Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement

Kulangsu, also known as Gulangyu, is a pedestrian-only island where the only vehicles permitted are small electric buggies and electric government service vehicles. Even bicycles are not allowed.

Kulangsu

This postcard was sent by Wei Tianyi

Kulangsu is a tiny island located on the estuary of the Chiu-lung River, facing the city of Xiamen. With the opening of a commercial port at Xiamen in 1843, and the establishment of the island as an international settlement in 1903, this island off the southern coast of the Chinese empire suddenly became an important window for Sino-foreign exchanges. Kulangsu is an exceptional example of the cultural fusion that emerged from these exchanges, which remain legible in its urban fabric. There is a mixture of different architectural styles including Traditional Southern Fujian Style, Western Classical Revival Style and Veranda Colonial Style. The most exceptional testimony of the fusion of various stylistic influences is a new architectural movement, the Amoy Deco Style, which is a synthesis of the Modernist style of the early 20th century and Art Deco. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1541

Bikin River Valley

This site is the home to Amur tigers, the largest felines in the world, but also of leopards and Asiatic black bears among others

Sikhote-Alin

This postcard was sent by Vadim

The Sikhote-Alin mountain range contains one the richest and most unusual temperate forests of the world. In this mixed zone between taiga and subtropics, southern species such as the tiger and Himalayan bear cohabit with northern species such as the brown bear and lynx. The site stretches from the peaks of Sikhote-Alin to the Sea of Japan and is important for the survival of many endangered species such as the Amur tiger. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/766/

Amur Leopard in Sikhote-Alin

This postcard was sent by Vera

The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and the Jilin Province of northeast China.

Leopards cross between Russia, China, and North Korea across the Tumen River despite a high and long wire fence marking the boundary. - in: wikipedia

Citadel, Ancient City and Fortress Buildings of Derbent

Derbent claims to be the oldest city in Russia and resembles a huge museum

Fortress of Derbent

This postcard was sent by Kate

The current fortification and walls were built by the Persian Sassanian Empire as a defensive structure against hostile nomadic people in the north, and continuously repaired or improved by later Arab, Mongol, Timurid, Shirvan and Iranian kingdoms until the early course of the 19th century, as long as its military function lasted.

A large portion of the walls and several watchtowers still remain in reasonable shape. The walls, reaching to the sea, date from the 6th century, Sassanid dynasty period.

Old Armenian Church

This postcard was sent by Vera

The city has a well-preserved citadel (Narin-kala), enclosing an area of 4.5 hectares (11 acres), enclosed by strong walls. Historical attractions include the baths, the cisterns, the old cemeteries, the caravanserai, the 18th-century Khan's mausoleum, as well as several mosques. The oldest mosque is the Juma Mosque, built over a 6th-century Christian basilica; it has a 15th-century madrassa. Other shrines include the 17th-century Kyrhlyar mosque, the Bala mosque and the 18th-century Chertebe mosque. - in: wikipedia

Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex

Russia is one of the countries from where postcards take more time to arrive. But the wait is worth it because postcards are usually great and most of the times they come with wonderful stamps, like these

Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex

This postcard was sent by Vera

The historical and archaeological site of Bolgar lies on the shores of the Volga River south of its confluence with the River Kama. It contains evidence of the medieval city of Bolgar, an early settlement of the civilization of Volga Bolgars, which existed between the 7th and the 15th centuries. Bolgar was also the first capital of the Golden Horde in the 13th century and remained an important trade centre in the time of the Kazan Khanate. The site preserves its spatial context with its historic moat and walls as well as its religious and civil structures, including a former mosque, a minaret and several mausoleums, bath houses, remains of a Khan's palace and shrine.

Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex 

This postcard was sent by Vera

Bolgar represents the historical cultural exchanges and transformations of Eurasia over several centuries, which played a pivotal role in the formation of civilizations, customs and cultural traditions. The Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex provides remarkable evidence of historic continuity and cultural diversity, the mutual influences of cultural traditions in particular at the time of the Volga Bolgars, the Golden Horde, the Kazan Khanate and the Russian state. Also, Bolgar was always located at the crossroads of trade, and economic, cultural and political communications and illustrates the interaction of nomadic and urban cultures. The historical and archaeological complex of Bolgar is a symbolic reminder of the acceptance of Islam by the Volga-Bolgars in 922 AD and, to Tatar Muslims, remains sacred and a pilgrimage destination. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/981

Frontiers of the Roman Empire

This site is composed of three sections: Hadrian’s Wall, the Upper German- Raetian Limes and the Antonine Wall

Statue of Antonius Pius in Saalburg

This postcard was sent by Marcel

In Roman times, the Saalburg fort kept watch over a section of the Limes in the Taunus hills. From the beginning of the 2nd century AD for approximately the next 150 years, the Limes marked the frontier between Rome’s Empire and the Germanic tribal territories.

The fort’s garrison was made up of 600 soldiers – both infantry and cavalry. A bath house and guest house were located just outside the main gate. A village housing craftsmen, traders and tavern keepers adjoined the fort. The Roman road to Nida (today, Frankfurt-Heddernheim) was lined with graves and small shrines. As many as 2000 people may once have lived in the fort and the village. - in: http://www.saalburgmuseum.de/english/museum_en.html

Hadrian's Wall

This postcard was sent by Tiara

Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire in northern England to stop attacks by Scottish tribes. There were three legions working on it and in 10 years it was nearly finished.

Begun in AD 122, during the rule of the emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain. The second was the Antonine Wall, the lesser known of the two.

The wall was the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its role as a military fortification, it is thought that many of the gates through the wall would have served as customs posts to allow trade and levy taxation. - in: wikipedia

Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast

These columns, totally natural but that look man-made, inspired legends of giants striding over the sea

Giant's Causeway

This postcard was sent from Spain by Patricia

The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.

Around 50 to 60 million years ago, during the Paleocene Epoch, Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau. As the lava cooled, contraction occurred. Horizontal contraction fractured in a similar way to drying mud, with the cracks propagating down as the mass cooled, leaving pillarlike structures, which are also fractured horizontally into "biscuits". In many cases the horizontal fracture has resulted in a bottom face that is convex while the upper face of the lower segment is concave, producing what are called "ball and socket" joints. The size of the columns is primarily determined by the speed at which lava from a volcanic eruption cools. The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic plateau called the Thulean Plateau which formed during the Paleocene. - in: wikipedia

City of Bath

The city of Bath looks very beautiful with a lot of interesting buildings but I think the main attraction is really the Roman baths

Bath

This postcard was sent by Lucy

Bath is the largest city in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, known for its Roman-built baths.

There are many Roman archaeological sites throughout the central area of the city. The baths themselves are about 6 metres (20 ft) below the present city street level. Around the hot springs, Roman foundations, pillar bases, and baths can still be seen, however all the stonework above the level of the baths is from more recent periods.

Bath Abbey was a Norman church built on earlier foundations. The present building dates from the early 16th century and shows a late Perpendicular style with flying buttresses and crocketed pinnacles decorating a crenellated and pierced parapet. - in: wikipedia

Roman Baths

This postcard was sent by Miguel

The Roman Baths complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath. The house is a well-preserved Roman site for public bathing.

The Roman Baths themselves are below the modern street level. There are four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and the Museum, holding finds from Roman Bath. The buildings above street level date from the 19th century.

The first shrine at the site of the hot springs was built by Celts, and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis, whom the Romans identified with Minerva.

The name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, leading to the town's Roman name of Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"). The temple was constructed in 60-70 AD and the bathing complex was gradually built up over the next 300 years. During the Roman occupation of Britain, and possibly on the instructions of Emperor Claudius, engineers drove oak piles to provide a stable foundation into the mud and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century it was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted building, and included the caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). - in: wikipedia