POSTCARD N.99 - BELGIUM

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 1st December, received on the 19th December 2022

Postcard image: Castle of Retie
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Retie is a city located in the  province of Antwerp in  Belgium. According to some articles I read on the inernet, the area was largely swampy soil until, in 1854, King  Leopold I bought a large expanse of it to create a park and a palace. The former is now a very popular recreation park but the latter was never built.

Also located in Reti is the castle whose image features on the nice postcard which I have to thank Lieve for.

Built in 1906, along bysantine lines, by the Count François de Four, an industrialist linked to the paper milling industry,  the castle and the park could until recently be visited by the public, but from what Lieve tells me, at least the park is now off limits to those that used to be able to enjoy it...

Lieve was kind enough to send me the postcard inside an envelope (cover #189) with some very nice stamps for postage, but since a sent postcard should not go unstamped :-)  she also glued an used stamp on the back of the postcard itself: a self adhesive  Priority stamp issued on 04NOV2002 adorned with a Crocus vernus, a larger than usual species of this beautiful flower, endemic to the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Balkans.