POSTCARD N.219 - CROATIA

Postcard sent on the 07th April; received on the 14th April 2026

Postcard image: Night view of Vela Luka - Kurcula Island

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What a pleasant surprise. A friend and colleague of my wife's who has accompanied her relentless efforts to ensure I get a postcard or a letter posted from the local Post Office whenever she travels abroad for work reasons, was immensely kind and volunteered to send us this beautiful postcard fromCroatia, knowing that such a generous gesture would make us (well, me, for sure 😀) immensely Happy.

Muito obrigado, Francisca. Fiquei mesmo muito contente por ter recebido este bonito postal. 

Como as boas ações não devem ficar sem resposta, já vai outro postal de resposta a caminho também 😀

Vela Luka, which translates into "Big Harbour" is a port town on the Island of Korčula, one of the Croatian Islands in the Adriatic. The economy of the  town, as I could learn from wikipedia,  aside from the activities related to the sea and tourism, leans on the existence of a medical centre specialised in patient  rehabilitation and rheumatic disorders.

Francisca used a "C" tariff self-adhesive stamp,  part of a set of three, (Tariffs A/B/C) of the "Natural Beauty of Croatia" series, issued on 28JAN2020, illustrated with a photograph of Telašćica Nature Park.

This nature reserve is located in the central part of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, in the south-eastern part of the island of Dugi Otok and was upgraded in protection status from Protected area in 1980 to Nature Park in 1988, in recognition of the importance of its "valuable flora and fauna, geological and geomorphological phenomena, versatile sea bottom life, and interesting archaeological heritage", as stated in the Park's official site. 

POSTCARD N.181 - CROATIA

Postcard sent on ?, received on the 9th JUne 2025.

Postcard image: Aerial view of Dubrovnik

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Another of Ravindra's stops on his European journey: Dubrovnik, Croatia. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravi!

One has to agree: Dubrovnik is a lovely place. Totally encircled by the city walls, built between the 8th and 16th centuries, which attain  25 metres at their highest points and can be as thick as 6 metres, the old city,  the part of Dubrovnik that gave it the notoriety it enjoys, greets the visitor with a vast and diverse group of edifications from the renaissance and baroque periods.

The relevance of the old walled city buildings, of which many were preserved in spite of a terrible earthquake in 1667  was acknowledged by the UNESCO, who declared it a World Heritage Site in 1979, well before the war in which Dubrovnik and its inhabitants were sadly involved during the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

During the conflict, Dubrovnik was heavily shelled what caused the destruction of a large percentage of one of the city's trademarks: its distinctive terracotta orange roof tiles, centuries old.

Finding such roof tiles for the reconstruction proved to be an difficult task, but luckily, it was discovered that this type of tiles were still being made in France, in Toulouse. As such, under the coordination of UNESCO, the  restoration of the buildings and roofs damaged by the war could be carried out, returning the city to its former glory.

Several shades of roof tiles are apparent to the viewer, some noticeably more on the red side of the orange spectre. When I visited Dubrovnik a number of years ago, someone told me that this is due to the fact that the newer tiles are darker than the original... if this is true or untrue I do not know, but it is a plausible explanation...

Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic has in recent years been shown as an example of overtourism. It easy to understand why: it suffers from the same set of circumstances that afflict Venice or Santorini or so many other places... it falls prey to its own fame... with every new day, especially in the high summer season,  thousands  of visitors  pass through the arch of the Pile Gate, the main entrance into the old town, many driven by the social media fuelled curiosity of visiting one of places where Game of Thrones was filmed.

Still, crowds or no crowds, one has to agree: Dubrovnik is a lovely place!

On 28Jan2020 Croatian Post issued  a set of three stamps (in regular and self adhesive versions) highlighting some of the Natural Beauties of Croatia. Further to the C tariff stamp used on the postcard, illustrated with an image of Telašćica Nature Park, in the Adriatic Island of  Dugi Otok, the issued comprised a tariff A stamp, dedicated to Kopački Rit Nature Park, and a Tariff B stamp, showcasing the Blue Cave at Biševo.

The postmark is illegible but I suspect it hails from Dubrovnik too.

COVER N. 325 - CROATIA 

Postmark: No postmark

Posted on (?); received on the 27th September 2023

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A stamp can trigger great memories.

Thank you so much Nikola. 1998 was a great year indeed, and seeing this little souvenir sheet on the cover you sent me just made me remember a lot of things about the great EXPO 98 World Fair that took place in our capital city.

When I was a lad of four, my father would take me on long walks to up to the riverside from where we lived. I loved to see the Flying boats... I remember. These were Aquila's Airways Short Solent that were left to languish on the dock after the folding of the company by the end of the 50's of last century.

How was I to know that some 35 years later I would go to the same place to see not the Flying Boats but a myriad of dazzling spectacles which included street parades by the craziest machines one could ever think of, light and sound displays, concerts of all kinds of music, pavilions with the best that every participating country had wanted to show us of their culture and geography... and yet, there I was with my wife and daughters and millions of other visitors, happy to have the chance of a lifetime to visit such a thrilling and varied cultural showcase.

Nowadays the old derelict yards, which had accommodated an oil refinery, rusty containers and all kinds of neglected spaces, upon which the Expo was erected, are occupied by housing, with a density that probably could match that of Hong Kong or Macao, but the river front is totally unimpeded, safe for some of the infrastructures that were left in place after the Expo, like Lisbon's Oceanarium. All in all a great trade off in my opinion, even if, as I said, housing density in the area is, in my view, absolutely exaggerated.

see..? all these thoughts just from looking at a stamp...   

Within the programme of the Expo an international Stamp Exhibition was also organised, although I have no recollection of visiting it.

The souvenir sheet on the cover Nikola sent me was issued by the Croat Postal Administration celebrating this event on 03JUN1998. It depicts a Gajeta Falkusa, a type of traditional fishing boat in use in the Croat Island of Viz.

The theme of the Expo being the Oceans, boats of all types participated in the event. One of them was a Gajeta built expressly for the Expo, which is the vessel that features on the stamp in the souvenir sheet.

COVER N. 279 - CROATIA

Postmark: Hrvatska Posta P1405  03.07.2023 

Posted on the 3rd July; Received on the 11th July 2023

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A distinctive feature of cover collecting is the fact that one can count on the help of friends and relatives to increase one's collection, given that a visit to a post office while abroad is not, most of the times, something that will either take too much time or be in any other way too inconvenient..

So, whenever I get the chance within my family nucleus, I always pester wife and daughters, begging for their help.

My wife went to Croatia some time ago for professional reasons, so I immediately prepared a cover and asked her to pass by the post office if she had the time.

Unfortunately, she didn't, but she passed my request to a kind colleague of hers, who went through the trouble of buying the stamps and posting the envelope. I could not be more thankful for such a nice and generous gesture. 

Thanks a lot, Andrea!

The Croatian war of Independence, which marked the beginning of the several secessionist conflicts that would bring about the need to revise the Balkanic atlas after a decade of brewing up in Yugoslavia after Tito's death, took place between 1991 and 1995.

The conflict opposed Croatian units to the Yugoslav army and local Serb forces, and besides causing an estimated 20.000 military dead on both sides,  was also at the root of the displacement of several thousand civilians. The former opponents are now at peace, but as usual with wars, and particularly civil wars, the ugly scars that were left will take time to fully heal...

Honouring the Croat forces that participated in the conflict, Hrvastka Post issued between 2017 and 2020 a series of stamps evocative of the involved Croat units, decorated with the badges of the pertinent unit against a camouflaged "fabric" background.

On my cover Andrea used one such stamp from the 2020 issue - which comprised four 8,60 Kuna stamps and began to circulate on 11MAR2020 -  dedicated to the 5th Guards Brigade - Sokolovi, The Falcons, I believe.

Andrea completed the postage with a 0,56 € label, on which the place of expedition - Zlatar Bistrica, is clearly identifiable, thus adding to the cover another interesting element as two currencies were used on the same postal object.

As a side note, this year I'm planning to finally bring to life a project that has been with me for decades. That is, to walk the Portuguese Coastal Caminho de Santiago between Porto and the Praza do Obradoiro, in Santiago.

Knowing this, and having been at a church which is in the Santiago way that runs through Croatia (something I didn't even know it existed), my wife had the back of the envelope stampmarked with the church stamp, another great touch to the cover! Thanks Francisca!

COVER N. 243 - CROATIA

Postmark: Hrvasta Posta P5121 26.04.23 

Posted on the 26th April; Received on the 3rd May 2023
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Nikola could not have been more kind, when I asked him for a stamp swap and promptly sent me the 2021 Europa  Croatian stamps I was looking for.

To do so, he also carefully composed an envelope with some nice art Croatian art stamps and sent it my way. 

Thank you so much Nikola!

Unfortunately, one of the stamps came off during transit, so the cover only exhibits two of the three stamps that constitute the set on  Croatian Painters, issued on 12OCT1994 by Hrvasta Posta (Croatian Post)

The stamp on the left is illustrated with a still life by Marino Tartaglia (1894 – 1984), a painter and a teacher at Zagreb's Academy of Fine Arts whose works show an evolution from the figurative to the abstract, probably reflecting the influences of his crossing of the Modernist period in Italy and France.

The fact that he is a well respected painter in his home country can be also inferred from the fact that his works are featured on stamps both of Yugoslavia and Croatia.

The stamp on the right end corner bears a reproduction of a painting by Milan Steiner (1894-1918).

Unfortunately Steiner lived a rather short life. It always makes you wonder when you see works of great quality, made by artists who sadly passed away in the prime of their years, what would they be producing later in their lives, had  the grim reaper chosen to go cut elsewhere...

He graduated from the Transitional Advanced School of Arts and Crafts (today’s Academy of Fine Arts) just two years before his unfortunate demise and as such he only publicly exhibited his work once, in the graduation exhibition of the works of the academy students. A sad story, but a very fine modernist artist, judging from the images I've seen of his work on the internet.

Steiner was a victim of the Spanish Flu, at the tender age of 26, in 1918, much as our great Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, who was also only 30 years old... 

I cannot find any indication of provenience in the postmark other than code P5121, which probably makes some geographic sense...

COVER N. 235 - CROATIA

Postmark: ilegible 03.04.2023 

Posted on the 3rd April; Received on the 18th April 2023
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Lately I've been adding quite a few names to the list of countries and Postal Administrations represented in this blog and so I couldn't be more pleased to notice that in the stash of mail I had received during my time off in the beginning of the month, there was also a nice cover from Nikola, in Croatia, the first one I ever got from this beautiful country.

Thank you so much, Nikola!

I have spent some fine days in Croatia  some years ago and one of them was passed walking around in Plitvitce Lakes National Park, slowly building one of those memories that will last forever, for the place is  outstandingly beautiful, with waterfalls and emerald  lakes that look like they came out of some fantasy novel, popping out of everywhere.

The beauty of memories is that they can be revived; the more so if you happen to be one of those fellows that won't go on a holiday trip without the cumbersome and inconvenient weight of a backpack  full of camera gear that 9,5 out of 10 times you just won't use, much to the joy of your travelling companion who won't let go an opportunity to mock the aspiring Ansel Adams in you, as she shoots picture after picture with the unbearable lightness of the  250 grams of her cellphone....

But then there's weather, season, time of day, people... all the variables that during the summer months at well known places, usually get together to make sure that your unforgettable visit to an unforgettable place will be recorded in sub-par photos, either because the sun will be to high, or the sky will be dull blue, the light will be too harsh, there will be people everywhere, (doing much the same as you...)....

But you carry on, and next time you go somewhere in the summer, you'll be sure to carry all the heavy gear on your back... hoping for the best, knowing that frustration can also be a motivator to  do better next time... I've caught good photo opportunities during summer storms, for instance,.. but then, it is the wind... the rain... the fact that the tripod won't hold steady... while your companion shoots picture after picture of perfectly good vacation photographs with the unbearable lightness of a 250 g cellphone...

When I looked at the stamps on Nikola's letter, I immediately jumped to the computer to take a look at the pictures I took at Plitvice in 2017.... How can a guy spend the best part of a day in such a lovely place and return home with all but crappy pictures....well, I promise I'll do better next time.

On 10JUN2019 Hrvatska pošta issued a minisheet with four stamps, denominated two each at 3.10 and 8.8 Kuna, illustrated with photos of Plitvice national Park, celebrating the beauty and the importance this amazing place has, both in ecological and economical terms. Two of these stamps were used on my cover and given the fact that the 3.10 Kuna stamp is in souvenir sheet form, I suspect that the other three might have been likewise issued, but I'm just speculating.

The postmark on the stamp is illegible, unfortunately.