Nemrut Dağ | Turkey

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Nemrut is a 2,100-metre-high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues are erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BC.

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Phong Nha-Kẻ Bang National Park | Vietnam

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Phong Nha-Kẻ Bang is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam, about 500 km south of Hanoi. The park is noted for its 300 caves and grotto systems.

The Hang Tien, or Fairy Cave, is famed for its enormous size and spectacular formations.

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Königshalle in Lorsch | Germany

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The (remains of the) Abbey with its monumental entrance, the famous Königshalle, are located in Lorsch, Germany.

This gatehouse is one of the very rare buildings from the Carolingian era whose original appearance is intact. It is a reminder of the past grandeur of an abbey founded around 764.

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Monastery of Batalha | Portugal

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The Monastery of Batalha (Monastery of the Battle), is a Dominican convent in Batalha, Portugal. It took over a century to build, starting in 1386 and ending circa 1517.

The monastery was built to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese over the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385.

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Monte San Giorgio | Italy

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The “dinosaur mountain” is full of fossilised fish and marine reptiles – a treasure trove 240 million years old. What was once a sea basin later gave way to Monte San Giorgio, partially located in Switzerland.

Monte San Giorgio is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Tokelau flag!

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Tokelau is an island country in the southern Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls. All very small, the combined land area is only 10 km2, the population only 1,500.

Tokelau is a non-self-governing territory of New Zealand. It has no harbors or ports nor does it have an airport.The best way for tourists and travelers to get to Tokelau is from Samoa, by ship, which runs every 2 weeks.. One of the most remote inhabited places in the world.

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The stamps are part of a set of Tokelau Scenic Definitives 2012. Showing the (scenic) beauty of Tokelau.

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The Islands of the Bahamas

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The Bahamas is a country, comprised of 700 islands sprinkled over 100,000 square miles of ocean.

The main islands are Abaco, Acklins and Crooked Island, Andros, Berry Islands, Bimini, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Inagua, Long Island, Mayaguana, New Providence and Paradise Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador.

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Patriarchate of Peć | Serbia

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Medieval Monuments in Kosovo is a World Heritage Site consisting of four Serbian Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries: Dečani Monastery, Patriarchate of Peć Monastery, Our Lady of Ljeviš and Gračanica Monastery.

The Monastery of the Patriarchate of Peć is a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery located near the city of Peć, in Kosovo.

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A matching stamp!

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Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes | Belgium

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The Neolithic flint mines at Spiennes, Belgium, covering more than 100 ha, are the largest and earliest concentration of ancient mines in Europe. Mining in Spiennes started some
6,000 years ago.

Flint was used in the manufacture of tools during the Stone Age as it splits into thin, sharp splinters called flakes.

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In 2016, Belgium issued a set of 5 stamps to celebrate "Supermoon". A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon being at te closest distance to earth.

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Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram | India

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The Shore Temple (built in 700–728 AD) overlooks the shore of the Bay of Bengal, hence its name. It is a structural temple, built with blocks of granite, dating from the 8th century AD.

The temple is part of the Unesco World Heritage site Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram.

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The stamp on the right pictures Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian guru and philanthropist.

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Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye | Russia

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The Church of the Ascension was built in 1532 on the imperial estate of Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, to celebrate the birth of the prince who was to become Tsar Ivan IV ('the Terrible').  In the XVI and XVII centuries, this church served as a summer family chapel of the Russian Tsars.

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Volcanoes of Costa Rica | Costa Rica

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Costa Rica is home a great number of volcanoes: there are six active volcanoes and another 61 dormant or extinct ones. Three of the most noticible volcanoes are Arenal, Poás and Irazú.

For the past fifty years, Arenal was the country’s most active volcano, actually one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world. But it entered into a resting phase in 2010. Poás and Irazú are caldera volcanoes, whose craters are filled with water and rising steam.

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The Confucian Temple | China

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The temple, cemetery and family mansion of Confucius, the great philosopher, politician and educator are located at Qufu, in Shandong Province, China. Qufu was the hometown of Confucius who lived from 551-479 BC.

The temple complex comprises more than 100 buildings. The Great Accomplishment Hall is the major structure of the Confucian Temple. The 33 meters tall hall houses an impressive statue of Confucius.

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Oranjestad, capital of Aruba

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Colorful Caribbean! Oranjestad (Orange Town in Dutch language) is the capital and largest city of Aruba. L.G. Smith Boulevard in the center of Oranjestad is lined with many enjoyable restaurants, shops, cafés ans casinos.

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Alto Vista Chapel is a small Catholic chapel also known as "Pilgrims Church".

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Cathedral of Saint George the Martyr | Ferrara

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Ferrara is a city in northern Italy. In the city centre you find the Ferrara Cathedral, officially Cathedral of Saint George the Martyr, a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica.

The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, inscribed under the name Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta.

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The stamp show another World Heritage site: Piazza Plebiscito in Naples.

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Abbey of Fontenay | France

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Fontenay Abbey in Burgundy was founded in 1118 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a leading French saint, and is the oldest preserved Cistercian abbey in the world.

The abbey is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981.

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Würzburg Residence | Germany

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The Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square is a Unesco World Heritage site since 1981.

Many large castles and residences evolve over hundreds of years, incorporating all different styles. However the Würzburg Residence was built completely within a single generation (from 1720-1744). But finishing the interior took another 30 years.

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The Abbey of Saint Gall | Switzerland

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The Abbey of Saint Gall is a Roman Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliest-known architectural plan drawn on parchment.

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Convent of Christ in Tomar | Portugal

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The Convent of Christ is a former Roman Catholic monastery in Tomar, Portugal. Originally a 12th-century Templar stronghold, when the order was dissolved in the 14th century the Portuguese branch was turned into the Knights of the Order of Christ.

The Convent and Castle complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1983.

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Ross Island Penal Colony | India

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Ross Island is part of the remote Andaman Islands, an archipelago in the Bay of Bengal between India and Myanmar. It is a small island which has a circumference of only one mile.

Ross Island Penal Colony was part of a convict settlement that was established in 1858 by the British colonial government in India, primarily to jail a large number of prisoners from the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The prisoners where jailed in nearby Port Blair. On Ross Island, a church and barracks for troops and a Government House for the Chief Commissioner where located.

The remains of the colony got devastated after the 2004 tsunami, visits to the island are no longer possible.

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Lakes of Ounianga | Chad

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Located in North-Eastern Chad, in a hot and hyperarid desert setting with less than 2mm rainfall per year, the Lakes of Ounianga comprises a total of 18 lakes.

The Lakes of Ounianga are located in a basin which, less than 10,000 years ago, was occupied by a much larger lake and has a globally unique hydrological system, sustaining the largest permanent freshwater lakes system in the heart of a hyperarid environment.

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The stamp on the left is part of a set of four cat-stamps, issue 2012.

In 2001 Chad issued a sheet with 9 different stamps showing paintings by famous Dutch painter Van Gogh.

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Historic City of Toledo | Spain

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Toledo is one of the Spanish cities with the greatest wealth of monuments. The city is known as the “city of the three cultures”, because Christians, Arabs and Jews lived together there for centuries.

Behind its walls Toledo preserves an artistic and cultural legacy in the form of churches, palaces, fortresses, mosques and synagogues. Toledo still has exactly the same layout it had in the Middle Ages.

The Historic City of Toledo is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Dakar, capital of Senegal

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Dakar, capital of Senegal, located in West Africa. Only two months ago I received another card picturing this city. I feel very lucky!

You probably all have heard about the rally Paris-Dakar. It started almost 40 years ago, in December 1978. Until 2008 the rally finished in Dakar. But in following years start and finish is in South America.

Thank you very much Chris!

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Rabaul City | Papua New Guinea

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Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. New Britain is one of the main islands of PNG, located about 60 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea.

Rabaul is a township located on the island of New Britain.

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Blyth's hornbill, also known as the Papuan hornbill, is a large hornbill inhabiting the forests of PNG. Its local name in Tok Pisin (an official language of Papua New Guinea) is Kokomo.

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Benedictine Convent of St John | Switzerland

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The Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair is located in a valley in the extreme south-eastern part of Switzerland. Religious activities have continued uninterrupted from its founding in 775 until present day.

It has Switzerland's greatest series of figurative murals along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes, dating back 1200 years. The convent is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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