Portugal

Lisbon, Lisboa in Portuguese, is thecapital and the largest city of Portugal and the only capital along the Atlantic coast. The city itself has around 550 000 inhabitants, but more than 3 million people live in the Losbon Metropolitan Area. The postcard shows as a bit of the Alfama, the oldest district of Lisbon. 

The city's name can be traced back to Phoenecian times, when their settlement might have been named Allis Ubbo, Phoenician for "safe harbour". Thanks to my sis :)

Portugal

Guimarães is a city in the north of Portugal with the population of 50,000. It was settled in the 9th century and was called Vimaranes at first. This denomination might have had its origin in the warrior Vímara Peres, when he chose this area as the main government seat for the County of Portugal which he conquered for the Kingdom of Galicia. It played a very important role in the formation of Portugal so it is often called the "birthplace of the Portuguese nationality" or "the cradle city". It is even the possible birthplace of the first Portuguese king, Afonso I of Portugal. The historical centre of the city wad added to the UNESCO WHS list.

The postcard itself shows the square of Santiago, a place in the very heart of the historical centre. Rafael writes that we can see houses made of stone and wood that are typical for the north of Portugal. Thanks a bunch, Rafael :)

Portugal

Spring has finally come to my area, everything's blooming and the weather has been really nice these days. So, to celebrate the arrival of spring, I'm sharing a beautiful flower capret from expostition in Vila do Conde in Portugal.  Thanks, Miceu!

Portugal

How has the weather been acting like at your part of the world lately? I thought the situation here couldn't be any worse - it's been raining all day, the sky has been grey and dark all day with no sunshine, but then I found a Latvian card in my mailbox saying that it was -21 degrees Celsius n Riga on Saturday, so I learnt how happy I should be in fact.

Anyway, the postcard above reached me just today and it's one of the very few cards that I've got throughout History RR so far. It comes from the capital of Portugal, as you may see, and it represents a night of Fado in Alfama (Lisbon) back in 50s.  What's fado? Fado is a is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a characteristic sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia.

The word Fado itself comes from the Latin word fatum, from which the English word fate also originates. The word is linked to the music genre itself and, although both meanings are approximately the same in the two languages, Portuguese speakers seldom utilize the word fado referring to destiny or fate.

On November 27, 2011, Fado was inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.

A HUUUGE thank to Tanea for this interesting card with even more interesting story and a stamp representing  a bus from the 60s that was used in Porto.

Portugal

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, and is the outermost rgion of the EU. The archipelago comprises the major part of one of the two Autonomous regions of Portugal, that includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, administered together with the separate archipelago of the Savage Islands. The archipelago has the population of about 250,000 inhabitants with Funchal as the largest city.

Madeira is a popular tourist resort, s, noted for its Madeira wine, flowers, landscapes and embroidery artisans, as well as for its annual New Year celebrations that feature the largest fireworks show in the world, as officially recognized by the Guinness World Records. It's also the second richest region of Portugal, just after Lisbon.

Portugal

The Sinta National Palace, also called Town Palace,  is located in the town of Sintra, in Portugal near Lisbon.

It is the best preserved medieval Royal Palace in Portugal, having been inhabited more or less continuously at least from the early 15th up to the late 19th century. It is an important tourist attraction and part of the cultural landscape of Sintra, protected by UNESCO as well.

Now it is used as the town hall. 

Anna sent me this great card (and my only one from Portugal for now) and she used an Europa CEPT stamp. Europa CEPT stamps are also the theme of stamps that I collect, but I like to see them on the cards, too. Thanks, Anna!