POSTCARD N.246 - SPAIN

Postcard dated of 19 August; received on the  27th August 2026

Postcard image: Sant Mateu (Castellon) - Ermita de la Mare de Deu dels Angels

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Eva sends me a postcard with a view of  the Ermita de la Mare de Deu dels Angels (Hermitage of Our Lady of the Angels), in Sant Mateu, province of Castellón. Moltes Graciès, Eva. It is always a pleasure to get to know new places and landmarks in our Peninsula.

To say that traditional touristic postcards can be windows to the world  around us, echoes of a lapalissade, still I think it is worth mentioning it for the humble photo on a 10x15 rectangle has done a lot to preserve the memory of places, locals, buildings, infrastructures... you name it.

In the days before cameras in telephones and instant messaging, they were the physical counterpart to what we now do “matterlessly” through whatsapp or any email app.

And  they were ubiquitous. At every village or town, or city, in every quiosk, newsstand, stationery store, side by side with the newspaper racks, there would be a rotating postcard display stand, with images of the local landmarks, or local views,  humble as they might be.

It is in the physical nature that lays their utmost importance.

Some time ago I was visiting an exhibition in the museum of the city where I live. Part of it was dedicated to the evolution of a small fishing village that integrates city's municipal area, which I know quite well, as it stands today.

A century ago, it was quite different, of course, and yet, I could see how it evolved into what it is today, thanks to several postcards, issued in the course of that same century, that provided the perfect registry of the changes that the village went through.

Yes, today is so easy: you take a photo, you send it right away, but..........

no one puts the message in a shoebox anymore, no one cares about it, once it is sent and received, no one files it, classifies it, cares for it, collects it....

In a hundred years time, paradoxically, I wouldn't be surprised if  it may prove to more difficult to organise an exhibition documenting the evolution through time of a specific place (if that place is not a major city or landmark) than in the days of the paper backed photography...

That's why postcards are also important. Cheap yet affective time capsules, they are... 

There should be an international Postcard resurgence movement.. Eva (and I) and many others contribute to it.. hope it grows :-)

Wikipedia tells me that the Ermida de Sant Mateu sits atop the mountain of the same name in the Vale d'Angel mountain range, in the Province of Castellon, in the Valencian Community.

The story of this church goes back to the final years of the 16th century when Sebastian, a Portuguese hermit living in the then existing  hermitage dedicated to Saint Anthony the Abbot and Saint Paul the Hermit is said to have seen in his dreams an image of the Virgin appear and disappear under the altar table.

After securing permission from the ecclesiastical authorities, Sebastian and a group of believers who were aware of his dream, found the image and placed it on the altar. The existing hermitage was from then on expanded to become what is now the Sant Mateu Hermitage.

Today, the Hermitage is  the destination of an annual pilgrimage that happens on the second Saturday after Easter, originating in the Archpriest Church of Sant Mateu, in the town of the same name, two to three kilometres away

Stamps (left to right) 

- Felipe VI became the King of Spain on 19 June 2014. The first definitive series featuring his portrait was issued on 19JAN2015, and the 0,04 € stamp on the cover is part of that issue which comprised 6 values (0,01; 0,04; 0,10; 1;L 2; 5 €), the stamps being all equal but printed in different colours.

- The United Nations Assembly General of 2011 proclaimed the 30th July as the International Friendship Day.

This fact notwithstanding, this day  is also unofficially celebrated in Spain and in some of the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America and in Brazil slightly earlier, on the 20th July, the day when Neil Armstrong first set a human foot on the moon.

This year, to highlight the date, Correos de España issued on  20JUL2026, the 1€ self-adhesive stamp on the postcard, illustrated  with  a suggestive and self-explaining image and the legend Dia de la Amistad (Frierndship Day).   

The Tariff A (domestic, 20g) stamp illustrated with two ladies (one presumably older than the other, as indicated by her gray hair) hugging each other and the legend Soledad no Deseada (Undesired Solitude), was issued on 28APR2026 as is part of a series designated Salud y Bienestar (Health and Wellbeing). It aims at raising awareness for one of the silent epidemics of current times: unwanted loneliness.

The mechanical Postmark is illegible as to the place of application