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South America-Nueva Esparta-Margarita Island-Porlamar Getting to Margarita Island was no easy task . I had a flight from Port of Spain, but it was the last flight in from that airline. So getting out was via Caracas and a long story. Stayed here at a beach resort . Card showing previous flags of Venezuela. |
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| By Venezuela standards this card has arrive in double quick time. I got it 10 weeks after I sent it. The last one took over one year. When posting this card , I was told there was no service to Ireland, so I put on the end of the card UK.. and it worked. To buy the postcards I needed to show my ID , which was a passport , never had that before. This is my last card from the South America collection, so pleased to get it. |
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| Back on my A list again. Been busy at work , so now can go back to the list. I visited Aland in 2007 . In between Sweden and Finland. Has its own Flag and Stamps. Though part of Finland , the people here speak Swedish. There is the usual Post office photo . A large post office with a full selection of stamps. Enjoyed my trip here. |
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Europe-Ireland-Cong-Co . Mayo Went here for my winter weekend . Ashford Castle is a hotel and is considered one of the best in the world. The service is top class. The good thing is that it looks like and feels like a Castle inside. My first time to visit this part of Ireland . Where the famous film "The Quiet Man "was made featuring John Wayne. |
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| Well the Irish Post office sure did a good job postmarking this card. I got the hotel to mail the card for me , which I dont usually do . It arrived back in double quick time. The Irish Post office latest Christmas stamp which is a label and stamp showing a casual table designed by Eileen Grey in the early 1900s . This table can now be seen all over the world as there is many copies now made in china. |
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South America-Suriname-Paramaribo This is quite typical of some of the buildings that were in and around Paramaribo. There was not a great selection of postcards, so could not see any of the old buildings made of wood, that feature in the World Heritage Site. Paramaribo is a city that you can easily see in one full day. |
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| I purchased these stamps in advance from the philatelic agency based in Guernsey that supplies Suriname stamps. The reason is that I had been told that often the Post office has a very poor selection of stamps. The Post office closes early at 2pm I think so I had to make a mad dash on the way home to the airport to mail these postcards. There was a small philatelic shop attached to the post office that had a selection of stamps. I only went briefly in as I was in a rush, but they did have some new issues for sale. |
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South America-Suriname-Paramaribo I spend most of my time in Suriname down south in the Amazon area. So I felt I needed a postcard to reflect some of the nature that I had seen. I did in fact see many butterflies , so a good memory of down there. |
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| There was no Post offices down where I stayed , it was just pure jungle and rivers. The only way to get there was by small plane. So this card was posted in Paramaribo on my way to the airport flying home. |
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South America-French Guiana-Kourou The European Space centre . Plenty of rockets and the museum is good. Still not quite the same when only use for payloads and no people from here into space. |
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| It is a pity , that the cancellation only says France and not French Guiana, but this is what you get. Stamps were from a Miniature sheet in relation to the First World War. |
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South America-French Guiana-Iles du Salut Quite a lot to see here besides the gaol. Loads of monkeys and birds. A nice day trip from Kourou. |
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| All the above cards were posted at the Post office in Kourou. A large modern office . |
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Atlantic Ocean-Fernando de Noronha This is my last location to visit on my Atlantic Islands list , so was very excited to visit here. Fernando de Nornoha is a World Heritage site. This is mainly due to the wildlife and the nature park. I have many Brazilians in Dublin, but none of them had visited this island. Reason: it is the most expensive part of Brazil to fly to and to stay. This is due to the limited availability . Certainly enjoyed it here, but maybe a little overrated in the travel books. Maybe I have travelled too much !!!! |
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| Always good to get a card back from a off beat location. I purchased these stamps in Rio. What I love about them is that they had a smell of honey .... well they did have when I purchased them and put them on the card. Now however the aroma is gone, but still beautiful stamps. The Postmark is hard to read , but does say Fernando de Noronha on the top part. |
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South America-French Guiana-Cayenne Seems strange being in Euroland yet being in South America. The city itself was bigger then I had thought. Sort of old world colonial with French style buildings. Had some great French food and was cheaper then France so a pleasant surprise . |
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| Postmark a bit hard to see but it is blue on the left side. It has France with the postal area number. The Post office here just wanted me to buy stickers from a machine and sent me in that direction. I had to get the manager to explain I wanted "standard " stamps. When they finally did understand they had a full selection of stamps in a book These stamps were part of a Souvenir sheet . |
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South America-Brazil-Recife Spend a overnight here and hence the card reflects the traffic I recall from the airport and to the hotel. So seen very little of this city. |
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| There was a full Post office at the airport , so you don't see that very often any more. Some more of the Olympic stamps . A very clean postmark. |
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South America-Brazil-Olinda The Drive from Recife to here should be about 20 minutes. A bit of a story here. 5 of us and we got a taxi from the hotel and the driver took the 5 of us. After 10 minutes we noticed we were not going in the most direct fashion and queried the driver. He told us as we had 5 instead of 4 in the taxi it was illegal and he was driving in a circle to avoid the police check points. However on the way we must have passed the police about 3 times . After 50 minutes we made it here and the driver who said he knew the restaurant had not a clue were to go. He was scared we would complain to the police about him trying to rip us off with the taxi meter clocking up. In the end he says he was sorry and the trip was free. We paid him a fair about , but a crazy drive. Olinda was worth it. We had dinner in avery nice restaurant and we got a tour of the town by night afterwards . A very worthy World Heritage Site. |
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| Unusual for me I did not post this card in Olinda. I could not find a card while there as the shops were closed. But got this in Recife airport and posted it there. |
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South America-Brazil-Rio de Janeiro Delighted to be back in Brazil . Was here in 2002. So my first postcard from Brazil. In fact on my first day here, spend the morning on the beach watching the world go by. Here on this trip with a group of good travel buddies. Had been warned about being careful safe wise, took the usual precautions and all went well. Rio de Janeiro is a stunning city to see and especially going up to Sugar Mountain and Christ the Redeemer statue. Love the sense of fun that many Brazilians have. |
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| I was going to go to the main post office in the centre of Rio . But instead walked to this Post office in Copacabana just down the road from my hotel. Was delighted to see they had a philatelic display in a glass box. So I was able to select what I wanted. These are stamps for the Olympic games in Rio next year. I especially selected these stamps as Badminton featured on the top right stamp is the sport I used to play and was involved in. I have a love of the Olympics and attended many events in Barcelona in 1992 and was at the finals of the Badminton event. First time Badminton was at the Olympic games. |
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South America-Brazil-Salvador Going north now and a World Heritage City. Beautiful and not to big . Great to walk around and was here for a few days. Loved it and had a great meal in the restaurant on the left in the Postcard. |
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| I had purchased all my Brazilian stamps from the Post office in Rio, so no need to look for more. But was plesently surprised to find the Post office here also had a selection. The Post office is a very old style and it is in the bottom corner to the left on the postcard, but cant be seen. I had photos in my earlier blog from Salvador. Nice cancellation. |
