POSTCARD N.238 - PORTUGAL

Postcard sent on the 3rd August; received on the 4th August 2026

Postcard image: Rio de Onor

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The Parque Natural de Montesinho is a protected area in the northeast of Portugal, in the Trás-os-Montes region, which goes up to the border with the Spanish province of Zamora in the Castilla y Léon Autonomous Region.

One of its most picturesque villages is Rio de Onor, a small urban nucleus home to some 50 people, which lies divided from its  Spanish sister, the equally small village of Rihonor de Castilla, by the administrative border between the two countries.

Still both villages make but one urban nucleus and  in truth there is but one population for family and friendship bonds between both side of the imaginary line are plenty and have been so since the formation of the two villages.

My friend the Flying Dutchman has recently visited Rio de Onor and sent me a very nice postcard with a view that it still very vivid in my mind for I too have been to Rio de Onor a couple of times in a not so recent past. 

Hartelijk dank, Eric, que é como quem diz: Muito Obrigado! Um abraço.

The remoteness of Rio de Onor led, over time,  to a tradition of  self governing and communitarianism, that was evident not only in the way  that agriculture and herding were carried out, and bread was baked, all under communitarian principles,  but also in the administration of the village which was the responsibility of a Communitarian Council.

The isolation led also to the development of a local dialect called rionorês, which today is sadly fluently spoken by not more than a dozen (old) people.

Rio de Onor has been much talked about lately, because it will be one of the very few places in Portugal where it will be possible to observe the coming eclipse of the 12th August in full totality. There was even an event scheduled for the place, but given the sensitive nature of the local and the crowds expected to be drawn, the observation event was relocated to the Aerodrome of Bragança, the District capital.

Anyway, I was very happy to view the photo of the bridge of Rio de Onor, on the postcard Eric sent and I could not help but go and search my archives fro pictures of it... and I did find one, of  the main arches:

As well as one of some of the typical slate roofed houses 

For postage, Eric used one of the stamps of the 5 x 0.69€ minisheet issued on 10DEC2025 dedicated to Portuguese dog breeds. 

Fittingly, Eric used the stamp illustrated with a photo of a Cão de Gado Transmontano (Catlle herding dog of Trás-os-Montes) a rare local breed, whose males can grow up to 85 cm tall, and weigh up to 75kg while females can reach 78 cm and weigh 60 kg.

- The 0,04€ stamp with an image of a Marching Lyre is part of the definitive issued dated of  02APR2024, dedicated to Musical Instruments of Philharmonic Bands.

Postmark from Vila Nova de Cerveira, another border  town in the northwest of Portugal, right on the bank of the Minho River, 

POSTCARD N.237 - UNITED KINGDOM

Postcard dated of the 22nd July; received on the 29th June 2026

Postcard image: London -  Trafalgar Square by night

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I don't get that many mail from the UK, so it is always a renewd pleasure when a letter or a postcard from the largest country in old Albion drops into my letterbox. Many Thanks, Martyn!

It has been ages since I last was in London, but I had no trouble identifying the place in the photograph of the postcard, for the church of  Saint Martin in the Fields, with its colonnade and spire is one of those images that will be forever kept on one's ROM, once you inscribe it.... even by night, as is the case.

- Joe Mercer (1914 –– 1990) was a British football player, who went on to manage first Aston Villa and then Manchester City, a club that he would lead to take the 1967–68 First Division championship,  the 1969 FA Cup, the 1970 League Cup, and the 1970 European Cup Winners' Cup.

He was also one of the ten distinguished Brits that were honoured by Royal Mail in its Remarkable Lives set issued on 25MAR2014 in the form of two strips of 5 se-tenant 1st class stamps.

- The second 1st class stamp on the card is a Data Matrix Barcoded Machin part of the set of 4 (1st; 2nd; 1st Large; 2nd large) issued on 01FEB2014.

Unfortunately, the Postcard evaded the postmarking machine....

COVER N. 747 - SPAIN 

Postmark: Correos CTA Valencia 22.07.2026

Posted on the 22nd July;  Received on the 24th July 2026

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The unmistakable sweet smell of roses on your desk... there could not be a better way to begin a day Eva, Moltes Graciès  ...)😉.

I quite appreciate the care you once again put in composing this envelope, with all the various components contributing to a most pleasant end result, from the stamp down to the colour of the envelope...

Roses are not red (and violets are not blue). In fact, if we go by what etymology tells us, Roses are rosa (rose), a colour that sits equidistant between magenta and red in the colour wheel,  the use of which to define a colour was first recorded in 1382. 

Oh, and by the way, violets are... well violet! (mostly)

Roses are, or course,  famous (amidst several other things) for their scent. Rose essence, the fragrance we all associate with the flower (although some roses do smell, while others do not) is mostly produced from an hybryd rose (which is also rose in colour): the Rosa × damascena, derived from  Rosa gallica and Rosa moschata.

In truth, the multitudinal variations of the genus Rose that we know today, which comprises about 100 species of perennial shrubs native mostly to Asia, but also present in America and Europe, comes from the fact that roses easily hybridise and crossbreed.

This fact has led to garden lovers specialising in rose collecting and also to the  creation of rose gardens, all around the world, as the eponymous entry in Wikipedia clearly shows. 

Spain, more specifically Madrid, the Capital, has at least two Rose Gardens of relevance;  La Rosaleda del Retiro, in the Buen Retiro Park, and La Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste, in the Parque del Oeste.

This last one was established in 1956 and was conceived and built under the supervision of the  Jardinero Mayor del Ayuntamiento de Madrid  (the Head Gardener of the City Council) Ramón Ortíz en 1956.

Celebrating the 70 years of this garden which is home to more than 600 varieties of Rose, Correos issued on 14MAY2026 the 2€ stamp on the cover illustrated with an image of a rose tunnel and a legend  with the name of the rose garden, Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste Madrid.

The stamps were issued on a souvenir sheet comprising seven stamps, whose paper is rose scented. The sheet bears a photograph of the garden,  topped by a perforated plan of the garden and a rectangular legend that contains the designation of the issue.

On the cover, further to the stamp, Eva included this particular item as well as a section of the part of the sheet bearing the Rosaleda photograph.

The mechanical postmark is, as usual in Eva's mail, that of the Automated Treatment Centre of Valencia (CTA Valencia).

One again, Eva kindly included a postcard with another of Erica Fustero's photos, this one taken in Berlin in 2025. The subject of the photo couldn't be more in tune... a rose shrub, of course.

All this talk of Roses just reminded me of good old Jacques.... what a fabulous Rose he was... a whole garden of them!

COVER N. 754 - BURUNDI

Postmark: RNP Burundi 10.(?).2026  

Posted on the 10th ?;  Received on the  24th July 2026

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Totally unexpected cover from Burundi. My second ever, and on one of those air mail envelopes I so much like.

Un grand Merci Charlotte pour la lettre et les timbres.

Imperforate stamps are not that common, and not that practical, either, I'd add. Still, every once in a while some show up, like the two in this cover, which were cut from a souvenir sheet containing only these two 500 Burundian francs, illustrated with sepia toned photographs of  two examples of local traditional houses, issued on 02JAN2010.

Since all the images of the souvenir sheet in question that I could find over the internet show the stamps to be perforated, I wonder if there were perf and imperf versions issued or if the one on the cover is some sort of accident. Anyone?

The 250 franc stamp showing a nice painting of an hipopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is part of an issued dated of 02APR2026, dedicated to this particular artiodactyl, put out by Stamperija, comprising 5 stamps (150; 250; 1000; 1500; 2000 francs) plus a single stamp souvenir sheet (10000 francs).

Somehow it is nice to see a Stamperija stamp actually cancelled by an official postmark.

The bi-colour postmark (blue and red, which goes great with the envelope itself :-)) bears no indication as to the place of dispatch, just the mention RNP an acronym for Régie Nationale des Postes,  the Burudi Postal Operator.

COVER N. 753 - SRI LANKA

Postmark:  Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 24.03.2026  

Posted on the 7th July;  Received on the 16th July 2026

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Ravindra hits me with another with his always nice covers featuring interesting stamps.  බෝහම ස්තුති, Ravi!

- On 15JUN2023, Sri Lanka Post issued a mini-sheet containing 20 x 50 Rupee circular stamps, dedicated to fruits and vegetables of Sri Lanka.

Ravi had already used some of these stamps on previous mail to me (cover #651, postcards #158 #160) and now he used the following three (left to right):

- Salacia chinensis, a climbing shrub of the Celastraceae family, known for its effects as adjuvant of the digestive health and obesity related illnesses such as diabetes type 2 and cardiovascular conditions.

- Mangifera zeylanica, or Sri Lanka wild mango. An edible mango species endemic to Sri Lanka.

- Dimocarpus longan, an edible fruit bearing tree in the same family - Sapindaceae - to which the lychee belongs, its yellowish fruits bearing some resemblance in terms of taste to lychees, also.

As usual, postmark from the central Post Office at Colombo.

COVER N. 752 - JORDAN

Postmark: None

Posted on  (?);  Received on the 12th July 2026

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The third cover I received on the same day sent from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, sadly arrived without postmark, something which has happened to covers sent by me also (unfortunately not from Jordan...) but which always imparts an "incomplete" look to the envelope (although having the added bonus of letting the stamps shine in their integrity.

This, I suspect, is a cover which I have deux Mercis to send out. One, most certainly, to Roland, whose name was on the sender's address, and the other to the actual sender, who I don't know who it was.  Anyway, a great many thanks to the two.

According to Wikipedia, Jordan is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating back to the times of the cruxification of Jesus.

Conversely, Jordan is also home to several Biblical sites, the most famous of which is probably the Baptism site, or "Bethany Beyond the Jordan", the place where Jesus would have been baptised by John the Baptism, today a  World Heritage Site.

Celebrating the relevance of  these Biblical sites for Christianity, Jordan Post issued on 19JAN2025 a stamp sheet with 10 x 30 Piaster stamps illustrated with photos of "Christian Pilgrimage Sites in Jordan".

Two of these stamps are on the cover, namely the one depicting the Um al-Rasas, once a Roman garrison site which is believed to have been the biblical settlement of Mephaat, mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah and the other, Um al-Jimal, another old Roman garrison site.

Both sites have been awarded World Heritage status by Unesco.

Arabian Purebreeds are as famous as they are indeed beautiful, with their unique head shape, big eyes, and high tail carriage.

On 26OCT2021 Jordan Post issued a 7 x 30 Piastre  set of stamps illustrated with photos (profile and head) of several examples of this distinguished equine. One of them is also featured on the cover.

COVER N. 749 - AZERBAIJAN 

Postmark: Azərbaycan Şuşa MXŞ 05.06.2026

Posted on the 5th June;  Received on the 10th July 2026

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Danke Sehr Alex, for this cover from the Nagorno-Karabah region of Azerbaijan.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan was until 2023, a self-proclaimed, albeit not internationally recognised state, designated as the Republic of Artsakh, its history goingt back to 1918, when both the recently established  Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia, claimed the territory, an enclave inside Azerbaijan, mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, after the fall of the Russian Empire.

The conflict went cold during the period when both Azerbaijan and Armenia were part of the USSR, only to erupt again after the Soviet Union too came to an end, and both Azerbaijan and Armenia became independent states again.

The contention (and the so called Republic of Artsakh) ended when in 2023 Azeri forces expelled all the Armenians from the region, in conditions that motivated strong remarks by International Human Rights organisations, forcing them to flee into Armenia.

As in the other cover Alex sent me from Azerbaijan (#748)  two 0,5 manat stamps featuring a photo of Heydar Aliyev (1923-2003), the third President of Azerbaijan and the father of the current President, Ilham Aliyev were used as postage.

Heydar Aliyev served for a total of 23 years as the most important dignitary of Azebaijan, first, for 13 years (1969–1982), as  First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. and later, for another 10 year period (1993–2003) as President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, until his resignation in October 2003.

The stamp is part of a vast multiple format issue marking the 20th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev passing, dated of  10MAY2023, all stamps being illustrated with his portrait. 

The Postmark was issued at the city of Şuşa.