POSTCARD N.24 - Russia

Postcrossing postcard posted on the 29th July; received on the 11h August
Postcard image: Staritsa, Tiver Region
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Russia, the largest country in Europe, so large it spreads over two continents and yet, come to think of it, able to be condensed in a Postcard, such as the very nice one I thank Yulia for having sent me.

Cities crossed by rivers always seem to have a special allure for the inquiring visitor and this seems to also be case with Staritsa in the Tver Oblast region, located on the westernmost side of the country, a mere 650 km as the crow flies from the capital of Lithuania, the country where postcard 23 came from.

Besides the old churches, like the ones in the postcard, and monasteries, it seems that Staritsa is very famous amongst speleologists, due to an abundance of caves in the informal quarries that were exploited by locals in the 18th and 19th centuries.

I, not being particularly fond of going under the ground, would nonetheless love to make the rounds of the area, since it looks really interesting, as Yulia also thinks it is.

Stamps used:

The top stamp is as fresh as the blueberries on it, since it was issued on 15APR2021 as part of a very nice 4 even priced (50 rubles) auto-adhesive stamp set issued in block form, dedicated to berries (the other illustrated berries being the sea buckthorn; blackberries and gooseberries).

The other two stamps used are self-adhesive 1 ruble stamps of the 7th definitive Issue of the Russian Federation, started in 2019. They exhibit the State Postal Administration Emblem on them and were issued on 07AUG2019.

In the large machine applied cancellation I can only read the phrase почта россии (Russian Post) and the date of expedition 290721.