Ios - Greece

 Europe-Greece-Ios This is the beach I spend the afternoon on. It was very nice , but the water was a little too cold for me. 

Posted at the local Post office. 

Chora - Ios Greece

 Europe-Greece-Ios-Chora This is the main town on the island of Ios. It was a 45 mins ferry ride from Santorini . It feels like a completely different world there. Simple and rustic like. 

Found the Post Office in the centre of town. 

Santorini- Oia

 Europe-Greece-Santorini-Oia I have to say this is the most beautiful town on Santorini. It has pure amazing sights and the colours against the sun are spectacular. Did not stay here , but visited twice. Loved it. 

Loved the message on these stamps showing diversity and the way they are drawn. Unfortunately these did not get postmarked. I put these in a post box instead of at the post office. 

Fira Santorini

 Europe-Greece-Santorini-Fira My first holiday outside Ireland in nearly 2 years. It was great to get away. Since there was now direct flights from Dublin, took the opportunity to visit Santorini. A destination with a lot to live up to. I have to say for certain it exceeded my expectation. This area Fira is where I stayed. Loads of nice places to eat and great views day or night. 

This card was posted in the main post office in Fira. They were very helpful and had a good selection of stamps including new issues. Very clear postmark. 

Mount Athos

Europe-Mount Athos-Karyes   This is Mount Athos on the end of a Pensuila. the only way to get here is by boat. Also you have to be a man ! It is a collection of monasteries. When I started to arrange this trip, I discovered that you are expected to book at least 8 months to one year in advance. I had planned to be in this region so I was lucky and got a cancellation with a two month time frame.  I was here two days. It is a World Heritage Site. 

Because I could not get the dates I had wanted, I ended up here on a Saturday and Sunday. There is a Post office but it was closed. So I had brought Greece stamps with me to mail this card. The stamp on the right is the original stamp I used for this card. However, there is more to this then meets the eye. A month or so after I had got home I discovered in a Stamp Magazine that Greece issues stamps each year just for Mount Athos. Then I googled this and discovered a wonderful Postcard Blog. That was Glenn Mores from Canada. The Postcard  blog is www.gemsworldpostcards.blogspot.com   It is excellent and I view it many times. I then ordered the Mount Athos stamps from the Greece Post office and sent the card back by registered mail to the Post office in Karyes. These are the two stamps on the left of the card. So a unusual Posting. As a result of that blog , it gave me the inspiration to start this blog. Ok. it took me 3 years to start but better late then never. ! 

Greece - World Heritage Site.

Europe-Greece-Vergina  This postcard shows the site of Vergina , a World Heritage Site. The museum was especially impressive. 

Hard to read the Postmark, but posted in Vergina. 

Europe-Greece-Ouranoupoli  This is the town right at the end of the peninsula. Busy but picturesque. I stayed here over night.Really enjoyed the place day and night time.  Only reason to come, is that this is the town you get the boat from to visit Mount Athos  .

Very nice stamp , but hard to see here with the postmark. 

Cyprus and Greece and British Sovereign Base Area of Cyprus

Europe-Cyprus British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri & Dhekelia-Akrotiri  The Sovereign Base of Akrotriri is in fact a British Overseas Territory . I hired a car in Cyprus and stopped here as I travelled around the Island. Not a lot to see. 

There was a Cyrus mail box in Atrotiri. So posted this postcard here. This card also got a  second Irish Postmark, for some reason. Unusual. 

Europe-Greece-Thessaloniki One of the biggest cities in Greece. A lot to see around here. Very interesting. 

The Post office here had a poor selection of stamps. 

Spain - Greece- Crete

Europe-Spain-Valencia Here we see the Mercado Central , ie the Central Market. This is a World Heritage site. I have to say I did not find this site especially inspiring. 

From this stamp I see there was a Expo in Zaragoza. Never got to that? . 

Europe-Greece-Delphi  Well this was interesting all right. Got a good tour guide . Worth the trip . A World Heritage Site. 

You can see the local Postmark here. 

Europe-Crete-Herakleion  Crete is one of my favourite Islands. Here you see the port at Herakleion. Beautiful to walk around and just take in the views. 

I do like the long stamp. Showing a typical seaside harbour town. 

Greece and Turkey

Europe-Dodecanese Islands-Rhodes-Rhodes Town  Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese group of Islands . A lot of cultural sites to see here. The Medieval town of Rhodes is a World Heritage Site.A great Island to visit. 

Posted at the main post office in Rhodes Town. I just love these old replica Olympic stamps which were reissued. . 

Europe-Dodecanese Islands-Rhodes-Ixia   Showing the Hilton Hotel which was a very nice choice of hotel to relax and not far from the old town. 

The quality of these stamps are excellent . 

Europe-Dodecanese Islands-Rhodes-Rhodes Town   Showing more sights from the old town. The old town a great place to walk around and discover the history of the island. 

This card is issued by the post office in Rhodes . So it has a preprinted stamp . 

Asia-Turkey-Marmaris   Went on a day trip from Rhodes. Hard to believe you are now in Asia. A nice change . But a lot of carpet sellers and such like. I managed to escape all of them somehow. I do remember the Turkish delight !!!. 

Wish they had more selection of stamps. My Turkish stamps on postcards are not very exciting 

Europe-Dodecanese-Rhodes-Lindos  Lindos lies about 50km south of Rhodes town. A very interesting place to visit as you can see from the postcard. 

I see this has a local postmark. Always good to see. The postcards are always posted in the town or city of the postcard. So it is really only when there is a sorting office that the postmark is not local. More Olympic stamps here. 

Europe-Greece-Athens   Well my first time here. Really had a great time. I do remember the walk up to The Acropolis . Well worth it. 

The last year I had Eurovision stamps from Ukraine. Well here we have the Greek stamps. Yes it is Eurovision time again and was here for the competition. I even managed to get another photo of myself beside the stamp . 

Europe-Greece-Athens  From the hotel I stayed in, could see this sight at night. So just had to have a postcard to remember that. Of course also a World Heritage Site. 

This is a beautiful stamp and hard to see how nice it is with the gold printing.