POSTCARD N.141 - SPAIN

Postcard sent on the 8th May, received on the 23rd May 2024

Postcard image: El Arenal - Mallorca

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I realised today I forgot to mention a Phantom postcard which was received while I was away hiking in the south coast, so let's get the record straight and start  by thanking Alex for not forgetting to spending the time to  send me a postcard at the risk of getting his beer warmed by the Balearic sun....

Danke sehr, Herr Phantom!

Mallorca, the biggest island of the Baleares.... I spent a week there once without air conditioning, with temps in the high 30s ºC and high humidity  levels... I'll never forget it... I would go and take a swim before hitting the bunk for the night so see if I could refresh myself just a tiny little, but the temperature of the water, the still, calm water of the Mediterranean was  probably some 28 ºC or worse... hell, not the promised holiday paradise I had been told about.

Still I have good memories: riding the wooden Sóller train, Miró's workshop, the view from the castle, the several beaches I visited... but I don't think I was at el Arenal, since I have no recollection of going any further to that side on the island than to Palma, the capital, to visit its monumental cathedral. 

But the heat and the humidity is something I will never really forget. Same thing as in Malta a couple of years before.

Alex used the Spanish issue of the 2023 Europa Stamp, carrying the  proposed new peace symbol inspired in the Celtic love knot which won the common design competition for Luxembourg. 

The legend Paz, el mayor valor de la humanidad, (Peace, the highest value of Humanity), the theme chosen for the 2023 issue,  is also inscribed on the Tariff B stamp, issued on 09MAY2023.

Further to the manual postmark from the El Arenal Post Office,  which Alex made sure was profusely applied on the stamp and postcard, as per the usual unfortunate practice of the Spanish Post Ofice,  a mechanical postmark was also applied at the Centro de Tratamiento Automatizado (CTA) of the Ballears, which I presume to be located in Palma.