo.

The Senhora do Castelo Hotel is located on top of the mount Senhora do Castelo, in Mangualde. The rooms of the hotel are fully equipped and provide all the neccessary services to ensure you a nice stay. From the balconies of each room, you will be able to stare at the beauty of the leafy gardens that surround our hotel. 

You can also enjoy your day in our swimming pools and our tennis court, before spending a relaxing time in the sauna. 
In the Hotel Senhora do Castelo you will also find our restaurant, where we serve traditional Portuguese dishes. 
In the exterior swimming pool terrace you can drink cocktails while enjoying the wonderful landscape.