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South America-Argentina-Iguazu Falls This World Heritage site has been on my bucket list for some time. I had heard so much about it from friends. Well it certainly lived up to expectations and is the best waterfall I have ever seen . Not to be missed. |
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| There was no Post office in the immediate area, but there was a post box at the Airport. Glad I had my own stamps as the newsagent was out of stamps when I was there. |
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South America-Argentina-Buenos Aires I had forgotten how big a city Buenos Aires is. Really enjoyed my few days here. Lots to see and full of life. My favourite city in South America. |
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| It took me some time to find the Philatelic office in Buenos Aires. The main Post office had closed since the last time I was here. I got two different address for the Philatelic office , but found it in the end going from one Post office to the next. A full office next to a Post office. So it was great to have so much choice. Some very beautiful stamps. The shock was the price of sending a postcard. Around €4 . Is it the most expensive in the world ?? |
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Central America-Guatemala-Guatemala City Guatemala certainly surprised me. It was quite packed with tourists from Antigua to Tikal. Guatemala City itself was only interesting with the mail square and the former Presidential Palace. Was able to do a tour inside An impressive building inside and out. |
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| For the last 3 years there has been no working Postal service in Guatemala. That is about to change later this year as it is now getting sorted out. My philatelic friend David from Guatemala City brought me around . We did manage to visit the Post office which at this time is just accepting parcels. However they agreed to let me postmark this card. So a very rare postmark at this time. As such this card did not go through the mail. |
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Central America-Panama-Panama City It was great visiting the old part of Panama City. A surprise gem. Very walkable area and nice just to people watch. What surprised me the most was the lack of English spoken bearing in mind the Panama Canal which was an area run and owned by the USA for a time. |
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| Unusual for me , I did not post this card at the Post Office in Panama City. To tell you it was a disaster at one of the worst operated Post Offices in the World I have ever been to . But more on that later. I posted this card in Penonome in the Cocole area of Panama which is on the Pacific side. This Post Office was efficient and they had stamps. No choice but stamps yes. |
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Pacific Ocean-Juan Fernandez Islands-Robinson Crusoe Island-San Juan Bautisa What a fantastic island to visit. It had taken me a few years to plan this.. A few years ago I found it difficult to book the flight from Santiago and did not bother. Now you can book online and everything has got much easier to organise. Well it was sure worth the wait. On arrival the sun was up and the sky was blue a perfect day. More beautiful then I had ever imagined. Really loved my stay here.. |
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| The Post Office was in a shipping container !! First time ever to see that.. The Post Office Manager was so very helpful and look at the magic cancellation I got.. |
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South America-Chile-Santiago de Chile Visited here one early morning to the former home of Pablo Neruda the famous Chilean poet. I had seen the movie last year about his life. Wonderful house full or art and style. |
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| The house is now a museum and they have a shop were I bought this card. Two stamps featuring tourism. Postmark of the main Post Office in Santiago at Plaza de Armas . |
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South America-Chile-Santiago de Chile This card is showing the Plaza de Armas the main square in Santiago . You cant see it here but the Post Office is on the right and blocked by the statue. Took a hop on hop off bus and enjoyed the city. |
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| The Post office was open on the Saturday when I visited . But the Philatelic office was closed as only open 5 days a week. Still the counter staff were helpful in letting me select stamps from the stock book. The Post office itself is beautiful from the outside and is also nice to visit inside. On display in the main area was a selection of stamps relating to the current Pope. |
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South America-Chile-Punta Arenas The gateway city in southern Chile to Patagonia . I was here 25 years ago on a cruise and did not remember much. Stayed right in the centre. Very busy with tourists . |
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| Visited the main Post Office in the city. They kindly brought me behind the counter and showed me what stamps they had in the book. Quite a good selection which included miniature sheets. |
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Africa-Mali-Timbuktu As you can see there are many ways to spell the name of this famous city. This card is unique in all the cards that I have in my collection and the reason is??? I have not been here ! It is the only card I have of a place that I have not been. So why is it here. Well on my recent trip to Mali , my guide Abdouleye is from Timbucktu. He was a excellent guide . He was fascinated by my passion with postcards and visiting Post offices. As he would say " Ive never met someone like you Mr David " . Not the first time I have heard that. I had wanted to go the Timbucktu but due to security issues and no commercial flights it was not possible. So I seen this card and the Guide offered to mail it for me. But I know that when the situation is ok on the ground I will indeed visit. |
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| Here is the postmark Timbouctou dated 10 November 2017. The writing is mine , but I did not put the stamps on the card. I rarely put stamps on top of stamps unless I have no space. In Mali this is quite common as the Post offices often only have low value stamps for sale. |
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Africa-Mali-Bamako My last card from Bamako . Here you see a typical scene from the city. |
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| Sent from the main Post Office in Bamako , the office with the Philatelic section. |
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Africa-Mali-Bamako I just love this card. I could not resist it will all the old postcards on the front. Reminds me of years ago when everyone who travelled sent postcards. Hardly anyone does.. I do as you all know.. |
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| The first Post office I went to in Bamako. They have very few stamps of choice. I asked for the Philatelic Office and was sent to another Post Office. In this office I was brought into a room and told the Head of the Office I wanted to buy a selection of stamps. She understood what I was asking. So she opened the great safe and there was a lot of different stamps. You can see some of these on my cards. However when I was paying she asked for more as "Philatelic Stamps" had a 25% surcharge. This was after I had stuck them on my mail.. So as you can imagine a big fuss happened. In the end they did not charge the extra. But I did give the Lady in charge a small tip, as I was afraid my mail would go into the bin.. It did not as you can see and these are the results. |
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Africa-Mali-Bamako These houses styles are some we seen on our trip in Mali. They are in Dogon area of Mali. Loved walking in the villages with the locals. |
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| I posted this card in Bamako , reason being is that were I purchased the card after I left the Dogon area. Postmark is hard to read. |
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Africa-Mali-Djenne Really enjoyed this place.. I always say it is real Africa.. It is all about the people and enjoying the real life. No tourists about when I was here. |
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| A limited supply of stamps , but at least the cards made there way home. Two months. The Postmark says "Postes Mali - Djenne. |
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Africa-Mali-Mopti A very enjoyable town to visit. A river port where you see all the ferries and the towns they visit. The River is only active from August to December when the water is sufficient . |
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| This card is showing a selection of stamps that were available in the Post Office in Mopti. Hard to read anything on the Postmark. |
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Africa-Mali-Djenne What a wonderful place to visit. The Mud Mosque was everything that I had expected. A wonderful place to visit. A World Heritage Site . |
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| The Post office had limited stamps in Djenne. I think the same post office has been there for years. The Postmaster was very helpful and let me go through his books of stamps so I could try and get a few different stamps. Most of the stamps the value is too low. So the 450f stamp is required down the bottom. The bottom postmark is " Postes Mali - Djenne. |
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Europe-International Court of Justice-The Hague This is the building which houses this UN institution . Went to the visitors centre and watched a film about the hold complex. |
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| The Postmark is not fully formed. But this card was posted at the Special Post Office here. It can not be accessed by the general public. The Stamps I purchase in advance from the Philatelic service of The Netherlands. |
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Europe-Netherlands-The Hague Here are some of the buildings you will see in The Hague. This is the city that has The Embassies . It is a very small town, so you notice the country flags as you walk around. Very well laid out. The Seat of Government |
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| I purchased these particular stamps as they feature Bonobos which are endangered great Apes. They are not especially large and look like chimpanzees . I was lucky to see these on my trip to DRC. So loved these stamps. |
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Europe-Netherlands-Amsterdam This is a evening scene in Amsterdam. I enjoyed this short winter break . It was cool in the evenings but a very packed city. Amsterdam is very compact and easy to get around. Did a tour on the canals and enjoyed it very much. The canals are a World Heritage Site. |
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| This card has a double postmark with the final one by the Irish Post Office on incoming mail. I purchased these stamps from the Philatelic service online in advance of my visit. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This card is from the "Red Star over Russia " exhibition at the Tate in London. 2017 marks the centenary of the October Revolution. The Exhibition explored the way the USSR was reshaped from 1917. This card is " Emancipated Woman: Build Socialism from 1926. A wonderful gallery to visit. |
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| This is the final card with the non postmarked stamps featuring ladybird books. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This card is from my visit to the Tate London exhibition . It features a installation by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov widely known as pioneers in installation art. This piece is known as " The Man who flew in Space from his apartment and was originally produced in 1985. It is currently on in London until January 2018. |
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| Here are more of the famous Enid Blyton books published by Ladybird. Unfortunately these stamps have no postmark not even a pen mark !! |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This is a view from the Tate Modern gallery in London. Lots of new buildings in this area. |
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| These stamps especially remind me of my childhood. There were the first books I read in School and can still remember the joy they brought . So delighted that Enid Blyton had been commemorated in these beautiful stamps. I have often heard of many irate stamp collectors getting mad over the way stamps are ruined by pen by the British Post Office. This the second time this has happened to me. Most of the rest of the time the stamps are not even postmarked. Certainly I can say the British Post Office is the bottom of the pile in this concern. |
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Africa-Niger-Niamey I love this card as this is the view I seen every day in Niamey. This is the river Niger and went down on a boat here and in Mali where the river runs through. Lucky enough to see Hippos on one of the trips. |
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| I show the whole back of the card so you can see the full postmark. Very efficient Post Office by West African standards. It was my last country to visit in Africa. So it was a great occasion to celebrate on the last night. You will note that I am still at this time waiting on my cards from Mali which I visited before Niger. |
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Africa-Niger-Niamey This card is showing a map of Niger. Could only visit Niamey on this occasion as the rest considered not safe enough at this time. Agadez would be the place to go. On the ground all was well here and enjoyed the city . |
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| The Main Post Office in Nimaey was very large and was the most modern of the 3 countries on this trip. Very clean inside. They even had a "Philatelic Counter" , though I suspect the lady at the counter had not served anyone in a long time. The regular counter had a better selection of stamps. No sets just lots of individual stamps. |
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Africa-Burkina Faso-Ouagadougou This Postcard is showing the House of the People which is the Parliament Building . It was difficult in Ouagadougou to see Government buildings as some the roads were closed off , I suspect for security reasons. God this card from the local postcard sellers outside the Post Office. |
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| These were some more stamps I had to get from a local outside the Post Office due to it being closed for 3 days when I was here. One of the days it was due to close but my guide was surprised as to the reason. The value on the stamps are quite low compared to the cost of postage in the other countries I visited. So I wonder if it is the real cost. The man selling me the stamps told me that is the price. The stamps date from the early 1990s. |
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Africa-Burkina Faso-Ouagodougou This is the monument to National Heroes in the Capital city. In fact I never got to see this. I believe it is in a field . But still enjoyed my visit here. The best thing was the houses in the countryside . I will publish photos of those soon. |
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| For the three days in was in Ouagadougou the Post office was closed. It was a holiday on one of those days but I did not know it was closed two days after this. Either did my guide or hotel I was staying in. So was not too happy with that. I had no stamps but I was able to get a few stamps from a Postcard seller outside and these are the stamps that are used here. I did not get inside and posted them in the mailbox outside. Please they got back here. |
