Is Your Mailbox This Rusty?

Herberto Smith, from the exhibition Interferências. Culturas Urbanas Emergentes ('Interferences. Emerging Urban Cultures') in the MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology), Lisboa.

Postcard sent by Pedro (Portugal).

Women on Postcards | L Is for Loren

One of the most Agnès Varda's iconic images is Sofia Loren in Portugal, taken in 1956 in Póvoa de Varzim, (Portugal). It shows Maria do Alívio ("woman who does laundry for others"), walking, dressed in black and barefoot, down a street, Rua das Lavadeiras, in contrast to the smiling, torn poster showing Sophia Loren and the sign "For Sale". Despite the title, no doubt who is the main character here.

The postcard was sent by Pedro (Portugal). As a bonus, a stamp of the photographer issued in 2024 that I received on a letter sent by Fabienne (France):

[Women on Postcards - 2026]

[Women on Stamps]

Ciclo Carta

This letter sent by Pedro (Portugal) was posted on 11 September and reached me a week later, on 18 September. Not bad, considering it travels by bike!

For some reason, letters and postcards to Portugal travel faster than from Portugal. Also, I have noticed that the first CicloCarta took 9 days to arrive; the second, 8 days... What does this means?

Coffee Collection

 

This stamp is dedicated to the Café A Brasileira (='The Brazilian Café) in Braga (Portugal), opened in 1907. It belongs to the series Cafés Históricos II.

Sometimes I think I would need all the time in the world to grow a thematic collection of all the topics that interest me!

Summer Mail | Total Solar Eclipse (OUT)

I enjoyed sending some eclipse-themed mail on the due day. 

At least one of them travelled fast!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Old & Modern

The Ponte 25 de Abril (='25th of April Bridge') is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, with the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tagus River. It has a main span length of 1,013 metres.

At the time of its inauguration in 1966, the bridge was named Ponte Salazar (='Salazar Bridge'), after the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, who ordered its construction. After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the bridge was renamed for April 25, the date of the revolution.

Postcard sent by Pedro (Portugal).

Pont de les Mores in Olot is a bridge built in the second half of the 19th century over the Fluvià river. It is made with volcanic stone, while the five arches are made of brick.

The sender told me this is a beautiful city but an ugly postcard. What do you think?

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
September theme: BRIDGES

• Week 1 - Over land
• Week 2 - Over water
• Week 3 - Railway
• Week 4 - Moveable

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Second Try

It came out better on the second try...

The Mail Adventures of the Smelling Roses

On 14 May, Correos issued this stamp dedicated to the 70th anniversary of a Rose Garden in the Parque del Oeste (='West Park') in Madrid.

I bought a 7-stamps set like this one, the surprise was that it smelled like roses! So, I used the sheet to add some sweet scent to letters to Portugal, the UK and the USA:

And now, for the odd mail adventures: two of them were posted on 14 July, but got postmarks on 22 July. The third one was posted on 16 July in the same mailbox and postmarked the following day, 17 July. How do you explain that?

And still an extra mail adventure for the one I sent to the UK: it arrived open (meh!) but luckily nothing was lost in way. And it got two postmarks, from Correos (22 July) and Royal Mail (25 July).

Ciclocorreio

Pedro (Portugal) sent a sort of second part of this envelope. This time, it took eight days to arrive.

Beautiful

By David Sarmento

A friend sent me this postcard simply because, as he wrote, it is a beautiful illustration. I agree. And... is it not even more beautiful that he took the trouble to send it?

Portuguese Lighthouses

It is a pity that this letter sent by Pedro via Ilha das Flores (Azores) to be stamped with a lighthouse postmark, did not turned out as expected.

The stamp, belonging to the set Portugal in the European Union, 40 Years arrived safe and sound, and also did the letter inside.

It is always a pleasure to get mail related to lighthouses, and I have been lately spoiled by Pedro...

Cape Espichel Lighthouse was built in 1790 on the site of a hermitage that had been founded in the middle of the 14th century to hold an image of the Virgin, which had been found on a rock.

Cabo da Roca forms the westernmost point of continental Europe. Situated in the municipality of Sintra, near Azóia, to the west of Lisbon. The lighthouse started operation in 1772.

The stamp belongs to a 4-stamps series issued in 2024 to commemorate the centenary of the Portuguese Lighthouse Authority (Direção de Farois).

By Cycle Mail

This letter sent by Pedro from Portugal took nine days to arrive. Not bad, if you consider it came by bike...

The stamp belongs to the 2026 series As Bicicletas no Ciclismo (='Bicycles in Cycling'). 

He has recently sent more Portuguese bicycles. The stamps below are from the 2025 series As Bicicletas nas Profissões (='Bicycles in Professions'). Here you have the farmer's and the milkman's bikes:

Paz

Getting as many as possible of these Peace Stamps was my 2023 postal project. I did not expect to receive more of them, but a new one arrived on the back of a postcard sent by Pedro (Portugal). 

Women on Postcards | B Is for Beira Alta

We do not know who this woman is, but on the back of the postcard it is written "Beira Alta". Beira Alta (Upper Beira) was a Portuguese province in the north of Portugal. 

The picture was taken in 1998. The photographer was Helena Henriques, and the postcard was sent by Pedro (Portugal).

[Women on Postcards - 2026]

It is Raining Outside

Envelope sent by Pedro (Portugal). I like how the stamp gets a new meaning on the envelope design. Does not it makes you smile?

It belongs (like this one) to the series Arte Contemporânea Portuguesa - 2.ª Série. The artwork reproduced on the stamp is Rugby (Green), by Ângela Ferreira, 2020.

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Lucca & Lisboa

Lucca (Italy). Postcard sent by Bruno (PC).

Lisbon (Portugal), illustrated by Inna Korneeva. Postcard sent by Pedro (Portugal). 

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
February theme: CITIES

• Week 1 - Asian
• Week 2 - Southern European
• Week 3 - Northern European
• Week 4 - North American

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Five European Lighthouses

Boehler / Westerhever

  

Bout de la jetée à Honfleur, 1886
('Harbour Entrance at Honfleur')
George Seurat (1859-1891)

Nazaré

Farol de Santa Marta, Cascais

Sent by Pedro (Portugal), Kamila & Dawid (Germany) and Heleen & Micu (Netherlands).

Sunday Stamps | A Is for Abstract

France, 1981

Alléluia, by French painter Alfred Manessier (1965). 

Austria, 2023

75th birthday of Hans Kupelwieser

The stamp motif shows an untitled relief made in 2020, anodised aluminium, 170 by 180 by 30 centimetres.

Portugal, 2025

Burning in the Forbidden Sea, by Rui Chafes

USA, 2013

Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, by Marcel Duchamp (1912)

A new A-Z starts in Sunday Stamps. Go to see more A related stamps!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Lisbon Trams

Postcard sent by Pedro (Portugal).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
November theme: SCENERY/LANDSCAPES

• Week 1 - With animals
• Week 2 - With people
• Week 3 - With buildings
• Week 4 - Multiviews

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

World Postcard Day 2025

More postcards I got, sent on World Postcard Day:

Sent by Bryon (the USA).

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Postcard sent by Anna (Russia).

And two special postmarks, from Portugal and the USA (Thanks, Pedro & Bryon!):