Föhr, North Frisia

I have worked on the North Frisian island of Föhr for six months, and only towards the end have I realised that I haven´t sent but a few postcards from there - and when I came home, that I haven´t sent a single view card..! Oh how silly, honestly.

Föhr is the second largest of the North Frisian Islands on the German coast of the North Sea - which are all popular tourist destinations for Germans. Being settled already in neolithic times, Föhr had been a part of mainland North Frisia until 1362, when the coastline got destroyed by a heavy storm flood known as Saint Marcellus´s flood, and several islands were formed. The northern part of the island consists mainly of marshes, and the southern part of sandy geest (gravelly soil with heathland vegetation).

A dialect of the North Frisian language called Fering is still spoken there; there are still many Uthland-Frisian type of farmhouses to be seen or even visited; and the traditional costumes can still be seen worn for special occasions - like confirmation, which I rushed to see because of it. It is really an enjoyable and surprisingly unique corner of the earth. However it takes getting used to being dependant on the hourly ferries, which then dock in a minor harbour and you need to take a further train, and usually yet another train to get to a place of interest. On some days off I spent more time on the public transport than at the visiting point 😅 still managed a postcard or two, as will be seen in my future posts.

Silesian Folk Costume, Poland

Silesia is a region of Central Europe now located mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. I love this photo and the colours of the costume, wanted to have it in my collection for a while. Sadly there is no stamp, and the sender was surprised that I made notice of it. If it is cheaper for her, can I really complain? I guess not, but I may still be somewhat disappointed...!

Man And Donkey From Prilep

What a wonderful surprise in my mailbox today!! Reprint of a vintage postcard showing a street scene in Macedonian town Prilep from the last century's 20's. Loving everything about this card...hvala bossita! :)))

National Costumes Of Moldova

Young people in Moldovan national clothes celebrate The National Day Of Wine (on second sunday in October). My kind of festivity! heh. Many thanks to dear Oxana who also did such a great job with the stamps..! :)

UNESCO - City Of Quito, Ecuador

Four months had to pass until my update...not really an update, but since i'm away from home i've decided to at least show cards that i have stored in my netbook. Cards long overdue really! My trip to South America took place last winter, and these are the cards i've sent to my family :)

Gorgeous church, parts of which were restored at the time of visit. Very elaborate inside, which always causes dual emotions..! As part of Quito Old Town on Unesco list.

La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (The Church of the Society of Jesus) is a Jesuit church in the historic center of Quito, among the best-known ones because of its large central nave, which is profusely decorated with gold leaf, gilded plaster and wood carvings.

Ecuador is a country that i really enjoyed visiting, and because there is so much left to see i wish to go back one day..! uhm not only for seeing, but for buying too :D I loved the markets there, but there is only so much you can buy when on a serious budget travel, and carry when you travel for four months. The choice of postcards was really great; and although it took me a while to find the PO with philately, i was rewarded in the end with various stamps too :))

                            

                                                        

Colourful traditional clothes, always enjoy seeing those! Alas i havent seen these particular ones during my trip...but there were other colourful robes to compensate :D

Estonian Folklore

This card shows Laulu- ja tantsupidu / National Song and Dance Festival, which is held every five years in July (the last one in 2009). The festival is on the Unesco's Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage. The conductor Gustav Ernesaks (stamp) is one of the father figures of the Estonian Song Festival Tradition :) Thank you eret for sending this via CaCrr ;)

Traditional Clothing Of Mariovo, Macedonia

This lovely postcard of the Macedonian traditional clothes was sent to me by a very dear postcrossing friend Ana from Skopje :) Complete with the brilliant stamps showing ancient coins with the images of Alexander the Great and his father Philip II of Macedon. Thank you Ana for this great 'package'! :)

The national clothes is from  Mariovo, the mountainous area in the Macedonian south. Its a sparsely populated countryside with picturesque villages that nurture their tradition and folklore. It sounds like a perfect place to visit to get away from the urban chaos :)

Croatian National Costumes

Fridays are not busy around here...not yet that is. Its a great opportunity to update my blog - not only with recently received cards, but also with some jewels from the archives :) I am a big fan of cards showing national costumes; alas i am not able to participate in tags and round robins with that theme, coz here in Croatia such cards are almost non-existant :( in my region Dalmatia most cards are related to the sea - which makes perfect sense of course, but please i beg you add some diversity!!! Croatia has such rich and interesting folklore, i am sure people would love to see it and show it to others!

And i will show you what i've got :)

This card shows the national costumes of a small seaside town Pakoštane. It is actually not far from where i live, but there is quite a difference from our local national costumes :) I've picked up this card...14 years ago, wow. i was still a student, and was in a stage of  'maniacal surge' as i was buying every postcard in sight (which seriously affected my monthly allowance...bellies were empty, ehm). I was sort of stashing them, which helped a bit later on when i started with the much better plan of actually exchanging them. This one i had to keep, it is sort of a rarity! (though i've never been to Pakoštane since, so i cannot really confirm this statement heh)

Another card very dear to me, and for an extra reason: it is from my mum's old collection. I was so excited when i found out that mum was also collecting postcards as a teenager :) She gave it up after she got married...but decided to keep what was there, and was happy to pass the collection on to me, (her sweet brilliant daughter :P)

The card shows a traditional festival called 'Đakovački Vezovi' (Embroideries of Djakovo). Djakovo is a small town in Slavonia region, 37km southwest of Osijek, with population of ca. 21 000 inhabitans. The festival was founded in 1967 and has become one of the regionally most popular festivals of its kind. It lasts for 2 weeks and usually ends on the 1st week of July, when the procession of the folklore groups from all over Croatia takes place. Would love to witness that one day..!