POSTCARD N.180 - GRECCE

Postcard sent on the 26th April, received on the 15th May 2025.

Postcard image: Corfu. View of the Spianada from the Old Fortress, with the New Fortress in the Backgroundnteay Srey Temple

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Ravindra has been making quite a trip in Europe, passing through several countries. One of them was Greece, from where he kindly sent me this Postcard with a nice image from Corfu. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravi.

Corfu... a name that is not that unheard of in my own household... for the time, it is on the "to do" list, and it'll still hold its place there for a while yet, but my wife and I have thought of journeying to Corfu, crossing the south of the Mediterranean,  as a long relaxing car trip when she finally gets off the bus after having so tenaciously dedicated her entire professional life to the sacred craft of spreading knowledge, as all teachers do. 

Until that day arrives, and if it is not tomorrow, it is not that far away either, we will have to keep our travels shorter, but Corfu is indeed a plan, and once there, If I still have the needed stamina, I might hike the Corfu trail... we'll see if all this ever comes to materialise, for life has the nasty habit of intruding in one's plans...

The New Fortress of Corfu, the highlight of Ravi's Postcard, was built in the 16th century, although doubts persist as to the exact dates of the beginning and conclusion of the works. Just like the Old Fortress, dating from the early 15th century, this mighty defensive fort was built  by the Venetians, who ruled the island, as part of the Serenissima, from  1386 to 1797,  in order to protect the urban areas that lay within its walls. 

As part of the Old Town of Corfu both constructions enjoys World Heritage Site status as recognised by the UNESCO.

Ravi used a Postcard Tariff  self-adhesive stamp with an image of the ilsand of Kythera, one of the Ionian Islands, the theme for one of several 10 self-adhesive stamp booklets issued in 2022. This particular stamp set was issued on 26APR2022

The Postmark hails from Corfu, ΚERKIPA, in Greek.

COVER N. 587 - INDIA 

Postmark:  Illegible 03.05.2024

Posted on  the  3rd May 2024; Received on the 16th May 2025

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More than a year. That's how long this letter from India took to reach my letterbox. In it, a circuit that was initiated in 2023, still it did get here and that's what matters. Thanks a lot Kiran! After all, it did come a long way, from the Northeast tip of India. I'm sure its ride wasn't an easy one...

Still, Kiran had sent me another circuit (Cover #416) on the 5th February,  also of 2024, and it arrived on the 28th of the same month, that is just some 23 days after expedition...

Anyway, as I said, It did get here and that's what matters.

Kiran again used on this letter the same beautiful  25 Rupee one stamp souvenir sheet issued on 02NOV2023 as a common issue for India and Mauritius, that he used on cover #416.

The stamp is illustrated with with images of the national birds of both countries - the Indian Peacock for India and the Mauritius Kestrel, for Mauritius. 

COVER N. 586 - FRANCE 

Postmark:  Musée de la Poste - La fabrique du temps Paris 27.05.2025

Posted on  the  27th May; Received on the 13th May 2025

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Merci Roland, for another cover with a nice cancellation mark. Those guys at the musée should know better than to get the cover double cancelled, but it is not your fault!

Pets. the best friends of humans, so it is said...

I have nothing against them, of course... it's their owners who sometimes baffle me....

I love animals... that's probably why I have some difficulties with pets. I understand their value as companions, helpers, healers, work mates, all the extraordinary things animals can do which help us humans in most dire and difficult situations... but then I see dogs locked in apartments for life, ferrets wore by the owner around the neck while strolling through the shopping mall as it were a live scarf, hamsters and birds locked in tiny cages or small fishes swimming round and round inside a glass bowl large enough to hold my fruit salad... and it gets me mainly sad...

Then there's that thing: dog owner; cat owner; pig owner....  animals should have no owners... they're part of the same world we live in... 

Don't get me wrong. I am an omnivorous fellow, I do eat meat, and I am aware that animals raised for meat producing are most times raised in appalling conditions all over the world. But that's another question and another problem altogether.

Pets are not food but pets are also not human, so they should not be humanised to a degree that defies common sense. Dogs should not be carried on one's back in some sort of rucksack  as it they were babies... damn it, they have legs and feet, don't they?

Maybe it is me, but whenever in my morning walks I see people  talking to dogs as if they were actually babies, or children, or even grown ups  ( and I do see it all the time)  I find it oh so very strange... whenever I see a cat with painted nails, or a dog with a fancy hairdo...

As I said I completely understand that pets can fill an important void in one's life... just respect them for what they are, that's the sort of humanisation I think pets and humans do need!

In 2024 La Posts issued a series of four - one for each season -  Lettre Verte 20g tariffed "Collectors" sets,  dedicated to "Nos Fidèles Compagnons", (our faithful companions), dogs and cats. 

Each set comprised 2 x two different stamps, one illustrated with a cat and the other with a dog. The two stamps on the cover that Roland sent me are the Printemps (Spring) issue, dated of 02APR2024, which emphasized the benefits of animal therapy for sick or stress affected people.

The very nice pictorial cancellation of the Musée de la Poste in Paris was used to postmark the stamps.

COVER N. 585 - USA 

Postmark:  Manual: Sparta  WI-54656 9(?)98 USPS 01.052025 / Machine: Saint Paul MN 55 01.05.2025

Posted on  the  1st May; Received on the 8th May 2025

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Thanks a huge lot, Mark, for this cover and also for the one that came inside it. Truly appreciated it.

I had never received a  pre-stamped American envelope, so this makes a nice addition to the collection. 

Also it goes to show just how Mr. Postman is really my friend:  By mistake, of the type that can happen to anyone, Mark forgot to include the name of the street I live on in the address, which mentions only the door number.

Well by now, Mr., Postman must know that any envelope with interesting stamps on it has but one rightful addressee in the area, and that is me, for in spite of the faulty address, the letter made its way to my letterbox.

So a huge "Obrigado" also goes to Mr. Postman, who made sure I got Mark's letter.

Starting with the envelope itself, I looked over on USPS website and managed to discover that this particular pre-stamped envelope featuring a pre-printed “Forever”, American Flag stamp was issued on 15JUN2020.

The Lunar New Year "Forever" commemorative stamp is the 2024 issue, dedicated to the Year of the Dragon, which began to circulate on  25JAN2024.

The very interesting se-tenant block of four 6 cent stamps, was issued on 06MAY1970. The four stamps of the  issue, celebrating the American Museum of Natural History,  feature each a bald eagle;  an herd of elephants; an Haida ceremonial canoe (the Haida being an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, with populations both in the USA and Canada) and some dinosaurs, under the caption "The age of reptiles".

Two cancellations o the cover: one manual, applied at Sparta, Wisconsin and one mechanical, from Saint Paul, the capital of Minnesota.

COVER N. 584 - FRANCE 

Postmark:  1945 - 2025 Libération des Camps 1er jour 38 Fontaine La Poste 25.04.2025

Posted on  the  25th April; Received on the 8th May 2025

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Fitting that a cover like this one should knock on my door on VE day in Europe, after having been mailed on the 25th April (ANZAC day; Anniversario della liberazione in Italy and Dia da Liberdade, in my own country).

Particularly fitting, now that fascism 2.0 is slowly spreading like an ink blotch on wet paper.... 

Particularly fitting, now that a huge Camp de Mort is being kept and enforced live on TV, under the eyes of the world, to the total indifference of the same world.... children, women, men, young, old...no need for gas chambers here.... there are means just as effective and just as or even more cruel, for they prolong the suffering of the condemned, whose only sin is having been born: bombing; deprivation... of shelter, food, water, medical supplies....

Particularly fitting when terrorism is fought with terrorism!

Particularly fitting when unjustified aggression and invasion is again dotting fields of Europe not with poppies but with rows of white crosses...

Particularly fitting when Universities are persecuted, books are once again censored, Science is questioned...

Un grand Merci, Eric. Lest we forget!

In July 1944, Soviet troops found and liberated the first of the many Death Camps that the Nazi regime had installed throughout occupied Europe: Majdanek, in Poland.

It would take the allies almost one year to liberate all the Camps of Infamy, the last, on the 8th May 1945, would be Teresienstadt, in Czecoslovakia, famous for the "rich cultural life" prisoners had access to and participated in, as a Nazi cover up for the day to day atrocities and the appalling living conditions they had to endure.

Celebrating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Fields of Death, les Camps de Mort, La Poste issued on 25APR2025 the stamp on the cover, illustrated with a self-explanatory image of a fence and the legend "1945 Libération des Camps 2025".

Lest we Forget!

COVER N. 583 - JAMAICA 

Postmark:  Budva-Mogren19.04.2025

Posted on  the 19th April; Received on the 6th May 2025

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Well, we seem to be on some sort of a streak here: Another cover from Mr. Phantom, again dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first CEPT/Europa issue, and again another country added to my list.  Vielen Dank, Alex! 

Jamaica, the land of Reggae and a member of the Commonwealth, what implies that King Charles III wouldn’t look out of place in rastas, given that he is its Head of State, although the country obtained its independence from the UK in 1962.

As mentioned a propos the previous post concerning a Montenegro cover, several postal administrations of nom member countries of CEPT, issued celebratory stamps for the 50th anniversary of the first CEPT/Europa issues, occurred in 1956.

Jamaica was one such case, with this three stamp (60, 70 and 100 dollars) souvenir sheet, issued on 01JUN2005, each stamp carrying the legend Jamaica commemorates 50 years of European Philatelic Cooperation and the CEPT logo, as well as a small 50 logo evocative of the anniversary.

The Postmark was applied at Montego Bay Post Office, on the north coast of the Island.

COVER N. 582 - MONTENEGRO 

Postmark:  Budva-Mogren19.04.2025

Posted on  the 19th April; Received on the 6th May 2025

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Of all the countries I've been to, there's a little one in the middle of the Mediterranean that I found absolutely stunning and which gave me the opportunity of seeing something I had been thinking I would only see way up North of the continent.

The Ghost that Walks, the restless wanderer, passed through some time ago it seems, for I got this surprise cover from the country where I saw a fiord for the first time, if my memory isn't playing tricks on me. so Thanks a lot, dear Phantom, Danke Sehr, Alex!

Also, this cover is the opportunity to add another country to the fold, so I couldn't be happier about it. Double thanks, then, Alex!

One of the countries issued out of the disaggregation of Yugoslavia, in spite of its smallish size, Montenegro has got to be one of the most scenic and well preserved in terms of natural beauty, of the European countries.

As I mentioned above, I will never forget the day when I was coming slowly by the road into the mouth of the bay that harbours Kotor at its end... The huge mountains in front of me, and the water going in, cutting through them... "Wait a minute", I said to myself, "is this Norway...? damn it, this is a fiord!" How excited I was with this simple finding...

and after that, the long and winding road with not much than a single lane in width that goes up the mountain with some 20 +  elbow bends which led us to a fantastic viewpoint over the bay.... pity the day was so terribly hazy for photographs...

and what about lake Skadar, or Durmitor National Park, where I did some short and easy but nonetheless unforgettable hikes...

ah memories....

CEPT/Europa common issues have been around a long time. In fact, next year it'll be the 70th anniversary of the first CEPT issue which saw the light of day on the 15th Septembers 1956, in the then European Coal and Steel Community member states, namely  Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany.

The first half century of this emission was celebrated not only by the members of CEPT or  now PostEurope but also by several postal administrations all across the world.

Montenegro, which would only become a member of PostEurope in 2008, was one such case, issuing the imperforated souvenir sheet that Alex used on the cover, with a face value of 5.5 €,  on 03JAN2006, along with another souvenir sheet containing four more stamps allusive of the same anniversary.

The postmark hails from another beautiful seaside city in Montenegro: Budva.

  

COVER N. 581 - USA 

Postmark:  Year of the Snake, First Day of Issue Boston MA 14.01.2025

Posted on  the 1st January; Received on the 8th May 2025

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Ah ah! About time I got it, I thought to myself, when I saw  the long envelope with a snake  postmark on... Thank you so much, Gil.

Since I started this blog in mid 2021, with every beginning new year I have received FDCs with all the stamps from the USPS lunar year series, which began in 2020, If I got it right. So, by now, I'm missing 2020 and 2021 (blatant hint, if any of our USA friends are reading this...😀)

This year, the animal of choice is the snake, in Chinese mythology said to be characterised by its wisdom, charm, elegance... hmmmmm how different perceptions on the same things can be for humans across the globe. 

Snakes, in Portugal, used to be associated with exactly the opposite of elegance and charm, and I wouldn't want to be called a snake by an enemy, let alone by a friend 😀

Anyway, the Forever stamp issued by USPS on 14JAN2025 features a representation of a paper mask of a snake, overprinted with some metallic red flowers, for a nice colourful touch.

Postage on the cover was completed with a 22 cent stamp from a 50 x 22 cent stamp sheet issued on 13JUN1987, dedicated to North American Wildlife,  each stamp being illustrated with a different image of an animal;

and

A 2024 forever stamp illustrated with a poinsettia, part of a 4 x  "Forever" stamp set themed on "Holiday Joy".

The First day postmark, issued  at Boston, the capital of the State of Massachusetts, replicates the image on the snake on the stamp, although without the superimposed flowers.

COVER N. 580 - ALGERIA 

Postmark: no postmark

Posted on ?; Received on the 21st April 2025

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For some unfortunate reason, This beautifully laid out cover, as it is the norm with Hocine's covers, did not get a postmark.

Thank you all the same, Hocine, it has happened to covers of mine more than once also 😔

Celebrated for the first time in 1997, La journée nationale de l'Artiste (National Artist's Day) takes place every year in Algeria on the 8th June, in remembrance of the execution of Algerian independentist musician and singer  Ali Maâchi, in 1958.

To celebrate the occasion Algeria Post issued the 2 x 25 dinar stamp set on the cover illustrated with the portrait of two Algerian musicians: Athmane Bali, (1953 - 2005)  a Touareg musician who was a singer and oud player, judging by the image on the stamp,  and singer  Mohamed Tahar El Fergani,  (1928 - 2016) a violinist and singer  who was known as the Nightingale of Constantine, due to his outstanding vocal abilities. 

Postage was completed with a 15 dinar stamp of the Roses definitive issue of  20OCT2004, comprising 4 stamps illustrated with images of different coloured roses (Rosa Odorata).

 

COVER N. 579 - SRI LANKA 
POSTCARD N. 180 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 16.04.2025

Postcard Image: 18 Sanni Masks

Posted on the 16th April; Received on the 30th April 2025

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As I type Ravindra is set to fly off from Portugal, after a short visit in which we had the opportunity of meeting and spending some time together,

During one of our meet ups I could ask him about the amazing stamp issue that he used on a cover and a postcard that he recently sent me which I really found interesting. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, my friend.

Sanni Yakuma is a traditional healing ritual of Sri Lanka performed by dancers wearing the masks that are reproduced  in the stamps, each of them corresponding to a certain demon that needs to be exorcised so that the ill person can be cured. 

There are 18 demons, each corresponding to a certain type of ailment, hence the 18 stamps on the issue (although there's one demon missing in my postcard.... maybe there's also a demon for missing stamps disease....😂)

The 18 x 15 Rupee stamp issue began to circulate on 08AUG2018 al, the stamps being included in a mini-sheet, as is very usual for Sri Lanka's very interesting issues.

To send me the stamps that could not be glued onto the cover, Ravi used a postcard  illustrated with another set of the 18 demon masks featured in the stamp issue.

 

A usual, the postmark  was applied at Colombo's main Post Office.

COVER N. 578 - SRI LANKA 

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 08.04.2025 (?)

Posted on the  8th April; Received on the 21st April 2025

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A while ago I got these nice covers (#484  and #518) from Ravindra with stamps dedicate to the Scouts movement, that fueled back some rather old memories for me.

Ravi now sent me another cover with another 3 stamps of the same issue. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravindra, 

This time, though, I will have the opportunity to thank him in person, since Ravi is in Lisbon and we'll be meeting soon. Welcome to my country, friend.

The three stamps on the cover are part of a ten x 50 Rupee stamp set dedicated to the Scouting Movement in Sri Lanka, issued on 21FEB2024.  The stamps have been issued both as a single mini-sheet with the 10 stamps or as 2 x 5 stamp souvenir sheets, one dedicated to Boy Scouts and the other to Girl Guides, the sheets being shape cut in the format of both organisations emblems. 

POSTCARD N.179 - CAMBODIA

Postcard sent on the 2nd April, received on the 18th April 2025.

Postcard image: Banteay Srey Temple

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The restless traveller, the Ghost who Walks, the Phantom, ventured into the depths of the Asiatic jungles till he found temples forgotten by time and men... well not so much so, but this could be the first line for another epic adventure of the character created by Lee Falk in 1936...

and yet, it does apply to the latest postcard I got from my Phantom friend, from the depths of Cambodia. Danke sehr Alex!

Angkor needs no presentation. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is one of the world's most  famous landmarks, and Cambodia's most important ambassador.

The historic site of Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire that was at its prime from the 9th till the 15th centuries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, occupies an area of approximately 400 square kilometres, on which several temples were constructed, the most famous of them all being of course the majestic Ankor Wat.

Banteay Srey temple,  the subject of the postcard photo, also located on this historic site,  was built in the 10th century and was dedicated to Shiva, the supreme God and Parvati, the Godess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood.

Built in red sandstone the temple is remarkable for the quality of the carvings on its walls and also for its small stature when compared to the other famous temples in the region.

 

The Phantom used a quite adequate stamp on this postcard since it is one that is part of a set issued on 13MAR2019 dedicated to "Mystical Angkor". 

The issue comprises 5 stamps (500; 900; 1400; 3000 and 4000 Riel) all illustrated with images of Ankor Wat images and all carrying the legend Kingdom of Wander; Save our Culture, it's our History in Khmer and English.

The nice bicolour postmark was applied at Siem Riep, the gateway to the Angkor region.

COVER N. 577 - INDIA 

Postmark: Thrissur Namkulam 16.04.2025 (?)

Posted on the  16th April; Received on the 23rd April 2025

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A cover from India with three rather interesting stamps. Thanks a lot Jahfer.

The stamps on e cover are three quarters of a the first souvenir sheet of a series dedicated to Indian Fashion through the ages, (2 x 5 + 2 x 15 Rupees) issued on 30DEC2019.

The rather colourful stamps depict, lef to right, 

- Ghazi-ud-Din, the last Haidar of Houd and one of his concubines in the backgroud, probably;

- a Priest king of the  Harapa civilization of Moejo Daro (16th century BC); members of the  maMrya and Sunga civilizations ;

- Nobles of the Indian Princely States.

Postmark from Thrissur, a city in the State of Kerala.  Namkulam is the name of a temple, dedicated to Shasta,  also in Thrissur.

COVER N. 576 - FRANCE 

Postmark: Pavillon France Expo 2025 Osaka La Poste 1er jour 11.04.2025

Posted on the 11the April; Received on the 21st April 2025

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Stamps often invoke memories, at least in me, as I'm sure it is perceivable from some of my posts of this blog...

I got this nice FDC from France and, as usual, my first look was at the rather striking stamp... Expo 2025 Osaka says the legend on the stamps top sheet margin....

1970, the year I landed, on its very first day, in the island of Santa Maria, Azores, for an almost 4 year stay that would in many ways mark me for the rest of my life.

My family, like most airport worker's family, lived in one of the tin houses that had been left there by the American military who built the airport during the second world war. It was a  nice house (once you got used to the sound of the rain on the tin roof,  and emptying the rat traps from the pantry) and for the first time I had my own room, my private universe, filled with comics books, books from the Gulbenkian itinerating library (with its beloved Citroën H van) and my first model aircraft kits.

My house was geminated with a symmetrical one, wherein lived the family of one of my father's colleagues.

This gentleman collected stamps. Once he showed me his collection and how he would carefully file his stamps in an album using black hawid mounts.

I had to have one such album for myself.... I was already collecting stamps, I had a few in a binder but nothing comparable to the outstanding album my neighbour had shown me, which he had rather filled up with Portuguese stamps from way behind up to the day.....

So I asked my father if I could have one such album, and if I could also start collecting Portuguese stamps. I got a yes on both accounts, but the album would have to wait, for it could only be bought on the mainland, but I do remember that the vey first issue that my father ever bought me was the one dedicated to the Osaka Expo of 1970.

Incidentally, the album would come a couple of years later for Xmas, as well as a couple of packs of Hawid mounts.

My original album is long gone, lost in the bends of a rather twisty growing up road and I really only started to look at stamps again with interested eyes a few years ago, when I started this blog as a way to fill the available free time that the horrific Covid pandemic suddenly imparted us all with. 

But looking at the beautiful stamp on Roland’s cover, made me go back in time, to a time and place that I particularly hold dear and that is worth much more than the face value on the stamp... Un grand Merci, cher ami!

The 36th world expo will be taking place at Osaka, Japan, from the 13th April to the 13 October 2025.

France being a participant, la Poste, on 21APR2025,  issued the 2,10 celebratory stamp on the cover, illustrated with a view of the French Pavilion, which is designed around the concept of "A Hymn to Love", and aims at making people question themselves about their relation with the world at large: themselves, the others and the environment.

Guiding people on their journey is the red thread of fate, (a promenade stairway that takes visitors through the pavilion's different levels) an eastern Asiatic tradition centred around an invisible thread that guides people to meet and connect.

The First day cancellation is illustrated with the logo of the French Participation in the Expo.

COVER N. 575 - SPAIN

Postmark: Far de Calella Oficina Postal de Calella Correos 07.02.2025

Posted on the 7th February; Received on the 21st April 2025

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I don't know why but lately it seems there have been quite a few delays both in my inbound and outbound mail. 

Some days ago I got notice that a letter that I had sent to France in  December last year had finally arrived, now I get a cover that my friend, the restless Phantom, sent me from Spain, (which is right next door...) in the beginning of February..... I am still waiting for mail I sent myself and others in mid March....

Waiting for better days, I try to deal with the backlog of letters and postcards I have to add to my blog only to find that I cannot take my eyes out of the pot on the cover Alex so kindly sent me.... Cocido... all over the Iberian Peninsula this is a magic word..,

Literally Cocido, in Spanish, or Cozido, in Portuguese, means boiled. And it is the designation for a plethora of dishes that share the fact that they are result of boiling or stewing vegetables or legumes together with meat and or sausages, a department in which Iberia also excels, with hundreds of different types to choose from.

Typically, the Cantabrian Cocido Montanez, from what I see and read, is not that different from the version of its next door neighbour, the Fabada Asturiana: Large white beans, cabbage, bacon, chorizo, pork ribs...

This is mountain food, food for hard working people, food  for those who have to brave bad weather since there are a lot of calories in those pots, but hey, provided you don't eat it every other day... and yes, all cozidos or cocidos are simply outstandingly delicious! Let me just recommemd that if ever you come to my neck of the woods, do try the Cozido à Portuguesa in one of its many declinations, from North to South, to the Azores, where you can even try it slow cooked in a hole on the ground by volcanic heat…. 

Did you try it, Mr. Ghost who walks?

Funnily enough, I just heard from Alex, while I was typing that this cover went  from Spain to Indonesia first, by mistake of the local post office, and was then returned to Spain and resent to its final destination.... mystery explained... probably my delayed letters are mid way between here and jupiter, who knows... 

. 😀

The series Spain in 19 plates began in 2020, it will be composed by 19 single stamp souvenir sheets, illustrated (judging by the number) with a dish of one of the country's 17 autonomous communities plus 2 autonomous cities.

The sheet with the Cantabrian Cocido stamp was issued on 24JUL2023. Of note is the fact that on the same years two other sheets from the series were issued but each on its own date.

The nice pictorial postmark was applied at the post office of Calella, in Catalonia, and it depicts the local Lighthouse.