POSTCARD N.166 - PORTUGAL 

Postcard sent on the 1st October, received on the 4th October 2024

Postcard image: Almada landmarks

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World Postcard Day began to be celebrated in 2019, thanks to the efforts of the guys behind the Postcrossing platform who thought that the 150th anniversary of the postcard - whose history, I read, began in Austro-Hungary - could be the perfect opportunity to start a tradition.

Ever since that year, World Postcard Day has been making its way into postal administrations special cancelation marks programmes and  I always make sure I post a couple of postcards, both on and off postcrossing, to some friends here and there, not forgetting, of course, to send one to my own self.

So here's what I sent me this year: a postcard with some landmarks of the municipality of Almada, wherein I live.

Left to right:

The monument of Christ the King.

Inspired by the Christ monument of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it was inaugurated in 1959. The statue, conceived by sculptor Francisco Franco de Sousa, has an eight of 28 metres and sits atop a 75 metre high pedestal, designed by Architect António Lino.

On the top of the pedestal further to the base of the statue there is an observation deck from which you get a fabulous 360 view of Lisbon and its surroundings on both banks of the river.

The mermaid 

Located at the entrance of the local shopping mall, I could not find any information regarding its author.

The 25th April Bridge

Linking Lisboa on the north Bank to Almada on the south bank of the Tagus, the  2,277.64 m long bridge, which nowadays serves both road and rail traffic, was designed by thge United States Steel Export Company and was inaugurated in 1966.

Os Perseguidos (The Persecuted)

A bronze sculpture by  Anjos Teixeira, inaugurated in1979, honouring all those that were persecuted during the years of the dictatorship.

The Cacilhas Ligthouse

The Cacilhas lighthouse was installed in 1886 in the Cacilhas dock, on the left bank of the Tagus. It is 12 metres high and it was decommissioned in 1978. It was re-implanted in a slightly different position as a public monument in 2009, after a spell in the island of Terceira, Azores, (1983-2004) where it replaced for the duration the old lighthouse of Serreta. 

Theatre Joaquim Benite

The second largest theatre hall in Portugal, the blue theatre as it is also known, was designed by architects Manuel Graça Dias, Egas José Vieira e Gonçalo Afonso Dias and is home to the Companhia de Teatro de Almada, one of the main Portuguese theatre companies, responsible for the famed  Festival de Almada, one of the most important European Theatre festivals.

The World Postcard Day cancelation mark, on a 0.65 € stamp of the set Vessels of the Portuguese Merchant Navy, issued on 29MAY2024, illustrated with an image of the liner Serpa Pinto, built in 1914 as the EMS Ebro, she served with the Portuguese Companhia Colonial de Navegação  from 1940 to 1955, when she was finally scrapped.

 Buen Camino! - a  Philatelic Camino de Santiago 

Part II - the postcards

I should have sent one from Porto, also. 

This was my thought when I looked at the two postcards I have on my table as I type. In fact my journey began in the beautiful northern city caressed by the ceaseless flow of the Douro on its way to succumb into the Atlantic, much to the indifference of the city's hustle and bustle, for this has held true for thousands of years, and will hold true for many a thousand more... 

Why didn't I? I had the time and the opportunity…, but you can't go back in time, so I ended up sending but two postcards for me. One posted from the last town I touched before entering Spain and the other from the finish line, the magnificent cathedral that has witnessed thousands and thousands of people driven by faith or by will or by both come to its door from all Europe, from places as far as Poland or the Scandinavian Peninsula, or the Eastern Mediterranean coast.

The postcard I sent from Caminha though, has much more than a stamp and a postmark associated to it.

It is the reminder of a meeting. Not a chance meeting with fellow walkers or locals, like the many I had along the way, but a pre-arranged and, for me at least, highly anticipated one.

This blog has made it possible to exchange covers with a lot of people. From that group of friendly people who happen to share a common interest with me, a few have become more frequent on the "return to address, if undelivered" flap of the envelopes I so eagerly antecipate.

From this smaller group, an even smaller number has been kind enough to let me maintain some direct contact with them by email or a messaging app.

But, up to now, I had never met anyone face to face, I had never been able to put a face to the names I so often write and thank for another great addition to my growing collection.

That's why when I got a note from one of these kind souls saying he'd be probably able to meet me to walk a bit of a day's leg of my journey, I felt quite happy and immediately accepted his proposal, even though one of the main objectives of my journey was to be ... well.. alone, for a while, fully committed to my thoughts and perceptions. Still, my experience told me that meeting people with whom we have some common grounds, with whom we share some interests, is always much easier and productive than what my inherent shyness always makes me fear.

And this again proved true, for when I entered Praça da República at Vila Praia de Âncora and saw this bloke looking down the street  searching for someone with a backpack, I immediately knew we would get along well, and in fact the first few words we exchanged were the kind  that are exchanged between people who have known each other for some time: "Hi, there you are, so how is it going" "Fine, thanks" and without further ado we proceeded to a table on the patio of "Café Central" so that I could finally have a much  desired "bica" (what an expresso is called in the south of Portugal, for in Porto the same thing goes by the name of Cimbalino. Just don't worry, ask for a café, and everyone will know what you want, irrespective of geography).

Eric, for it is him who I'm talking about, was my gift for the day.  We had an enjoyable conversation, in Portuguese, for Eric speaks it as well as I do,  with no need for ice-breakers or weighing our own words,  from the very first expresso sips… But the earth was moving and so was the day and Caminha was still some 10 km away, so I got up to put my back pack on... but no way. Eric simply would not let me: "Let me take it for you, for a while".... I was flabbergasted .. "No, how come... it is heavy, you shouldn't..", but while I was still uttering my concerns, he was already adjusting the back pack belt to his waist....

And I, shamelessly, have to confess that not only did not insist (he was so determined...) but also deep at heart I felt a bit relieved because that was the longest leg of the entire journey (in excess of 30 km) and after 20, every gram in the back pack starts to inflate as by some strange physical phenomenon, so much so, that I believe I have discovered a new law of physics which will go down in history as the Eric and Pedro's axiom: after 20 km, every gram of matter increases in weight, in direct proportion to the distance travelled. ( I feel a Nobel coming in...).

So we took to the road that follows the coast and we spent a couple of delightful hours walking, talking and enjoying the magnificent views at our side, until, already close to the end of my leg, Eric had to turn back (to walk again almost 10 km to our point of departure).

“Take it, you must take it to the end of the leg”, said Eric, handing over the backpack to me.

We exchanged goodbyes, but a bond had been created...

And exchanged letters and postcards will now take more than stamps and postmarks with them, even if empty, or filled with just a plain unwritten card... 

I'm sure Eric agrees with me..

 

The main square at Caminha.... I had a great ice cold alcohol free beer on one of those cafe patios, while writing on my little logbook the notes for quite a special day,

The day's postmark of the Post office at Caminha on the stamp with an image of the castle of Miranda do  Douro, which stands some 300 km to the East, curiously also on the border with Spain . This stamp is part of a six N20 (Domestic up to 20g) stamps + 1 3,00€ (make some money for the company...) stamp souvenir sheet, issued on 10MAR2023, themed on castles and fortresses on the raia (the border with Spain).

It took me eight days from that day, Ito again send  another postcard home. 

Feelings invoked by the image of the cathedral on this postcard were now  much more mixed, though, for arriving was somewhat anticlimactic:

The journey had ended, period!

I was happy that I had conquered m Everest, I had attained my objective, but, somehow, I was a little sad that something that I had wanted for so long had just been completed... terminated.... achieved...

Still I'm sure other ways will be opened to my steps, to my waking poles....,yes, that's what the image of the cathedral reminds me of....that's what the image of the cathedral keeps telling me to do... so I'd better keep that postcard well at hand....

Santiago's Cathedral by night... even the moon walks to its courtyard, it seems.....

The stamp themed on Archeology,  issued on 16JUN2023, featuring the mosaics at the Salar Roman Villa, in Granada. 

Sadly, the beautiful pictorial Postmark of Santiago Central Post Office, with a image of the Catedral, is obliterated by a mechanical postmark, presumably pertaining to the Mail Prossessing Station at Santiago.

 

Buen Camino! - a  Philatelic Camino de Santiago 

Will I make it to the end? 

That was the question that kept popping up in my mind for quite a number of years. I knew for sure  I would try it sometime, but now that finally, after years, decades, of waiting, I was all set up and ready to go, I was infested with doubt. After all, age (and with it, health) is not only experience, and one's physical ability tends to decrease in time, not the other way round.

On the other hand, I was quite confident. I felt prepared. I had been training for it, for some time. in recent years, especially during the pandemic period, I took to the habit of walking daily a number of kilometres and I had done long stretches without feeling overwhelmed by it... but then there was the weight of the backpack... so I did a few walks fully laden just to see how hard it would be and these too did not prove insurmountable, so prospects looked not that bad.

Walking the Camino de Santiago on one of its many declinations is, as I see it, much more than a religious experience, something that for me means absolutely nothing, since I'm a hard-line agnostic. in fact, I was told that statistics show that religion motivates but 40% of the total of hikers that take the path to the magnificent cathedral that lies at its end. 

The routes of the apostle are probably some of the most celebrated and sought after walking destinations in Europe and I am sure there are as many reasons for doing it as  the number of persons that increasingly take to one of them to complete it.

I wanted to do it alone. For a number of reasons. I don't deny there is a spiritual dimension involved here, since when walking alone one is prone to reflection and contemplation, two things I do often indulge in, but first and foremost, walking in a group, and especially larger groups can be very distracting and even tiring. I like to hear the world, when I walk, and not what others are talking about. I rather listen to the bees, birds, the wind on the foliage, the streaming of water... I find the voice of nature a perfect polyphonic soundtrack for one to match one's own pace to it. And then there's the question of rhythm. Every walker has it own, and keeping pace with others can be much more tiring than walking at your own pace and rhythm.

The decision was therefore taken to do it solo, on one of the easiest routes, I hear, and one of the latest to be certified (2022) although it has been acknowledged  for some years now; the Portuguese Coastal Way, in the variant that connects Portugal to Spain at  Caminha, in the mouth of the Minho river.

Memorable  events deserve... memories; ways to somehow keep them for the future  in something more physical than one's own ROM, volatile as it can be, as we all know... so I would never leave home without a little notebook to keep my journey's log, and which now is a much precious souvenir of the 13 days I spent walking. But I also saw the opportunity for creating an exclusive philatelic memento of the journey. With this in mind, I decided I would send each day home a cover from the place I would end the day's leg, collecting on each envelope the stamps that are also collected in the Pilgrim's credential to later certify the effective completion of the journey, and thus obtain the Compostela, the official certificate of pilgrimage.

So I scrounged the internet looking for graphic elements to compose a nice envelope which I then printed in multiple copies (not as many as I would like, for any gram counted....), and once on the way,  posting the cover was the fifth (sometimes forth) most important step of my daily routine, after lodging; showering; washing my clothes and eating.

To improve diversity, I tried to obtain different stamps for each cover, and not only was I successful in this endeavor, but I could also find a stamp, albeit self-adhesive, dedicated to the Way of Saint James, which I used on my last cover, as a perfect epilogue to it all.

I was absolutely elated to realise upon my return that all the covers made it home, so I couldn't help but sharing them here on my humble blog:

Maybe they'll inspire someone to follow my footsteps on the Camino... who knows....? If so, let me wish him/her the traditional wish exchanged between those walking the way: Buen Camino!

Cover n. 1 - Posted on the 9th September, for the leg Porto (Porto's Cathedral) - Labruge.

I started the journey on a Saturday, with the post office closed, so I had to put the cover in pillar box at Labruge, hence the mechanical obliteration. The stamp was issued on 27MAY2023 and celebrates the 100 years of the Portuguese National Scouts Corps.

Cover n. 2 - Posted on the 10th September, for the leg Labruge - Póvoa do Varzim.

Same here. A Sunday, and I remember walking an extra 6 km, looking for the post office to drop the letter into the mailbox. The stamp, issued on 12JAN2022, is part of a four stamp set honouring Portuguese personalities who have played important roles in the United Nations Organization, in the case at hand, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, who was UN's General Assembley President for its 50th session, in 1995-1996.

Cover n. 3 - Posted on the 11th September, for the leg Póvoa do Varzim - Esposende.

A week day, so I was able to go for the first time to the post office and actually ask for a hand cancellation, as can be seen on the stamp, part of a set issued on 31MAR2022, devoted to contemporary Portuguese historic and cultural figures. The stamp honours architect Nuno Teotónio Pereira.

Cover n. 4 - Posted on the 12th September, for the leg Esposende - Viana do Castelo.

Again a nice hand applied postmark. The stamp is part of a set celebrating the 175 years of the creation by Queen Maria II in 1846 of the Grémio Literário, an institution devoted to literature and arts, issued on 21APR2022.

Cover n. 5 - Posted on the 13th September, for the leg Viana do Castelo - Caminha,

Another stamp of the set issued on  31MAR2022, devoted to contemporary Portuguese historic and cultural figures, honouring Maria de Lourdes Levy, the second woman to get a PhD in Medicine in

Portugal and an internationally acknowledged epilepsy specialist. 

Cover n. 6 - Posted on the 14th September, for the leg  Caminha - Porto Mougás.

A Guarda, the first town I touched in Spanish Soil, had a post office, and the two ladies there were very friendly in trying to answer my request for 10 different stamps for Europe, which they managed to produce, even if a couple of them were the  self-adhesive type. The post office also had a nice pictorial postmark, which I asked to be stamped on my cover, even if I was not posting it from there.

This was first cover I posted in Spain, and one of the two covers I could not post on the day of the leg, since Porto Mougás is a tiny place without post office or letter box, and on top of it, I stayed at a place some 2,5 km from the main road, up a steep hill. So, even if there was a letter box on the main road below, I don't think I would have the stamina to go down and up hill again just to post the letter. So I just had it cancelled in the first Post Office I found on the way next day, that of the nice town of Baiona.

For my first Spanish cover, I felt it appropriate to use this year's EUROPA issue that began to circulate on Europe's day, 09MAY2023.

Cover n. 7 - Posted on the 15th September, for the leg  Porto Mougás - Sabaris.

Sabaris has no post office too, since it is just a couple of km away from Baiona.  So I just dropped the letter into the pillar box there, using a  stamp issued on 24APR2023, dedicated to the April's Feria of Sevilla, illustrated with the Feria portico.

Cover n. 8 - Posted on the 16th September, for the leg Sabaris - Vigo

A Saturday again, so I dropped the letter into the pillar box I found close to the place I was staying at, in Vigo.

The stamp used was issued on 22JUN2023, as part of a 4 stamp set dedicated to Spanish Museums. It features the Hall of the Basque country Contemporary Art Museum at  Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Cover n. 9 - Posted on the 18th September, for the leg  Vigo - Ramallosa

Ramallosa hid an unpleasant surprise.  Since it was Sunday, I went looking for the Post office hoping to find a letter box there to drop my day cover. I did find the Post Office but strangely there was no letter box or a pillar box in view to drop any letters, I find it completely odd, but in fact I did not find any place to drop the letter off, so I took it with me and had it posted the next day at the Post Office at Arcade, a town I passed along the way. If one looks closely, the postmark from Arcade (rather poorly applied, still has the date of the Friday before, the 15th)

The stamp used was issued on 19APR2023, and it features a detail of the 2005 mural painting by Spanish muralist Jorge Gay (Zaragoza, Aragon, 1950), called El Amor Nuevo (the New Love), which can be seen at the Foundation of the Teruel Lovers, in Teruel.

Cover n. 10 - Posted on the 18th September, for the leg Ramallosa - Pontevedra.

At Pontevedra I finally managed to cancel the stamp with a nice pictorial postmark, with a line view of the City's Cathedral.

I was running out of stamps so I used a self-adhesive stamp issued on 05NOV2021 as part of the two stamp Christmas issue for the year, illustrated with a photo of the monumental nativity scene of the Army, at Burgos, which  celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022.

Cover n. 11 - Posted on the 19h September, for the leg Pontevedra - Caldas de Reis

The stamps used were sometimes rather large, so I had to glue this one sideways to ensure I would not block off any of the nice stamps I had collected. Themed on Archeology, the stamp was issued on 16JUN2023 and features pictures of mosaics at the Salar Roman Villa, in Granada. 

Cover n. 12 - Posted on the 20th September, for the leg Caldas de Reis - Padrón (Iria Flavia)

At Padrón I was counting on getting a nice pictorial stampmark of the Camino, since I had seen them mentioned on Correos website, but unfortunately I was informed at the Post Office that they were no longer available, so the cover was cancelled with the standard day mark, and afterwards with a mechanical postmark too...

Another stamp of the 2023 museums issue, which began to circulate on 22JUN2023, featuring a photo of the Real Academia de Belas Artes de San Fernando, (Royal Arts Academy of San Fernando) in  Madrid.

Cover n. 13 - Posted on the 21st September, for the final leg, Padrón (iria Flavia) - Santiago de Compostela

The last cover, for which I had saved a self-adhesive stamp dedicated to the Camino de Santiago, issued on 25APR2016, was graced with the nice pictorial cancellation of Santiago de Compostela Post Office, featuring the image of the Cathedral and the stamp of the Cathedral itself, among others.

I had made it after all. and I could not be happier.

Upon entering the Obradoiro square, right in front the cathedral, I finally laid my backpack down, savoured the moment,  asked someone there to please take my mandatory picture with my cellphone and sent the following message to my friends:

That's it... I made it! More than 300 km, 13 days, alone, but for the music of the air and  the rhythm of my boots as they fused with earth, mud, water, sand, grass, dead leaves, living leaves, asphalt...

I look for no other indulgence than the solitary pleasure of walking and sucking up the world around me with my eyes wide open and that grace was fully conceded to me. And with that, I couldn't be happier!

COVER N. 300 - PORTUGAL

Postmark: First day of issue : Alberto Santos Dumont 1873/1932 CTT Lisboa 20.07.2023

Posted on the 20th July; Received on the 16th August 2023

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I seldom post the covers I mail to myself using Portuguese issues, since I have a hard time keeping pace with all the covers I get, and the aim of this blog is mainly to show what I get from other fellow collectors and not what I get from my own self....

But every once in a while, there comes an issue that just can't go unmentioned. Such is the case for the very beautiful issue celebrating the memory of flight Pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont, a Brazilian citizen who would raise to fame for his aeronautical exploits in baloonism, airship flight and heavier than air flight, mainly in France.

In fact, Santos-Dumond is strongly advocated as the first aviator to effectively have flown in a self-propelled heavier than air aircraft, without the need for assistance at take off, as happened with the famous Wright Flyer, which took to the air under the impulse generated by a catapult.

The contraption he used to this end was the famous 14-bis aircraft, also known as l'Oiseau de Proie (Bird of Prey). The first time L'Oiseau de Proie took to the air under its own power was on 13 September 1906, but the flights that made it really famous, would take place in October and November, after the introduction of several modifications to the aircraft, the most relevant being the addition of ailerons in the wings to improve control. 

Santos-Dumont was also the winner of the  Deutsch de la Meurthe trophy created by the so named magnate for the first aviator that "leaving the park of Saint Cloud, Longchamps, or any other point situated at an equal distance from the Eiffel Tower, reaches this monument in half an hour, and, surrounding it, returns to the point of departure." This he did with is airship nº 6, on 19 September 1901.

Airship n.6 and Brasil, his first own-designed balloon are the subject of 0,61€ stamp, while Demoiselle, aircraft n.20, and L'Oiseau de Proie, or 14-bis, feature on the 1,15€ stamp, both of them also exhibiting Santos Dumont portrait.

The very nice postmark also features a line drawing of a head-on view of  14 bis

To compose the cover, I chose a picture of the cover of  the 25th November 1906 edition of Le Petit Journal , showing the 14-bis on its flight to fame.

 COVER N. 264 - PORTUGAL

Postmark: Vila Nova de Cerveira 4920 CTT 13.06.2023

Posted on the 13th June; Received on the 14th June 2023

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Plenty of interesting stuff, sent by Eric with a view to a "special operation" very different from what the expression lately has been disgracefully associated with.

Thanks a lot,  Eric! The wheels are moving...

Supporting this special operation is a pleasure even if  I will only act a middle man, Eric being the generous soul behind it all. Further to him, the procedures  will have to rely on the fundamental contribution of one of my daughters, whom I really need to thank  since she is not particularly into any type of collecting hobby and most time looks at her father's requests as another eccentricity of the old one,  and whom I know has a busy schedule into which she will have to fit her precious collaboration.

But there's nothing she won't do for daddy, right? 😀

On to the stamps

The theme for the EUROPA 2004 issues was "Holidays". Tourism is fundamental to the Portuguese Economy and Tourism and holidays go hand in hand so the Portuguese contribution for the Europa issues highlighted Portugal as a tourist destination. As usual three different souvenir sheets were issued, Mainland Portugal, Azores and Madeira, all of them showcasing reasons for putting Portugal on one's journey plans.

The mainland Portugal souvenir sheet that Eric used, was issued on 10MAY2004 and it comprises two 0,56 € stamps , one presenting Portugal as a cultural tourism destination with a little detail image of one of the Painéis de S. Vicente (which can be appreciated in the National Ancient Art Museum in Lisbon) and the other as a destination for those more sensitive to sun and sand, with an image evocative of the beaches of the Algarve. The legend reads Férias em Portugal or Holidays in Portugal.

On top of the souvenir sheet ERic also used  a 0,70 € stamp, part of a four stamp  (0,30; 0,43; 0,55; 070 €) and a souvenir sheet with two stamps (1 and 2 €), dedicated to Museums in Madeira. The stamp is illustrated with the painting Le Départ, by Madeiran artist Marta Theles (1930-2001), which can bee seen in Madeira's Contemporary Art Museum, located in Calheta, about half an hour drive from Funchal.

The snowboarding 0,03 € stamp is part of the five stamp definitive set issued on 31MAR2016. This was the last set of  a "Radical sports" series started in 2014.

Lastly, the 1,20 € souvenir sheet with a  stamp illustrated  with a reliquary cross from the treasure of  Lisbon cathedral, was issued on 07JUN2005, as part of an issue that also comprised another six stamps, dedicated to the Cultural Heritage of the Filipino Period (the period in which which Portugal was ruled by Spanish Monarchs - 1580 - 1640).

The very neat postmarks hail from the town of Vila Nova de Cerveira on the mouth of the Minho River, which is the natural physical border between northern Portugal and Spain.

COVER N. 253 - PORTUGAL  

Postmark: (FDC Postmark) CTT LISBOA Vultos da História e da Cultura 20.04.2023

Posted on the 20h April; Received on the 11th May 2023
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All through one's lifetime we get to know all sorts of people. Many, the large majority, will not cause any lasting impression once the confluence of being, of occupying a common space for a given time, for any given reason, ceases to exist. 

A few, however, will accompany you forever, and this often without the need for anything more substantial than the simple memory of their presence,  the quality of their transit through one's life, the sequels of their impact on your cosmovision and your relation with the world about you.

Teachers are always good candidates to this superior status. In fact, given the nature of the relation we establish with them, if not for anything for the simple fact that for a period in one's  life you will be intellectually  nurtured by their generous transmission of knowledge, it is easy to understand that some will definitively be tattooed in that place of one's brain where we keep our personal and intangible treasures.

Urbano Tavares Rodrigues was my  French Literature teacher for a couple of years at Lisbon Classic University.

More than 40 years ago he introduced me to Zola, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Choderlos de Laclos, Stendhal to name a few..., 

But more, much more than the immense knowledge Urbano had of French Literature second only to his love for disseminating it amongst us, his students, it is the gentleness of his figure, the lightness of his presence, his gentlemanish way of crossing one's path that has endured and which I will always remember.

His life was one of  hardship, as someone who had his teaching and journalistic career interrupted in his own country due to the brutal prosecution of the political police, during the dictatorship years. He was beaten, imprisoned, and eventually had to go to exile in France, where he teached Portuguese Literature at the Universities  of Montpelier, Aix-en-Provence and Paris (Sorbone).

Upon returning to Portugal he would only be allowed to teach again after the overthrow of the Dictatorship in 1974.

I am sure the circumstances of life, all the prosecution and hardship he endured have probably had an impact on him, still the Urbano I remember was as captivating a man as the fox in the famous Saint-Exupéry's book that I am sure he must have mentioned in his always interesting classes...

Acknowledging the value of his contribution to Portuguese culture in general and literature in particular as a writer, teacher, journalist, theatre and literary critic, CTT, the Portuguese postal service included Urbano Tavares Rodrigues (1923-2013) in the latest of its stamp sets dedicated to Relevant  Personalities in  Portuguese History and Culture, issued on 20APR2023.

And I could not let go the opportunity for this humble but sincere homage: "It was a pleasure seeing you again, Professor!"

COVER N. 241 - PORTUGAL

Postmark: Filatelia 2675 - Odivelas -  24.04.2023 

Posted on the 24th April; Received on the 27th April 2023
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It is rather nice to see that whenever I receive any ordered products from the philatelic section of the Portuguese Post, they are mailed back inside envelopes with actual stamps on top of the "postage paid" pre-printed marking  of the official CTT envelopes.

This time, the kind people at the philately office went even further and sent me some airmail stickers I had asked for in a rather nice cover through Correio Azul (Blue mail - next day delivery - the 25th was an holiday here), as the corresponding sticker indicates. So let me revert to my precious mother tongue to express my most sincere

Muito Obrigado!

 

I quite like the CTT logo. The Postal service in Portugal just completed 500 years of existence in 2020, and has such, throughout its long operational life, many have been the changes . Still, for me and as far as I can remember, the image of the Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones, as the service was named when I was a lad, long before its privatisation and its re-designation as CTT  Correios de Portugal, S.A., has always been and will always be, that of the valiant postilion galloping and blowing his horn.

The original image of a postilion of the logo, created by the Portuguese painter Jaime Martins Barata, from which the current one derives, was selected in 1953, and slighty modified in 1964 and 1983.  In 2004 it would receive a more profound updating (the logo on the envelope corresponds to this version)  followed by another slight revision in 2015. 

I have to say that the very modernist logo of  1935 was a smasher too.... 

Wasn't it?

Here's the Postilion logo evolution in its 1953; 1964; 1983;  2004 and 2015 guises.

               

By way of disclaimer, I shall say that the logos were copied from available references (mostly from here) on the internet, so I expect them to fully respect the originals.

The 0,86€ stamp on the cover is part of the 1st group of  definitive stamps themed on Portuguese numismatics,  comprising 5 stamps (053; 0,78; 0,86; 0,91; 2 €) issued on 03AUG2020.

Although CTT's Philatelic service is based in Lisbon, the postmark is from Odivelas, a city that is part of Lisbon's Metropolitan Area.

COVER N. 221 - PORTUGAL

Postmark: Crypto Stamp  Caravela CTT LIsboa 28.02.23  

Posted on the 28th February; Received on the 7th March 2023

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2023 - a Crypto Adventure

No, I am not the kind of guy who would ever waste a single minute of his life going after Pokémons with a  cell phone, and, for the moment, (never say never) I don't think I will ever enter into any monetary transaction that isn't based on what I've known and used since my parents first decided to give me a weekly allowance for my personal spendings, that is to say actual physical money (I know, I know, I do use  electronic money, in homebanking, for instance, but that can be afterwards converted into actual bits and pieces, i.e. coins and bills).

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And nostalgia kicks in again.... I still remember the day: a 20 escudos bill, received each Saturday, that would immediately enter the economic chain, converted in one black series FROG aircraft kit (17,5 escudos at the local store) and later at the bar of the Asas do Atlântico club in 5 caramels...

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Postal services companies have broadened their scope of business in  order to cater for the loss of revenue that electronic mail has generated in their balance sheets. In fact, at least here, you can go to the post office to buy a book, a lottery ticket, bank services, souvenirs... just don't go there to buy stamps, because most likely you'll come home empty handed....

In an effort to keep diversifying their offer and increase their revenues,  Postal Administrations have now started to issue what is labelled as crypto stamps.

Now this is a concept that I, to this day, do not yet understand to the fullest. 

What I know (or I think I know) is:

i) you buy a stamp that can actually be used for what a stamp is meant to do;

ii) other than the physical stamp you get a code to redeem  a virtual stamp that serves no purpose other than collecting, or trading;

iii) this virtual thing can be different from the physical in terms of rarity, and as such of inherent speculative value;

iv) the virtual stamp is therefore not a stamp, but a non-monetary asset that can be traded;

v) in order to buy a stamp such as this, you have to spend a ridiculous amount of  physical money.

But, in spite of all that, the inquisitive mind in me wanted to try and understand, so when CTT announced that they’d be issuing the first Portuguese crypto stamp I happily traded a physical bill of 10 € by a little box and 10 cent change.

After removing the physical stamp from the backing sheet and affixing it to an envelope that I sent away to be first day of issue  postmarked, i went home and read the instructions carefully.

Now these are much more complicated than the "lick the back of the printed paper  with your tongue, making sure it is moist but not overly wet, and press the thus activated item against the envelope face" that you'd expect for a stamp, and run for a full six pages of the bilingual instruction booklet.

After reading it carefully I turned on my computer and started the procedure.

All went reasonably well, but at times what I was reading was not exactly what I was seeing, but this is common place with computers and software instructions, so I did not worry too much.

The last step, after creating an account somewhere in cyberspace and a gallery where I would be able to collect my virtual stamps, would be to actually redeem the image of the stamp, using a code that I had to unveil by scratching the backing support of the physical stamp.

This I did and entered the code into the box where it should go, and so the redemption process started.... and so it went… on.... and on... an on...

Before I had hit the start  button, I had read that I had three opportunities to complete this action, so suspecting that something was not working properly  I decided to abort the operation and start anew....

I entered the redeeming code again and... to my utter dismay the computer screen informed me that "the code has already been used"....

So, there goes my pokemon stamp....lost in (cyber)space for ever, I guess... for all I know I might be the owner of the sole white Caravela crypto stamp that would pave my way for immense wealth....

As a consolation prize, a couple of days after, I received the first day of issue postmarked cover with a nice orange Caravela stamp, with a face value of 9,99 €, which is quite classy, to say the least, for a domestic, up to 20 g, sending....

In these days of fast and elusive cyber everything, and most especially after a cyberdisaster such as the one I reported  above, I was happy to learn, some days afterwards, while on a leisure weeked trip, that one can still get some solace. All it takes is a good look at the world around you....

So if ever I feel the urgent need to send some fast message,  I will not have to use any cyber stamp at all. All it will take will be a trip to the little village of Brotas,  not that far from Lisbon, They seem to have a telegraph somewhere, just the thing for an ... --- ...!

COVER N.177 - PORTUGAL

Postmark:  First day Postmark: Solidários Com o Povo Ucraniano CTT LISBOA 2022.09.27 
Posted on the  27 September 2022.
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Yesterday was the day of the Armistice... of the War to end All wars... and yet, since that day the poppies have continued to grow in so many fields that it seems that Flanders is, just like the universe, expanding...  oh how I wish we could celebrate a different armistice, but while that doesn't happen it's good to see a yellow and blue flag being hoisted where it really belongs!

I don't usually post here FDCs that I now and them mail to myself, whenever CTT issues a series that tickles my fancy, but this one, for obvious reasons, is symbollicaly much more than just another stamp issue and what better day to post it than now that the yellow and blue flag is again flying at Kherson ...

Joining the circle of Postal Administrations that have so far issued stamps in support of Ukraine against the  unjustified and unjustifiable Russian aggression, CTT, Correios de Portugal the Portuguese Post has issued on 27SEP22 a single 0,95€ stamp illustrated by a yellow sun on a blue sky shinning on a yellow horizon over what could be a blue sea, in itself a metaphor for Portugal, or blue mountains, maybe the Carpathian... another metaphor for Ukraine. On the top centre of the stamp the legend "Solidários com o Povo Ucraniano - Солідарні з українським народом (In Solidarity with the Ukranian People)", clearly stating what the stamp stands for.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, issued a statement in support of the stamp issue which can be read on the presentation notice of the stamp, downloadable by hitting the link "Download da  pagela" under the issue thumbnail, on the page dedicated to  2022 stamp programme. 

 

As can be also read on the presentation notice "CTT will donate all net proceeds from these stamps to actions that contribute towards alleviating the plight of the Ukrainian people. These actions will be defined in detail in close collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in Portugal".

I find the commemorative postmark truly remarkable in that it transubstantiates a symbol of might and  resilience, virtues that, all facts notwithstanding, have a semiotic aura connoted to war and the military,   into a symbol of peace, hope and future, the virtues we all associate with bread, in its most essential form: an ear of wheat

POSTCARD N.25 - Portugal

Postcard posted on the 5th August; received on the 11h August
Postcard image: River Douro and the city of Porto
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The travelled distance might not be as large as that associated with most of the postcards on this blog, but the pleasure of receiving and reading is just the same, because my world begings just outside the window in this room where I'm typing this right now. Thanks a lot, Pedro, I really enjoyed it.

Porto. The city that gave the name to the wine that was carried in the casks that can bee seen in the Rabelo boats on the photo, from the high Douro valley, where the vinyards and winneries are located, to the warehouses of Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the bridge from the Ribeira, the area intensly illuminated on the right centre of the card. 

The historic Centre of Porto, as well as the D. Luis Bridge an all metal double deck bridge designed by Théophile Seyrig a disciple of Gustave Eiffel, one of the 6 connecting both margins of the Douro, and the Monastery of Serra do Pilar, were awarded World Heritage Site status by the UNESCO in 1996, the United Nations agency stating that Porto "...with its urban fabric and its many historic buildings bears remarkable testimony to the development over the past thousand years of a European city that looks outward to the sea for its cultural and commercial links".

Today's Porto is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city that will surely fit the special interest bill of any traveller that elects to spend a day, a month or a year getting to know its people, culture and heritage.

Part of that charm can also find its roots on the huge renovation that the city underwent when it was declared European Capital of Culture in 2001, a title it shared with the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

One of the emblems of that renovation was the Casa da Música, a magnificent concert hall designed by  the Dutch Architect Rem Koolhaas, that prooved to be so complex to build that was only concluded in 2005, long after the city had ceased its Capital of Culture status.

But good things take time, and after having had the opportunity to attend a baroque music concert in the main concert hall, all I can say is that I want more....

All this talk about casa da música stems from the fact that one of the 3 stamps Pedro used to post the Postcard  has a photo of it. With a face value of 0,50€ it was issued on 20SEP2017 as part of a 4 stamp set dedicated to the city of Porto, as a continuation of the series started in 2016 with a set dedicated to Lisbon, denominated "As nossas Cidades" (Our cities). The other 3 stamps on this set show the D. Luís Bridge (0,70€); a Barco Rabelo and a local jumping off the D. Luis bridge to the river (0,80€) and a general panoramic view of the city (0,85€).

The other 2 0,02€ stamps Pedro used to complete the 0,54€ - domestic up to 20g - tariff were issued on 17APR2015, as part of a the second emission of definitive stamps dedicated to radical sports (the first having taken place on the previous year).

The postmark that was only applied to the lesser value stamps reads CPL Norte (Centro de Produção e Logística - Norte) which lead me to think the postcard was posted in the city of Maia, which is part of the Porto Metropolitan Area. 

POSTCARD N.7 - Portugal

Postcard posted on the 6th July, received on the 8th July.
Potscard image:Bom Jesus de Braga, a Unesco World Heritage Site
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A ripe fruit from my blog, it seems. Pedro, another like minded (and like named, for that matter) blogger, visited my "Thank you Mr. Postman" pages and kindly wrote me this postcard (which, of course, will not go unanswered).

Although hailing from Brazil, Pedro Lives up North, at Porto and he has a keen interest not only in stamps and covers but also in postcards, especially those illustrating UNESCO WHS, such as the one he sent me. 

He also has a blog, to prove it.

 

The existence of a church on the hill where the Sanctuary now stands can be traced back to the 14th century. Over a period of 600 years the site was built, rebuilt and transformed so as to reach the actual configuration, whose works were completed in 1811. The most iconic part of the complex is the gargantuan stairway with 573 steps, divided in 3 flights, that runs up the hill parallel to a funicular line (for those less inclined to take the hard route) on which  the oldest funicular built in the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to the 19th century, still operates flawlessly.

information on the Sanctuary is easy to access on the internet. A good English summary can be found here.

Portugal held the Presidency of the EU Council during the 1st semestre of 2021. to mark this occasion, CTT the Portuguese Post, issued a 2 stamp plus Souvenir sheet set on 14MAY21. Pedro used the 0,54€ (domestic up to 20g tariff) to mail me the postcard. The other stamp is denominated at  0,88€ (Europe, up to 20 g) while the stamp on the souvenir sheet has a value of 2,5€.

The hand applied cancelation proves that the postcard was mailed from the actual city where the monument is located, Braga. A really nice touch.

COVER N.17 - Portugal

Postmark: Montalegre - 21JUN2021
Posted on the  4th june; received on the 23rd June.
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Here's one I sent to none other than myself, twice, with the help of the CTT shop at Montalegre.

Bit of a story first: I've never been to Montalegre. I did have a general idea where to look to find it on the map, since I knew the region to be part of the only natural park in Portugal to have the status of National Park - the National Park of Peneda - Gerês , up North in the Trás-os Montes Region, bordering Spain. In fact the National Park has its contra part and continuity across the border in Galicia, the Natural Park of the Low Limia.

Montalegre, along with Boticas, are the two municipalities that pertain to the Terras do Barroso (the lands of the Barrroso), a region that recently (2018) was designated by the FAO as a World Agricultural Heritage site. Much of this recognition rests on the good, time honed practices of sustainable and communitarian land use that are a feature of the region, which is also famous for the bovine breed that carries its name, the Barrosã cow, hard to be mistaken with any other due to the large lira shaped horns that are its distinctive signature.

CTT, the Portuguese Post, included in its plan for 2021 an emission commemorating the above mentioned designation of the Terras do Barroso as the only Portuguese World Agricultural Heritage Site. 

A Couple of weeks later it also issued a special commemorative postmark on the same subject, that would be used on the correspondence circulated through the CTT shop of Montalegre.

Knowing this I sent Montalegre's CTT shop a self addressed envelope with the lowest tariff stamp of the Terras do Barroso emission on it, (0,68€) asking their cooperation to circulate the letter with the special commemorative postmark. It so happened that the envelope was effectively circulated back to me, but with the first day of issue postmark of the "terras do barroso" emitssion and not with the special commemorative postmark. So I took on the opportunity to send the envelope back to the CTT shop at Montalegre, this time with the second stamp of the set (0,70), asking again to have it stamped with the commemorative postmark.

Yesterday Mr. Postman dropped the well travelled cover on my mailbox and this is why it shows 3 different postmarks on stamps from the same emission - First day of issue; Commemorative postmark and regular Montalegre CTT station postmark.

Nice one, isn’t it?

The 86 cents stamp,  on its left tier,  shows a “look me in the eyes”  portrait of a fine Barrosã cow, highlighting its amazing horns, followed by a black and white reproduction of an old photo showing a lady shepherd, wearing a traditional woollen cape,  with her flock of sheep, in the middle section, and another photo with Barrosã cows, this time illustrating their role as draft animals.

The 70 cents stamp is dedicated to cereal farming, showing on the left what is called an “Espigueiro”, a stone or wood construction that is used to store grain above ground, thus protecting it from pests. The centre section is again occupied by an old b&w photo showing farmers either working the cereal  at some stage of the cereal processing routine or hay gathering, (I’m sorry, but I’m a city kid,  I really can’t tell 😉…). Finally on the right section we have a lady transporting a basket on her head which I would presume to be full of bread, fresh from the communitarian oven.

The commemorative postmark on the 0,68€ stamp shows two bulls of the Barrosã breed engaged in a “Chega” (best I can translate is something like “coming closer”). This is something very typical of the region of Trás-os-Montes, it even has a regional champioship, and it consists of putting two bulls in confrontation to see which one is stronger. The bulls engage by the horns usually and the weaker one, at some point yields and goes away. I’ve never seen it in the flesh (only on TV in documentaries and such) but I don’t think the bulls get harmed in any way.