Czech Republic

Nataša and Ana are the ones to blame for this nice aerial view of Prague. They stayed there for a couple of days and, as always, found some time to write some cards. The architecture of the city seems so interesting from this angle, with all the bridges, church towers and domes. Thanks :)

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Whenever I see a castle, I wonder how did the living in there feel like? Can you imagine having the entire palace with numerous rooms? Although many of the castles I've seen on the photos and postcards seem quite "cold", I wouldn't mind living there for a couple of weeks, or months... I'm sharing all of these silly thoughts of mine because of the amazing official postcard I got from the Czech Republic, representing castle Hluboká. There is a short text on the back of the cards that talks about the castle, but as there is no English translation, I had to look for more information on Wikipedia. Here's what I've found... 

Hluboká Castle is considered one of the most beautiful castles of the Czech Republic, the sender of the card, Jitka, also says that it's her favourite as well. Originally dating to gothic period, during its history it was rebuilt several times. It was first expanded during the Renaissance period, then rebuilt into a Baroque castle at the order of Adam Franz von Schwarzenberg in the beginning of the 18th century. It reached its current appearance during the 19th century when Johann Adolf II von Schwarzenberg ordered the reconstruction of the castle in the romantic style of the Windsor Castle. Hluboká Castle is a National Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic.

Thanks a lot to Jitka for the great card!

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The Czech official I received back in December seemed just perfect for this Sunday. Lenka sent me the postcard of Pilsen, with great car stamp! 

Plzeň or Pilsen is a city in western Bohemia. It is the capital of the Plzeň Region and the fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic. The city is known worldwide for Pilsner beer. Plzeň was in September 2010 selected by an official jury to be put forward to join the Belgian city of Mons as the European capital of culture in 2015. 

Czech Republic

My friend David from Lyon, France who was staying in the Czech Republic during Christmas holidays, sent me this beautiful view over Karlštejn Castle. David couldn't find me on the Postcrossing site as I have changed my username, so he thought I had stopped with Postcrossing.... I hadn't considered such situation when I decided to change username :P Anyway, when the card is here it'd be shame not to write few sentences about the most visited castle in the Czech Republic... Karlštejn Castle is a large Gothic castle founded 1348 AD by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor-elect and King of Bohemia. The castle served as a place for safekeeping the Imperial Regalia as well as the Bohemian/Czech crown jewels, holy relics, and other royal treasures. Located about 30 km southwest of Prague above the village of the same name, it is one of the most famous and most frequently visited castles in the Czech Republic.

I guess these two stamps are Christmas related, but as the mark is not very neat (even though most of the Czech marks are extremly neat) I'm not sure. Thanks, David!

Czech Republic

A rainy day in Rovinj, Croatia.... perfect time to stay inside with a cup of warm tea and do some updates... So, at first I'd like to share this beautiful postcard of Prague, showing the Charles Bridge. It seems so peaceful and quiet. I'd really like to walk for a bit over the bridge and around the neighborhood, but Lucie (the one responsible for me having this card) says that during the day the place is crowded with tourists, so you can see the bridge like this only early in the morning. But I'm not the morning type really... ;)

As we know,  Prague is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of twentieth century Europe. One of these is the Charles Bridge, shown above, that crosses the Vltava river. The bridge is 621 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV. The bridge was originally called the Stone Bridge but has been the "Charles Bridge" since 1870.

Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. So, this card is a view over an UNECSO WHS site with an UNESCO stamps (first stamp). The UNESCO stamps represents castle in Valtice. Thank you, Lucie!

Czech Republic

Another card that I received during the work on my European countries collection. Thanks to Katka for helping me by sending me a postcard from Czech Republic.

Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe with the population of 10.5 million. Its capital and the largest city is Prague. It is a pluralist multi-party democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Council of Europe and the Visegrad Group.

Plzeň is a city in western Bohemia in the Czech Republic, the capital of Plzeň Region and the fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic. It is known worldwide for the production of Pilsner beer. Other main sights of the city are: the Gothic St. Bartholomew's Cathedral, founded in the late 13th century, the tower of which (102.26 m) is the highest in the Czech Republic, the Renaissance Town Hall, and the Moorish Revival Great Synagogue, the second largest synagogue in Europe.

There is also a 20 km historic underground tunnel network, among the longest in Central Europe. Part of the tunnel is also open for the tourists.

Thanks to Katka for this nice postcard and two cute stamps :)