PORTUGAL

I received this beautiful postcard from Portugal yesterday.  I love all the colors in this one.  The card shows the historical centre of Porto, an UNESCO's World Heritage site.  These typical boats are called "Rabelo" and were used to transport the Port wine pipe barrels down the river. 

Thanks LusoBoy for the great card (PT-147300)

NETHERLANDS

I got my first postcard from the Netherlands!  For those who don't know me, my husband's parents are from the Netherlands.  Ellen wrote her message in Dutch which was great to put my limited Dutch language skills to use.

Dank je wel Ellebelle voor de kaart! (NL-467464)

TAIWAN

This is a homemade postcard view of a beautiful beach in Taiwan, near Taipei.  It looks like a very serene place to visit.

Thanks yilisu (TW-206442)

ROMANIA

Maria from Bucharest, Romania writes that this is Peles Castle.  It is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, Romania on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914.  Of the 168 rooms, only 35 are accessible to the public.  This is one reason I love my new postcrossing hobby -- all the new world information I gain.  This castle is beautiful!  I've added Romania to the top of my list of places to visit.

Thanks for the great card baypkee (RO-18924)

GREECE

Elefsis is a small town about 24 km west of Athens, an industrial area with a great ancient history.  This small railway station looks like a great example!

Thanks for the postcard miss_unterhill (GR-14434)

BELARUS

This is a beautiful view of Minsk, Belarus.  I love the Fall colors.  Given World War II, most of their buildings destroyed and thus, these are all very new buildings.

Thanks for the card anuta_by (BY-94086)

Introduction

I have found a new hobby that I am extremely excited about -- Postcrossing, in which I exchange post cards with people around the world.  I send out a postcard to someone in one country; they register it on the website as receiving it, and then another person somewhere else gets my name and address to send me a card.  Given how much I love to travel (and don't get to as much as I'd like nowadays), I thought this would be a great way to see parts of the world from my own home.  So far I've sent out 9 postcards and 4 have been received.  It took me awhile to mail out the first round of postcards -- it was a lot harder to find postcards around here than I thought.  I have gotten one back so far and anticipate the other 3 coming soon.  I thought others might be interested in seeing the cards and stamps I receive.