POSTCARD N.239 - SENEGAL

Postcard sent on the 21st July; received on the 7th August 2026

Postcard image: Las Médulas, Spain - Info on Total Solar Eclipse of the 12th August.

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What a great postcard this one is. Absolutely amazing. Thank you so very much, Wilhelm. I wish you get a great view of the Eclipse at las Médulas.

Wilhelm's wonderful postcard is self-designed and there are quite a few things to notice on it.

The first is that I obliterated part of the main image for privacy reasons, but it depicts the Las Médulas site, an historically relevant mining site located close to Ponferrada, in the province of Léon, part of the  Autonomous Region of Castilla y Léon.

The second is that part of the image is also blocked by the much appreciated 5 stamps on the card, since it is not that often that I get mail from there.

Third is that information on the face of the postcard goes well beyond the picture, for not only does the recipient immediately learn that the site depicted is a UNESCO  World Heritage site, but also there are QR codes that take him to a) the European Space Agency Solar Eclipse  site, where one will be able to follow it in real time b) UNESCO World Heritage Convention page for Las Nébulas c) the eclipse map page at the NSO - National  Solar Observatory website.

The fourth is the inferred correlation between las Médulas and the Eclipse, given that the latter, once the largest open pit gold mine of all the Roman Empire, will fall on the path of totality, making it a privileged viewing spot for  the astronomical spectacle.

Of course there is yet the Spanish flag, a coat of arms that I cannot identify and a nice vintage "Par Avion Correo Aereo” label.

Then there is the stamps and the postmark:

The largest and more colourful stamp is a 25 CFA franc illustrated with a painting of two astronauts, the lunar module and the American flag on the surface of the moon with the Earth in the background. It is part of a set of four (25; 145; 180; 500 CFA franc), issued on 09OCT1999, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first man on the moon.

Hard as I tried, I could not find information on the other two stamps (50 and 125 francs) illustrated with the portrait of a "Femme Peuth" (Peulh Woman) the Peulh or Fula or Fulani being the second most numerous ethnic group in Senegal, with 27% of the population, right behind the Wolof (39%).

The stamps contain the legend “Poste 2025” on the base of the frame, so they are quite recent,  (the name of the artist - A. Aziz  - and the printer - Philaposte - is also present) and they may be part of a definitive issue comprising several stamps identical except for the colour and the face value.  

The very clear and large postmark indicates that the postcard was mailed from Foundiougne, a town on the west of Senegal with a population of about 9000.

How's that for info on a 10x15 cm piece of card?

The back of the postcard is totally occupied with printed information concerning the eclipse of next Wednesday, the 12th August, including a globe with the totality path indicated on it and lots of other information that I cannot decipher that seem to be time referenced to a spot located somewhere between Greenland and Iceland.....

On top of the card there is the Spanish coat of arms on one side and a QR code that I cannot read because a tiny slice of it is hidden under a strip of the margin of one of the stamps.

On the bottom left corner there is yet another coat of arms that I cannot decipher and the UNESCO las Médulas logo on the right one. Between them three unmistakable Spanish icons are also printed: D.Quijote and Sancho Panza, a Saint James Scallop shell and the Osborne Bull.

All in all a great Postcard. Vielen dank, Wilhelm.

I will try to watch the eclipse too, but I will be just outside or at the margin of the totality path, in Vinhais, Trás-os-Montes. Pity I could not get a sheet of solar filter so far, so no photos, probably....