Barcelona and Tarragona

Europe-Spain-Barcelona One of my favourite cities. On this occasion visited the Picasso museum. This is one of Pablo Picasso's famous works "Margot"

I put this Miniature sheet on the back featuring the Cathedral in Barcelona. Not often one sees a Miniature sheet on a postcard.  I got this sheet in the Philatelic Section at the main Post office . 

Europe-Spain-Tarragona  I had planned to visit this area many times so at last I got here. It is a train ride down from Barcelona. Here you see the wonderful World Heritage Site of Tarragona which is a Roman Amphitheatre. 

I had a nice selection of stamps to use. In Spain most Post offices just issue labels, just like Ireland. A nice touch on the card is the stops on the train down from Barcelona. 

Indian World Heritage Site and Pondicherry

Asia-India-Tamil Nadu-Mahabalipuram  This is a World Heritage site that one postcard can not do justice to. It is south of Chennai. Wonderful carved elephants out of rock. Pretty amazing . You can see a small part here. 

A fantastic set of stamps here. Lots of colour and interest. My views on Indian stamps have changed since this trip. Never knew there was so much variety.  

Asia-India-Ponducherry Union State-Ponducherry  A former French Colony. This area has such a french feel to it. Part of the town is like a set from a film studio. A very laid back hippy type place. Not like any other part of India at all. 

Pondicherry is the other name for Ponducherry and in fact that is the name you see mostly around the place in non government offices. I even found a stamp shop dealer here.. 

Andaman Islands and Chennai

Indian Ocean-Andaman & Nicobar Islands-Havelock Island  This is known as Beach number 7. Havelock is the main tourist Island in the Andaman Islands. You fly to Port Blair and then take a high speed ferry. It is a great trip. Most of the tourists here are from India. This beach is considered to be one of the best in the world and I would certainly agree with that. Stayed in lovely eco tourist hotel nearby.A sort of undiscovered Paradise.  Permits are required to visit Andaman Islands but you get at the airport on arrival. 

This Postcard was posted in the very small and hard to find Post office on Havelock Island. This is near the Ferry port. I had a overnight stay in Port Blair but arrived to late and left to early to visit Port Blair itself or the Post office. This Postcard was cancelled in Port Blair. 

Asia-India-Tamil Nadu-Chennai Had a brief stop here as flew from Port Blair to Chennai. 

Mailed this card at the Post Office at Chennai Airport . 

Darjeeling and Kolkata

Asia-India-West Bengal-Darjeeling  This town has to be seen to be believed. It has very narrow roads and surrounded by mountains as you can see in this postcard. Full of life and tourists. All trying the famous tea as well as visiting a plantation. 

I never knew India had such colourful stamps until I arrived here. Got a good selection is this post office. 

Asia-India-West Bengal-Kolkata  I tried everywhere to find a postcard with a view of the city. In fact Postcards were near impossible to find. So it is always a nice change to see a smiling face on a postcard. Kolkata or Calcutta is a fascinating city. Very busy . The Colonial buildings built during Queen Victoria's time are very impressive. I really enjoyed this city walking around and taking the life of the city in. Much more interesting then I had ever expected. 

Kolkata provided me with my only stop at a Philatelic outlet next to the main post office . I was surprised to find it very busy. Not often I can say that about Philatelic counters. They were most helpful showing me Souvenir sheets and stamps. Very impressed. 

India and Sikkim

Asia-India-West Bengal-Kalimpong Crossing on the road border from Bhutan to India was from one world to another. Bhutan so quite and peaceful and the moment you walked across the gates to India it was like mayhem. Cows in the streets and little taxi blowing their horns.. You could also say full of life. Kalimpong was my first time in India and my first overnight stay. Everywhere we went was tea plantations. This is the Durpin Monastry. 

This was a very small but clean post office . So no choice in stamps. 

Asia-Sikkim-Gangtok  Sikkim is part of India but from my travel list it is separate. There is even a special border crossing between India and Sikkim and you get your passport stamped . You also fill in a entry form. All the signs say Welcome to Sikkim. Here you can see a map and views of Sikkim. Gangtok the capital is a busy town with lots to see and some beautiful mountain scenery in the surround areas. 

The Post office here was quite large. When I asked for some different stamps then on offer the staff went out of their way to assist. The ventured into the safe room and out came a few different stamps . 

Bhutan DVD

Asia-Bhutan-Thimphu  Was here for a Festival similar to the one on this postcard. Lots of Dancing in very colourful costumes. 

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is the current Dragon King of Bhutan. Here you see his photo. Excellent quality stamps.  

Asia-Bhutan-Thimphu Here you see a Drukair aircraft on the runway in Paro. The airport has wonderful local buildings and very different to anything you will see elsewhere. 

This is the first and only time I have had DVD as a stamp. As you can see the postmark on the bottom left. I was concerned if this would get home ok and it certainly did. 

Bhutan

Asia-Bhutan-Paro   Bhutan what a beautiful country to visit. Made the long trek up to the Tigers Nest. Went up part by small horse and walked back down. But well worth it. This is like the postcard the area where everyone takes a photo. Reminded me of Machu Picchu , everyone in the same spot taking photos. However not as crowed on this trip. 

I had a great time in the Philatelic office at the Post office. They had loads and loads of stamps. I even found a stamp shop down town. They even had for sale the rare famous Gramophone stamps that you could play on your record player. They were on sale for over 1200 USD. 

Asia-Bhutan-Punakha  Stayed overnight in this area. This is the Punakha Dxong . A lot of the buildings have this look. Bhutan is very picturesque and quite. It is like a world within a world. 

I see this was canceled in Thimphu the capital of Bhutan. Stamps were on sale on many outlets including souvenir shops . The older stamps had a premium if you did not purchase from the Post office. 

Bangladesh and Nepal

Asia-Bangladesh-Dhaka This postcard is showing the Fort Mosque in Dhaka. It is a pity I have only one postcard from Bangladesh. But my other postcards never got postmarked so I don't show them here. Bangladesh was a great adventure. Started in Dhaka and went to the famous World Heritage Sundarbans , where there maybe tigers if ever one was to see one. But the great part is travelling by the " Rocket " which is a very old steamer like what is on the Mississippi . Lots of life to see in the countryside and the city. The people are very friendly. 

The main Post office is like a old Colonial building from the 1950s. In the Post office went to a very good Philatelic office with  a full selection. To make sure the postcard was cancelled I was brought into the cancelling office and there and then my postcard was postmarked. I even took a photo . 

Asia-Nepal-Kathmandu  Nearly did not make it here , as my flight on Biman Airlines was cancelled and I got here a day later. So did not have my full time in Nepal. However it is very interesting. It is crowed with tourists in the main area. It is very cheap as is all this part of my trip. Lot of old historic sites to see. This is Durbar Square and one of the many buildings in this area of significant  interest. It is also a World Heritage Site. 

I could never find the Philatelic section in the post office as there was hardly anyone in the office. So happy under the circumstance to come away with stamps. 

Caracas Venezuela

South America-Venezuela-Caracas  I got a good deal on a flight and went to Caracas for the weekend. I knew a friend down there who took me around as it was considered to be unsafe for tourists. So I limited my travels to main areas. In saying that Caracas felt lively and busy. I did take the ride up to the top on the cable car as per this postcard. Changing money is a nightmare here with many exchange rates. If you paid the government exchange rates you would find a Burger at the airport to be about 15 USD. !! Currently not a easy country to visit as a tourist. 

Venezuela must have one if not the worst postal service in the world. This postcard took 10 months to get back to me. In fact I sent 4 postcards from different locations and this is the only one that made it home. I had a friend who send me a card a few years ago and the card took over one year !! Finding a post office was not easy . My local friend did not even know where to go as the main  post office was closed for renovation. So I did find one which was not busy. I had a long chat with the postal official and maybe that helped find my card home. I was told that no one uses the Post office, if you need to send something must be DHL. 

Curacao and Aruba

Caribbean-Curacao-Willemsted  This is my second time here. I have enjoyed Curacao and this time was no exception. The very colourful houses on the waterfront and that area is great to walk around. This part of Willemsted is a World Heritage Site. 

Since I was last here Curacao had it owns stamps again. So Curacao stamps. Same post office. In fact they had a lot of the old Netherlands Antilles stamps still on display. 

Caribbean-Aruba-Oranjestad This island was full of cruise passengers when I arrived. To be fair to Aruba I had only one overnight here , but it seemed a place just for shopping and lying on the beach. But I guess that is what a lot of people come to the Caribbean for. 

I went to the Post office on the Quay area where all the cruise ships come in . Apparently this is not the main post office. They had little or no choice. This is unusual for the Caribbean. I was not in the form of walking or trying to find the main post office. 

Portugal

Europe-Portugal-Lisbon  This is a beautiful arch with clock right in the centre of Lisbon. On my trip there I passed this a number of times and it even looks better in real life. 

The Post Office I went to had a full philatelic service and great choice of stamps. It is not always easy to get postmarks here as the last time I was here all my postcards came back unstamped. 

Europe-Portugal-Evora   This is my first time here to this charming village outside Lisbon. It is also a World Heritage Site. The main square as shown here was full of activity. 

Posted locally with an Evora postmark. 

Marrakech-Morocco

Arrived in Marrakech for a few days. First time here in this city full narrow streets and ally's.  Here you see the main square by day and night. The Post office is very busy. It is not the main one as that is in the new town. No choice of stamps. 

Everywhere you go you can expect some local guy to show you the way or like today bring you to a Tannery which is " just around the corner" but 20 mins later you are still walking. Still all part if the fun if you take it in your stride like I did. 

This afternoon went to the Jardin Majorelle. Love the blue colour.