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| The road entering Artsakh from Armenia |
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| At Border with Armenia |
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| Main Post Office in Stepanakert |
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| At the Post Office |
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| Philatelic Display |
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| At the monument, "We are the Mountains " |
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| Downtown Stepanakert, capital of Artsakh |
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| Post office in Shushi |
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| The entry to the Post Office in Shushi, was not in good condition and no sign. |
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Asia-Republic of Artsakh-Shushi This is the Cathedral of Christ the Holy Savion in Shushi . About 45 minutes from Stepanakert . Not much else to see here. But the last part of Artsakh to be taken from Azerbaijan during the war. |
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| I have to say the Post office here I would never have found. It was my guide and driver who knew where the Post office was. At the top of a broken building with no sign. The Post Office itself, could have done with a little love. Will post photos at some stage here. |
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Asia-Republic of Artsakh-Gandzasar This is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. This is the seat for The Bishop of Artsakh. It is well worth a visit and there is an excellent museum there. |
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| This card has a mix of stamps , the two on the left are the Republic of Artsakh and the one on the left is Nagorno Karabakh stamp. I posted this in Shushi . |
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Asia-Republic of Artsakh-Stepanakert This is the most famous tourist site, it is just on the start of the capital. It was built in 1967 and is called " We are the Mountains ". |
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| These stamps are the most recent issue from Republic of Artsakh. The Post Office in the capital is very helpful and they have a philatelic display . However they may did not have a full selection in stock. |
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Asia-Republic of Artsakh-Stepanakert This is the capital of Artsakh, Formally known as Nagorno Karabakh. You get here via Armenia and you need a visa that you can get in Armenia at the "Embassy " there. Here is a postcard s showing the central area. |
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| These stamps show the new name of Artsakh. The Post Office still sells a mix of these and Nagorno Karabakh stamps. The Post is sent out via Armenia . |
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Asia-Armenia-Yerevan This Postcard shows the famous French singer Charles Aznavour . His parents are from Armenia. So here they consider him a Famous Armenian. |
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| I was in Yerevan on the day that this sheep was issued. I have to say that the Philatelic Shop was busy all day with customers lining up to buy these stamps. I have to say I think it is a beautiful issue. |
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Asia-Armenia-Yerevan This is my second time back to Armenia and it is a delightful Country to visit. On this occasion I only visited Yerevan the capital. This card shows the central square with Government buildings . The Post office is in the building on the right. |
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| I am very pleased to have a card from Yerevan. As last time it never made it back. This card shows the symbol of the Armenian genocide . |
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| Overview of Ljubljana |
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| This is me ready to board the ship to Tokelau . Early departure about 6am. |
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| One of the islands from the ship. |
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| Passenger and Cargo ship. Goes about every 2 weeks or so. Over 24 hours to the islands from Samoa |
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| Local Children |
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| Family who I had lunch with on the Sunday |
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| This building is the main administration building on Nukunonu . The middle floor includes the Post office and Immigration. They share the same office. The Post office is in fact just one desk. But the same staff do Immigration and the Post office. The top floor is the only Hotel where I stayed. |
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| Inside of Post office and Immigration office. |
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| The wonderful Postmaster who opened the Post office on the Saturday night at 10pm for me.. That is service. |
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| A video of part of the Catholic service on the Sunday in Nukunonu Tokelau |
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Pacific Ocean-Tokelau-Nukunonu Without a doubt the most difficult Island for me to get to. On my first attempt a few years ago , the ship left a few days before my arrival even though it was organised. This time, I arrived to find I needed extra paper work, like a Police clearance and a Medical report. Also no permit had been issued, as you need these to visit each island. Luckily I was planning on being in the Pacific region for 4 weeks so was able to book a trip one month later and wait for all the paperwork to get sorted. As is common, the ship left a day later then planned . But all was well and managed to say one night in Nukunonu witch even has a hotel. Arrived on a Saturday and was able to look around the island. It is quite small and you can walk from one end to the other in a 2 hours or less. It is really down to the heat. The people were very friendly and on Sunday was able to have lunch with a local family prior to the ship going back to Samoa . |
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| There are no postcards to be found in Nukunonu so I brought this card with me. As I arrived on a Saturday and departed Sunday the Post office as such would not be open . However I found out that the immigration officer on Nukunonu is also the Postmaster. So it was arranged and the Post office was opened for me at 10 pm on the Saturday night , so I could mail the postcards. Very helpful. You will note that the postmark has no date. This is the real cancellation which is on the island. Philatelic mail gets cancelled in New Zealand and those cancellations have a date. Tokelau is a dependent territory of New Zealand. |
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Europe-Croatia-Zagreb This was my last capital to visit in Europe . Zagreb is divided into the old and new town. My hotel was right in the centre in the main square in the middle of this postcard. For those eagle eyed , I have no postcard yet from Warsaw ( I was not sending postcards at that time) and Chisinau as my postcard got lost in the mail. |
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| Did not realise until this card arrived home that the stamps were not straight. So on like me. The philatelic section of the main Post office in town is superb. A full display of stamps for the last 5 years . Even more important the lady behind the counter was enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. I dont often ask for the name but her name is Drazenka. It certainly is up there with Crimea - Russia which had the best philatelic counter I had seen . |
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Europe-Slovenia-Bled Another view of this fabulous lake. The church in the middle was a key island to visit. I got there by boat . I went twice. Once by tour boat and once by single boat. All boats must be rowed, no engines allowed on the lake. That is one of the reasons this is so special. |
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| A block and a stamp showing houses of Slovenia. In fact the one of the left is a Post Office. Love the clear and clean postmark. |
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Europe-Slovenia-Bled What a magnificent place to visit. The lake itself and the surrounding areas. Pure bliss.. One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. |
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| I had purchased these stamps at the philatelic counter in Ljubljana . I did not know that honey was such a big export in Slovenia. Famous here. |
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Europe-Slovenia-Ljubljana Another view of this beautiful capital city. The red roof tops with the river and the green surrounding areas.. Easy to walk around. |
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| Could not resist these stamps, bearing in mind that Ljubljana is full of bridges. |
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Europe-Slovenia-Ljubljana My last capital city in Europe to visit. What a gem it was . Beautiful and very well maintained. You could feel a sense of pride by the people who lived here in their city. A sure wow city. |
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| The Post office lived up to its reputation with being very helpful. The original lady at the philatelic desk could not speak english , but soon got me help. After that it was plain sailing with a full display of stamps. In fact I was able to purchase this block on the basis that I would not use it for 2 days as it was given to me prior to issue. A first time ever this has happened. I did place the block on this card and informed then went postmarking to post it two days later so no one would get into trouble. A beautiful stamp too. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This is the very impressive State room in Buckingham Palace. I have been to a lot of Palaces that are open to the public. This one is very well maintained and is stunning. I suspect the key reason is that it is in reality in use with the exception of the 6 weeks it is open to the public in the summer. |
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| This card does have a postmark which for me is now rare in the UK. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This is Buckingham Palace , the home of The Queen . I am not normally in London at this time of year, but on this occasion I was able to visit the State rooms. |
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| United Kingdom is famous for its Machin Definitive stamps , which have been on sale since the 1960s. Most Post offices only sell these stamps and as is often the case the card is not postmarked. |
