POSTCARD N.165 - PORTUGAL - R.A. AÇORES

Postcard sent on the 13th September, received on the 4th October 2024

Postcard image: the Seven Cities lagoon in S.Miguel island

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Another postcard sent me by The Phantom, from his recent stay in the Azores. This time from quite a special place: the Lagoa das Sete Cidades. Danke Sehr, Alex!

The Seven Cities lagoon is one of the many natural wonders of the Azores. It is a lagoon created by the  collapse of the walls of an ancient volcano thus forming a 2 x 4,2 km caldera whose 30 metres deep waters are separated by a narrow canal with a bridge thus forming a blue lagoon on one side and a green one on the other.

Legend has it that the colours of the waters of the lagoon are due to the tears of a shepherd and a princess who were madly in love but could not be married due to the differences in their social standings. The shepherd had green eyes and the princess blue, and they cried so much that they filled both sides of the lagoon with their tears....

In truth, the green is just the reflection of the forest trees that surround the green side, while the blue is the reflection from the sky, but I'd rather stick to the other explanation, if you'd ask myself....

Alex used a N20 (Domestic 20g) self-adhesive definitive stamp from the !st groups of definitives dedicated to Portuguese numismatics, issued  on 22APR2020, illustrated with the image of an Asse, a Roman bronze coin, from dating from the II-I centuries BC, this particular specimen having been found in Alcácer do Sal, a town on the banks of the river Sado, and one of the oldest European ones, having been founded by the Phoenician earlier than the year 1,000 BC.

The Postmark hails from S. Roque, a parish of Ponta Delgada, the Capital of the Administrative Capital of the Azores Autonomous Region, located in the Island of S. Miguel.

POSTCARD N.164 - PORTUGAL - R.A. AÇORES

Postcard sent on the 9th September, received on the 23rd September 2024

Postcard image: the islet of Vila Franca seen from the Island of S. Miguel___________________________________________________________________________, 

As it is well known, The Phantom, the ghost who walks, knows no boundaries, so I wasn't surprised at all to receive a nice postcard from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, from one of islands of one the nicest archipelagos on the planet: S. Miguel, in the Azores.

Thanks a lot, Mr. Phantom. I wish I was there with you...

The vertical drone view of the Islet of Vila Franca off the coast of the town with the same name, midway down the south coast of S. Miguel Island  Island is one of the recent years iconic views that have been promoting the Azores as an outstanding tourist destination.

If you google it, you'll understand why... suffice to say that red Bull has chosen the location as one of the venues for their cliff diving series...

Hydrangeas are also one of the Azores trademarks and the view of the Islet against the never ending sea, framed by a bunch of  vivid hydrangeas couldn't be more eloquent as to what the Azores are about... 

To send me the postcard, Alex used a stamp with from my country's other Autonomous Region, the Archipelago of Madeira, issued on 08SET20223 as part of an outstandingly beautiful issue comprising 3 stamps (0,61; 1,05; 1,15 €) and a one stamp souvenir sheet (3 €) dedicated to endemic species of the region.

The Postmark  indicates that the postcard was mailed from São Pedro, a parish of the city of Ponta Delgada, S. Miguel's capital.

Of note is the (negative) fact that in spite of paying for  "Correio Azul", what should mean 2 working days delivery from the islands to the mainland,  as clearly indicated by the appropriate label on the card and by the use of a stamp with a face value exceeding that needed for the service (0,90 € at present), the postcard took no less than 14 days to arrive.....