American Samoa - National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa

TALOFA!

Sent by Lika from National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa in Pago Pago, American Samoa.

The National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (formerly the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary) is a federally-designated underwater area protected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. This sanctuary is the largest and most remote in the National Marine Sanctuary system. Spanning 13,581 sq mi, it is thought to be home to the greatest biodiversity of aquatic species of all the marine sanctuaries. Among them are expansive coral reefs, including some of the oldest Porites coral heads on earth, deep-water reefs, hydrothermal vent communities, and rare archeological resources. It was established as Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary on April 29, 1986, it is thought to be home to the greatest biodiversity of aquatic species of all the marine sanctuaries.and then expanded and renamed in 2012 (read more).

Spain - La Rioja - Logroño

Co-cathedral of Santa María de la Redonda, Paseo del Espolón and details of Logroño.

Sent by Gemma from Logroño, Spain.

Logroño (Spanish: [loˈɣɾoɲo]) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed between the Iberian kingdoms of Castille, Navarre and Aragon during the Middle Ages.
The population of the city in 2021 was 150,808 while the metropolitan area included nearly 200,000 inhabitants. The city is a centre of trade of Rioja wine, for which the area is noted, and manufacturing of wood, metal and textile products (read more).

India - Andaman and Nicobar Islands - North Point Lighthouse

Established in 1972, North Point lighthouse is the best-known lighthouse of the Andamans. It is a 35m (115 ft) cast iron tower with lantern and gallery, painted with red and white spiral stripes. It is located on a promontory on the north side of the entrance to the harbor of Port Blair.

Sent by Abhay from Maharashtra, India.

North Point lighthouse is an island belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, it is part of the Indian Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The island is located 06NM from the Port Blair town. North Point lighthouse 35 m high cast iron tower with lantern gallery. Painted with red and white spiral stripes, focal plane at 72 m above MSL, two White flashes every 12 s. Andaman’s best known lighthouse and picture of it depicted in the rear side of 20 rupees Indian Currency (old one). Located on a promontory on the north side of the entrance to the harbour of Port Blair, established in the year 1972. This Lighthouse station is equipped with Major marine aids to Navigation like 4th order optic system, 300mm, 04 panels with 230V/400Watts metal halide lamp, NAIS, standby LED flasher and RACON for the safe navigation of both national and international seaborne merchant traffic through the exclusive economic zone of the country. Accessibility to this lighthouse by sea route around 10 Km from Port Blair and then by walk of half a Km. The Lighthouse can also be approached by road from Port Blair and the distance is approximately 50 Km. The nearest Post office, Dispensary, High School, and Police Station all are available at Port Blair / Bambooflat at a distance of 12 Km (read more).

Eid Al-Fitr - India

Eid al-Fitr, also called the "Festival of Breaking the Fast", is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. Muslims all over the world decorate their homes and prepare sumptuous meals for family and friends. They buy new clothes and shoes for the festival. Eid festivities may vary culturally depending on the region, but one common thread in all celebrations is generosity and hospitality. It is a common tradition for families to gather at the patriachal home after the Eid prayers. Before the special Eid meal is served, young children will line up in front of each adult family member, who dispense money as gifts to the children.

Sent by Rajesh from Kerala, India.

Netherlands - Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge Barrier

Oosterscheldekering, Zeeland.

Sent by Bianca from Wilhelminadorp, Netherlands.

The Oosterscheldekering (pronounced [oːstərˌsxɛldəˈkeːrɪŋ] English: Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier), between the islands Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland, is the largest of the Delta Works, a series of dams and storm surge barriers, designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding from the North Sea. The construction of the Delta Works was a response to the widespread damage and loss of life in the North Sea flood of 1953 (read more).

Germany - Hanseatic City of Stade

Hanseatic City of Stade.

Sent by Eckhardt from Stade, Germany.

Stade (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtaːdə] ; Low German: Stood), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (German: Hansestadt Stade, Low German: Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district (Landkreis) which bears its name. It is located roughly 45 km (28 mi) to the west of Hamburg and belongs to that city's wider metropolitan region. Within the area of the city are the urban districts of Bützfleth, Hagen, Haddorf and Wiepenkathen, each of which have a council (Ortsrat) of their own with some autonomous decision-making rights (read more).

United Kingdom - Wales - Cardiff

Sent by Mouse from Cardiff, Wales.

Cardiff (/ˈkɑːrdɪf/ Welsh: Caerdydd [kairˈdiːð, kaːɨrˈdɨːð]) is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of 372,089 in 2022 and forms a principal area officially known as the City and County of Cardiff (Welsh: Dinas a Sir Caerdydd). The city is the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom. Located in the southeast of Wales and in the Cardiff Capital Region, Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan and in 1974–1996 of South Glamorgan. It belongs to the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for coal when mining began in the region helped its expansion. In 1905, it was ranked as a city and in 1955 proclaimed capital of Wales. The Cardiff urban area covers a larger area outside the county boundary, including the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth.

Cardiff is the main commercial centre of Wales as well as the base for the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament. At the 2021 census, the unitary authority area population was put at 362,400.^[ The population of the wider urban area in 2011 was 479,000. In 2011, it ranked sixth in the world in a National Geographic magazine list of alternative tourist destinations. It is the most popular destination in Wales with 21.3 million visitors in 2017.

Cardiff is a major centre for television and film production (such as the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sherlock) and is the Welsh base for the main national broadcasters.
Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building and the Wales Millennium Centre arts complex. Work continues at Cardiff Bay and in the centre on projects such as Cardiff International Sports Village, BBC drama village,^] and a new business district (read more).

Netherlands - Open Air Museum in Arnhem

Bending Planks.
The boat builder builds boats by feeling and by eye. For the outside of the boat, he bends straight planks. He heats the bottom with burning reed. With the help of weights, the planks bend.

Sent by Yvette from Leusden, Netherlands.

The Netherlands Open Air Museum (Dutch: Nederlands Openluchtmuseum) is a national open-air museum located in Arnhem. It focuses on the culture associated with the everyday lives of ordinary people, and demonstrating the old way of life in the Netherlands.
The park was established on 24 April 1912, and opened to the public in July 1918 (read more).

USA - Maine - Acadia National Park - Boulder Beach

BOULDER BEACH

This famous beach in Acadia National Park in Maine, USA is strewn with egg shaped stones smoothed by the relentless erosive actions of pounding waves.

Sent by Daniel from Massachusetts, USA.

My other two Acadia National Park postcards are here and here.

Boulder Beach is great for shooting with a ND filter as the waves create a soft, milky flow. Be careful though a getting to the beach some effort. You are walking on rocks and boulders and the footing is very unsteady. After scrambling down a steep incline, However slow and steady and the effort will be worth it. It can get pretty crowded so go early and stake your spot (read more).

Germany - Cologne Cathedral (3)

Cologne Cathedral on the Rhine.The cathedral towers over the cosmopolitan Rhine metropolis of Cologne with its countless cultural and historical treasures, its world-faous museums, and its active art scene.
The Cologne Carnival and the beer Kölsch served in many typical pubsand breweries are famous.

Sent by Dirk from Cologne, Germany.

My other two of Cologne Cathedral postcards are here and here.

USA - Michigan - Mackinac Island

Greetings From Mackinac Island.

Sent by Eliana from Grand Rapids in Michigan, USA.

Mackinac Island (/ˈmækənɔː/ MAK-ə-naw, locally /ˈmækənə/ MAK-ə-nə; French: Île Mackinac; Ojibwe: Mishimikinaak ᒥᔑᒥᑭᓈᒃ; Ottawa: Michilimackinac) is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles (11.3 km²) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin, meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the US gained this island in its territory (read more).

Remarkable Women - San Diego International Women's Day Meetup March 8, 2025

Discover the stories of several remarkable women who lived and worked in San Diego, whose achievements and lasting impact on the city continue to inspire us today.

Katherine Sessions (hoticulturalist botanist), Sally Ride (astronaut physicist), Ellen Scripps (journalist philantropist), Belle Benchley (champion for wildlife zoo director), Florence Chadwick (long-distance swimmer), and Charlotte Baker (physician activist).

Sent by MaryLou and Greg from San Diego, California, USA.

World Postcard Day 2023 - #1 (Winner of WPD2023 Contest)

Winner of the World Postcard Day Contest 2023 - Lisa Saputra (Indonesia).

Sent by myself.

China - Sun Tower and Moon Tower of Sanhu Lake

Sun Tower and Moon Tower of Sanhu Lake.

Sent by Joey from Shaoxing, China.

The Sun and Moon Pagodas (Chinese: 日月双塔; pinyin: Rìyuè Shuāngtǎ) are twin pagodas located in Guilin, Guangxi, China. Originally built in the city moat of Guilin during the Tang dynasty, the pagodas were reconstructed in 2001 using historical records as the centerpiece of Riyue Shuangta Cultural Park—–a park themed around the unity of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. The Moon Pagoda was built on an island in Shan Lake while the Sun Pagoda was built out in the lake. The Sun Pagoda has an octagonal base, is faced with bronze, has nine stories, and is 41 m (135 ft) tall. The Sun Pagoda is the tallest bronze pagoda in the world and is one of the few pagodas in the world that has an elevator. The Moon Pagoda has an octagonal base, is faced with glazed tile, has seven stories, and is 35 m (115 ft) tall. They were featured as the ninth Pit Stop during the fourteenth season of The Amazing Race in 2009 (read further).

Croatia - Old City of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Sent by Maris, whose hometown is Dubrovnik, Croatia.

The 'Pearl of the Adriatic', situated on the Dalmatian coast, became an important Mediterranean sea power from the 13th century onwards. Although severely damaged by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. Damaged again in the 1990s by armed conflict, it is now the focus of a major restoration programme co-ordinated by UNESCO (read further).

USA - Arizona - Petrified Forest National Park (3)

Petrified Forest National Park.

Petrified wood is made of a dense quartz material that resists erosion. This dense quartz, along with small quantities of other substances, replaces the original wood of the log and creates the rainbow color seen within the petrified wood.

Sent by Jane from Arizona, USA.

My other two Petrified Forest National Park postcards are here and here.

Russia - Saint Petersburg - Winter Palace

The Winter Palace. Fild Marshal Hall.

Sent by Polina from Mytishchi, Russia.

The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov, previous emperors, from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. The floor area is 233,345 square metres (it has been calculated that the palace contains 1,886 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases). The total area of the Winter Palace is 14.2 hectares. Situated between Palace Embankment and Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and altered almost continuously between the late 1730s and 1837, when it was severely damaged by fire and immediately rebuilt. The storming of the palace in 1917, as depicted in Soviet art and in Sergei Eisenstein's 1928 film October, became a symbol of the October Revolution (read further).

Russia - Chelyabinsk Oblast - Chelyabinsk (2)

City view of Chelyabinsk.

Sent by Polina from Mytishchi, Russia.

My other postcard of Chelyabinsk is here.

Slovakia - Museum of Kysuce Village

Museum of Kysuce Village.

Sent by Mária from Slovakia.

The ethnographic exposition in the nature of the Kysuce Museum is located in the Chmúra valley in the cadastre of the village Nová Bystrica, part of Vychylovka, which is part of the Protected Landscape Area Kysuce.

In the interiors of selected objects, original equipment is installed. The exposition also includes original buildings - cholvarky - objects of seasonal shepherd dwellings, widely used in the past. The fields near the houses present the three-field farming system that was used in the Kysuce region (read further).

Thailand - Historic City of Ayutthaya

WAT PHRA SI SANPHET AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL PARK AND WORLD HERITAGE.

Sent by Elisabeth from Bangkok, Thailand.

The Historic City of Ayutthaya, founded in 1350, was the second capital of the Siamese Kingdom.  It flourished from the 14th to the 18th centuries, during which time it grew to be one of the world’s largest and most cosmopolitan urban areas and a center of global diplomacy and commerce. Ayutthaya was strategically located on an island surrounded by three rivers connecting the city to the sea. This site was chosen because it was located above the tidal bore of the Gulf of Siam as it existed at that time, thus preventing attack of the city by the sea-going warships of other nations. The location also helped to protect the city from seasonal flooding.

The city was attacked and razed by the Burmese army in 1767 who burned the city to the ground and forced the inhabitants to abandon the city. The city was never rebuilt in the same location and remains known today as an extensive archaeological site.  

At present, it is located in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province.  The total area of the World Heritage property is 289 ha (read further)

Greece - Parthenon (2)

Parthenon, Athens, Greece.

Sent by Oksana from Athens, Greece.

This is my second Parthenon postcard. My first is here.

Germany - Bremen - North Sea

Greetings From The North Sea.

Sent from Bremerhaven by Veit from Ruhr, Germany.

The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, covering 570,000 square kilometres (220,000 sq mi).

It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave power.

The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise. The Hanseatic League, the Dutch Republic, and Britain all sought to gain command of the North Sea and access to the world's markets and resources. As Germany's only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea was strategically important through both world wars (read further).

Germany - Baden-Württemberg - Ravensburg

Multiviews of Ravenburg.

Sent by Elke from Ravensburg, Germany.

Ravensburg (Swabian: Raveschburg) is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg.

Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an important trading centre. The "Great Ravensburg Trading Society" (Große Ravensburger Handelsgesellschaft) owned shops and trading companies all over Europe.

The historic city centre is still very much intact, including three city gates and over 10 towers of the medieval fortification (read further).

USA - Washington - North Cascades National Park

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK

Glaciers, waterfalls, alpine lakes, and conifers are found in this gorgeous patch of wilderness in the Evergreen State of Washington, but the mountains themselves take center stage.

Sent by Mandy from Tacoma in Washington, USA.

Less than three hours from Seattle, an alpine landscape beckons. Discover communities of life adapted to moisture in the west and recurring fire in the east. Explore jagged peaks crowned by more than 300 glaciers. Listen to cascading waters in forested valleys. Witness a landscape sensitive to the Earth's changing climate. Help steward the ecological heart of the Cascades (read further).

USA - California - Lassen Volcanic National Park

LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK

Sulphur vents, mud pots, and lava rocks remind visitors of Lassen Peak's ruptured past and continued activity, contrasting wildflower meadows, forests, and alpine lakes in this California park.

Sent by Peggy from Monterey Bay, California, USA. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park is home to steaming fumaroles, meadows freckled with wildflowers, clear mountain lakes, and numerous volcanoes. Jagged peaks tell the story of its eruptive past while hot water continues to shape the land (read further).