Friday, August 7, 2009

Postcard Friendship Friday - rare countries

Some of the countries are considered more rare than others among the postcrossers. Most often, the reason is the size of the country, therefore the size of the population. Recently, I had a chance to receive 2 of the cards from more rare countries. One is from Montenegro (14 postcrossers registered) and another one is from Cyprus (only 10 people registered). The card from Montenegro comes via Yelena (vergi) from Russia, who visited the country on vacation this summer.Montenegro ( Montenegrin: Црна Гора/Crna Gora) (meaning "Black Mountain" in Montenegrin) is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is on the coast on the Adriatic Sea. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Prijestonica (Пријестоница), meaning the former Royal Capital City. From 1918, it was a part of former Yugoslavia. The independence was declared on June 3, 2006. The population is about 670,000 people, who mostly speak Serbian language and belong to Orthodox Christian church. The town of Bečići is a resort town on the sea.

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Another rare card comes from a Finnish user, who lives in Cyprus. It was actually an official card, so I can consider myself lucky for receiving it, I guess. :)By the look of the ruins in the top picture, I was able to find out that they are located near the city of Limassol and used to a beautiful Temple of Apollo. Apollo Hylates, God of the Woodland, was the protector of the city of Kourion. The cult of Apollo was celebrated here from the eighth century B.C. to the A.D. fourth century. The second picture might be from the ancient Roman city of Salamis in the northern (Turkish) part of Cyprus. Legend has it that one of the heroes of Trojan war, Teucer, built the city and it became the capital of Cyprus as long ago as 1100 BC. The ruins that remain are from the Roman period. Salamis was a very important economic center. The Romans built a lot of buildings with beautiful colorful decorations and columns. Later, the city became base for the early Christianity, as Apostle Barnabas lived and died there. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the location of the third picture. Maybe, one day I could visit Cyprus and find out for myself? I sure hope so!

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11 comments:

  1. A nice geography lesson. I never heard of Montenegro. I really need a new atlas.

    I was postcard makers would list all the scenes on cards. I even have a hard time figuring out some Minneapolis postcards.

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  2. Thank you, postcardy! I agree, I had to look through a bunch before I recognized the second one. I guess I was determined :) I love ancient world with its history! :)

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  3. One learns a great deal from PFF, and how great it is to get images as well as information. I espcially love the second card of the ruins. Thanks for your visit today!

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  4. I very much enjoyed these postcards, and learning the history behind. VERY cool! Happy PFF!

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  5. I love the history lesson you included with your very beautiful cards. Thank you!

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  6. Very interesting! And the cards are wonderful!

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  7. Thank you so much for visiting my blog! I am very glad you liked the stories :)

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  8. Beautiful cards.
    I'm lucky to have the Montenegro (different view) too :)
    The Cyprus card is so cool with the all the ancient structures.

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  9. Howdy
    Happy PFF .
    What a fantastic post .
    Thank you so much for all the new information .
    I had a great time learning and now will need to go and do a little more reading.
    Thank you for sharing.
    Hugs
    Happy Trails

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  10. Lara, Thanks for visiting my blog (No Postage Due) yesterday, August 30. Your post is impressive not only because of the rarity of the countries who are involved with Postcrossing, but also because of the details you provided.

    Where in MN do you live? I'm in the Twin Cities.

    Hope to visit you again!

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