Spain

The Plaza Mayor was built during Philip III's reign (1598–1621) and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid. The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape, measuring 129 m × 94 m and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entrance ways. The Casa de la Panadería (Bakery House), serving municipal and cultural functions, dominates the Plaza Mayor. There is a bronze statue of King Philip III at the center of the square, created in 1616 by Jean Boulogne and Pietro Tacca. Thanks, Melita :D

Spain

No one can deny that la Segrada Failia is one of the most famous landmarks of Barcelona, and among most-known churches of the world. Its construction had commenced in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926 less than a quarter of the project was complete. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death. Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thank you, Melita :)

Spain

Melita sent me yet another wonderful Spanish postcard.... This time it's a view from Granada. I love the colours of the card! Granada is a city is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Beiro, the Darro, the Genil and the Monachil. In the 2005 national census, the population of the city of Granada proper was 236,982.

The postcard, though, doen't show the whole city but well-known Moorish citadel and palace called the Alhambra. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in 889 and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid 11th century by the Berber king Badis ben Habus of the Kingdom of Granada who built its current palace and walls, and later converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Muchas gracias, Melita :)

Spain

Gorgeous autumn colours come from Asturias, Spain! Asturias is an autonomous community in north-west Spain, containing nearly all of the territory that was part of the Kingdom of Asturiasin the Middle Ages. The photo on the card was taken at the Picos de Europa ("Peaks of Europe"), a range of mountains that consists of three major massifs. The most widely accepted origin for the name is that they were the first sight of Europe for ships arriving from the Americas. Sonia writes that Picos de Europa is a popular hiking route. Thanks a lot, Sonia!

Spain

The colours of the card are amazing! And it's about the famous Don Quixote (in Spanish Don Quijote)! The novel about Don Quixote, fully titled "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, was published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615. The novel follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, an hidalgo who reads so many chivalric novels that he decides to set out to revive chivalry, under the name Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthly wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood.

It influenced very much on the whole of Western literature as it's one of first novels as we know them today. It regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.

As you may know, theme of Europe CEPT for year 2013 is the postman van, celebrating PostEurop's 20th anniversary (1993-2013).  Thanks, Melita!

Spain

What a lovely view! It shows a little village called Pla de Sant Tirs in the country of Alt Urgell, Catalonia. I started learning Spanish a few months ago, so if you want to swap with me some cards written in Spanish I'd be glad to do it! Thanks to my new postcard-pal Amelia :)

Canary Isalnds, Spain

It's time for the second beautiful card sent by Adolfo from even more beautiful Canary Islands. It's a panorama of Tenerife, the largest of seven Canary Islands, with the Mount Teide in the back. Mount Teide is a volcano and with its 3,718-metre summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic.  The volcano and its surroundings comprise Teide National Park, which has an area of 18,900 hectares and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007. 

Tenerife is a very very popular tourist destination with about 5 million tourist annually, the most of any Canary Islands. Teide National Park is visited by 2.8 million visitors each year, which makes it one of the most visited national parks of the world. 

Adolfo used the other two stamps from the musical instruments set on this postcard, this time it's cymbals (platillos) and timbales. 

Canary Islands, Spain

I had major problems with my Internet connection and computer so didn't update for a while again. The pile of cards waiting to be posted is getting bigger and bigger each day, and the the technical problems with my computer are solved, so why not to share this wonderful postcard that came from the Canary Islands? 

The Canary Islands (Islas Canarias)  are a Spanish archipelago located off the northwest coast of mainland Africa andone of Spain's 17 autonomous communities. The biggest islands forming the archipelago are:  Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro. The card itself shows the municipality Agaete, one of twenty-one municipalities of Gran Canaria. 

Adolfo used two stamps from a set showing traditional musical instruments of Spain. These two show  tambourine (pandereta) and castanets (castañuelas). Thanks, Adolfo :)

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I decided to request a few addresses at the Postcrossing official site after not sending for a while, and I got this nice postcard from Spain in return. It shows a little village in the north-east of Spain, near to France, but was sent from Barcelona. Alt Urgell, the region where Aravell is located, is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, a modern representation of part of the historic County of Urgell (ca 789 - 1413), seat of the Counts of Urgell and the historic region of Urgellet.

And the Spanish Christmas stamps was used! Thank you, Luis!

Spain

After a couple of days with an empty mailbox, look what I found in there yesterday! Isn't that view stunning? :) This beautiful postcard reached me thanks to Fabienne. I can't describe my gratefulness for this wonderful card and, what makes me even more happy, a lighthouse stamp on the back. It would be such a pity not to write a few words about the city shown on the postcard above...

Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the secong largest city in Spain, with the population of approximately 1.6 million. Barcelona is the largest European metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea. Talking about the history of Barcelona, it's important to mention that it used to be a Roman colony in the the past. Another interesting imformation about Barcelona: probably the oldest public bank -the Bank of Barcelona- was estamblished in Barcelona by the city magistrates in 1401.

Today, Barcelona is one of the world's leading tourist, economic and cultural centres and the fourth most visited city in Europe, just after Paris, London and Rome.

Spain

Quiet nice place to live in, don't you think so? It's a view over Marin, Spain.

Marín is a municipality in Galicia, Spain in the province of Pontevedra. The Spanish Navy is located there. Marín has the population of approximately 25 000 inhabtants, so it's just a bit bigger than my hometown Rovinj, Croatia.

Thanks to Francisco for this nice postcard and Europa CEPT stamp. I just adore Europa CEPT stamps. I collect them as well.

Spain

Here comes one more postcard from Madrid in my collection. It shows the lake of the Retiro Park. Thanks to my dear sister for sending me so many great cards including this one.  She's at home now and we have just taken a look at all the cards she has sent me. She told me many amazing stories about Madrid. I hope I'll be able to visit it some day.

Spain

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. Its population is about 3.3 million and it's the third biggest city in the EU. Madrid is situated on the Manzanares river. I really like the motto of Madrid: "On water I was built, my walls are made of fire. This is my ensign and escutcheon." As the capital city,  it is the seat of government, residence of the Spanish monarch and political centre of Spain.

The most ancient recorded name of the city "Magerit" comes from the name of a fortress built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD, and means "Place of abundant water". I would also like to point out that Madrid is gonna host Summer Olimpycvs in 2020. It's gonna be a great show, I believe.

The postcard shows the Crystal Palace in the Retiro Park. It was built in 1887 to exhibit flora and fauna from the Philippines, but it is currently used for art exhibits.

The postcard was sent by my dear sister. Thanks, sis :)

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I am posting a scan of an official card from Spain that I received in August last year. It's been a while since I have requested an address for the official card at the site. I think I should do it more often, because I may receive many nice cards as this one. Jordi sent me this beautiful postcard showing sunset at Costa Brava in Spain.

Did I mention that my favourite themes of stamps are butterflies and insects :) ? Thanks, Jodri!