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1559 ETHIOPIA (Dire Dawa) - A market in Dire Dawa

May 3, 2015, 12:31 am
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Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia (the other being the capital, Addis Ababa), and also the second city in population (more then 340,000 inhabitants). It lies in the eastern part of the country, on the Dechatu Wadi (seasonal river), at the foot of a ring of cliffs that has been described as "somewhat like a cluster of tea-leaves in the bottom of a slop-basin." As in the rest of Ethiopia, the population of this city is highly diverse, the main ethnic groups in the region being the Oromo (45%), Somali (42%), Amhara (9%), Gurage (3%), and Harari (1%). The religion with the most believers in Dire Dawa is Muslim with 70.8%, 25.71% are Ethiopian Orthodox, 2.81% Protestant, and 0.43% Catholic. The postcard depicts this diversity.

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1560 AZERBAIJAN (Absheron) - Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape (UNESCO WHS)

May 3, 2015, 2:59 am
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Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape is a hill and mountain site occupying the southeast end of the Greater Caucasus mountain ridge, mainly in the basin of Jeyrankechmaz River, between the rivers Pirsagat and Sumgait, located west of the settlement of Gobustan, about 64km southwest of the centre of Baku. It covers three areas of a plateau of rocky boulders rising out of the semi-desert of central Azerbaijan, with an outstanding collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 40,000 years of rock art. The site also features the remains of inhabited caves, settlements and burials, all reflecting an intensive human use by the inhabitants of the area during the wet period that followed the last Ice Age.

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1561 BELGIUM (Luxembourg) - Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval

May 3, 2015, 6:43 am
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Orval Abbey (Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval), a Cistercianmonastery located in the Gaume region, in Villers-devant-Orval, is well known for its history and spiritual life but also for its local production of the Trappist beer Orval and a specific cheese. The site has been occupied since the Merovingian period, and it seems that there was already a chapel here in the 10th century. In 1070, a group of Benedictine monks from Calabria settled here, and began construction of a church and a monastery, but after some forty years they moved away. They were replaced by a community of Canons Regularr, who completed the construction, the church being consecrated on 30 September 1124.

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1562 SRI LANKA - Yapahuwa

May 3, 2015, 7:50 am
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Yapahuwa was one of the ephemeral capitals of medieval Sri Lanka, in the latter part of the 13th century. Built around a huge granite rock rising abruptly almost 100m above the surrounding lowlands, at midway between Kurunagala and Anuradhapura, the citadel of Yapahuwa has a strong resemblance to the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. In 1272, King Bhuvenakabahu transferred the capital from Polonnaruwa to Yapahuwa in the face of Dravidian invasions from South India. Following the death of king in 1284, the Pandyans of South India invaded Sri Lanka once again, and Yapahuwa was largely abandoned and inhabited by Buddhist monks and religious ascetics.

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1377, 1563 RWANDA - Mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park

May 3, 2015, 9:00 am
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1377 - A mountain gorilla in Volcanoes National Park

Posted on 26.12.2014, and 03.05.2015
Volcanoes National Park lies in northwestern Rwanda and borders  Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. It is home to five of the eight volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains (Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo), which are covered in rainforest and bamboo, and a haven for the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla, the largest living primate. The vegetation is very dense at the bottom of the mountains, becoming more sparse at higher elevations, and the forests where the mountain gorilla lives are often cloudy, misty and cold. Despite their recent population growth (the overall population is now believed to be at least 880 individuals), the mountain gorilla remains threatened. As of 2008, they were listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and are dependent on conservation efforts to survive.

1563 - A cub of mountain gorilla

The mountain gorilla is primarily terrestrial, quadrupedal, and herbivore, but it will climb into fruiting trees if the branches can carry its weight, and it is capable of running bipedally up to 6m. Like all great apes other than humans, its arms are longer than its legs. Males, at a mean weight of 195kg and upright standing height of 150cm usually weigh twice as much as the females. Gorillas can be identified by nose prints unique to each individual. Adult males are called silverbacks because a saddle of gray or silver-colored hair develops on their backs with age. It is highly social, and lives in relatively stable, cohesive groups held together by long-term bonds between adult males and females. Relationships among females are relatively weak. These groups are nonterritorial; the silverback generally defends his group rather than his territory.

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1564 UNITED STATES (Florida) - Saint Augustine Lighthouse

May 3, 2015, 12:28 pm
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Off the northeast Atlantic coast of Florida, East of Saint Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States, is located Anastasia Island, a barrier island long of 23km and wide of 1,6km. At the north end of the island is an active lighthouse, named as the city, the most recent of a number of towers built in the area. Saint Augustine was the site of the first lighthouse established in Florida by the new, territorial, American Government in 1824, on the site of an earlier watchtower built by the Spanish as early as the late 16th century. Because of the erosion and the changing coastline, the old tower crashed into the sea in 1880, but not before a new lighthouse was lit.

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1565 KIRIBATI - Tarawa

May 5, 2015, 12:21 am
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Tarawa - Kids carrying kindle

Tarawa Atoll, the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, comprises North Tarawa, which has much in common with other islands of the Gilberts group, and South Tarawa, which is home of the half of the country's total population, i.e. more then 50,000 inhabitants. It has a large lagoon, of over 500 km2, and a wide reef. Although naturally abundant in fish and shellfish of all kinds, marine resources are being overharvested by the growing population. North Tarawa consists of a string of islets, separated in places by wide channels that are best crossed at low tide. On South Tarawa, the construction of causeways has now created a single strip of land from Betio in the West to Buota in the Northeast.

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1566 GEORGIA (Mtskheta-Mtianeti) - Historical Monuments of Mtskheta - Jvari Monastery (UNESCO WHS)

May 5, 2015, 5:47 am
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Located at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari Rivers, Mtskheta was the ancient capital of Iberia, the East Georgian Kingdom from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD, and was also the location where Christianity was proclaimed as the official religion of Georgia in 337. To date, it still remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox Church, and it was declared as the "Holy City" by the GOC in 2014. The favourable natural conditions, its location at the intersection of trade routes, and its close relations with the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, Syria, Palestine, and Byzantium, generated the development of the city and led to the integration of different cultural influences with local cultural traditions.

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1567 PAPUA NEW GUINEA (East New Britain) - The Warwagira & Mask Festival

May 6, 2015, 1:03 pm
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The Warwagira & Mask Festival was introduced in 1995 and is staged in Kokopo as an annual national event to promote the Mask Cultures of East New Britain, New Ireland and other areas in PNG where masks are significant projections of cultural expression. The festival is a five-day extravaganza of cultural dancing, ritual performance, display, story-telling and exchange - with a variety of arts and crafts. Some of the masks are many decades old, and many of them are sacred. They aren't meant to be viewed or transported to alien places, hence the ceremonial Kinavai, which acts as a cleansing or appeasement ritual for the broken taboos and to pay respects to the Tolai people.

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1568 CROATIA (Istria) - City of Motovun (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

May 7, 2015, 12:36 pm
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Located in central Istria, on an elevation that dominates over the valley of the Mirna River, Motovun is in nowadays only a village with 531 inhabitants, but it was a medieval town that grew up on the site of an ancient city called Kastelijer. On the inner walls are several coats-of-arms of different Motovun ruling families and two gravestones of Roman inhabitants (dating from the 1st century). In the 10th and 11th centuries it belonged to the Bishop of Poreč, but from 1278 it was taken over by Venice and surrounded by solid walls which are still intact today. All three parts of the town are connected by a system of fortifications containing elements of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles, being a typical example of Venetian colonial architecture.

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1569 UNITED STATES (California) - Balboa Park in San Diego

May 9, 2015, 10:43 pm
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San Diego - Casa de Balboa beyond the Reflection Pool

Named for the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Balboa Park is a 490 ha urban cultural park in San Diego, not far for the border with Mexico. In addition to open space areas, natural vegetation zones, green belts, gardens, and walking paths, it contains museums, several theaters, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. It hosted the 1915-1916 Panama–California Exposition and 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition, both of which left architectural landmarks.

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1570 UNITED KINGDOM (Turks and Caicos Islands) - The map of the Turks and Caicos Islands

May 10, 2015, 7:56 am
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The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago, part of the larger Antilles island grouping, which lie southeast of Mayaguana in the Bahamas island chain and north of the island of Hispaniola. The resident population is about 31,500, of whom 23,769 live on Providenciales. Cockburn Town, the capital since 1766, is situated on Grand Turk Island about 1,042km east-southeast of  Miami, United States. They are named after the Turk's-cap cactus (Melocactus communis), and the Lucayan term caya hico, meaning string of islands.

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1571 POLAND (Masovia) - Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw

May 10, 2015, 12:10 pm
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With its 231m height (which includes a 43m high spire), the Palace of Culture and Science is the tallest building in Poland and the eighth tallest building in the European Union. Built in three years according to the design of the Soviet architect Lev Rudnev, almost entirely by 3500 workers from the Soviet Union, the structure was conceived as a "gift from the Soviet people to the Polish nation", and was completed in 1955. Architecturally, it is a mix of Stalinist architecture, also known as Socialist Classicism, and Polish historicism inspired by American art deco skyscrapers. Currently it is the headquarters of many companies and public institutions, scientific institutions and authorities of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

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1572 MALTA - Women playing Tombla

May 11, 2015, 9:58 am
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In Malta, Tombla (open-air Bingo or Housey-Housey) is a very popular game, in particular for women. After Sunday lunch, or in the cool of the evening, village women used to gather in street corners  to play Tombla. The numbers are called in English rather than Maltese; the cards are well worn, having been used hundreds of times; the counters are ussually buttons. The womenfolk perch on ambient benches for their weekly gamble-and-gossip; the stakes are low and so are the prizes. The Tombla is based on the Spanish game of Bingo with one to 90 numbers. For those who doesn't know, Bingo is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers.

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1573 UNITED STATES (Hawaii) - USS Arizona Memorial

May 11, 2015, 12:47 pm
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USS Arizona was a Pennsylvania-class battleship built for and by the United States Navy in the mid-1910s. Although commissioned in 1916, the ship remained stateside during WWI, and practically didn't participate in any battle, until she was bombed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She exploded and sank, killing 1,177 officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona could not be fully salvaged, though the Navy removed parts of the ship for reuse. The wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died during the attack, straddles the ship's hull, without touching it.

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1574 ITALY (Sicily) - Archaeological Area of Agrigento - Temple of Concordia (UNESCO WHS)

May 12, 2015, 8:47 am
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According to tradition, Akragas (now Agrigento) was founded by colonists from Rhodes and Crete coming from the founder colony in Sicily, Gela, around 580 BC. It grew rapidly, becoming one of the richest and most famous of the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia. It came to prominence under the 6th-century  tyrantsPhalaris and Theron, and became a democracy after the overthrow of Thrasydaeus. Sacked by the  Carthaginians in 406 BC, it never fully recovered its former status. Disputed between the Romans and the Carthaginians, it passed from one hand to another until it remained under the rule of the Romans. It became prosperous again, but the decline of the Western Empire and the ascendancy of Christianity led to depopulation and impoverishment of the city.

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1575 NAGORNO-KARABAKH - Tsitsernavank Monastery

May 12, 2015, 9:41 am
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Tzitzernavank is a 5th- to 6th-century Armenian church and former monastery in the  Qashatagh Province of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (formerly Lachin Rayon of Azerbaijan), at 5km of the border of  Armenia's province of Syunik. There are two differing opinions on the etymology of the name. Some authors state that the name originates from the word tzitzernak which means the bird swallow in Armenian. Others believe that the name derives from the word tzitzern, which in Armenian means "little finger" - presumably a reference to the relics of St. George the Dragon-Slayer that were kept in the church.

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1576 TUVALU - Crested Tern

May 12, 2015, 1:37 pm
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Located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia, Tuvalu, the fourth smallest country in the world, consists of three reef islands and six true atolls, with poor soil and limited fresh-water resources. As a result, indigenous plants are rare, as well as the animal life. Twenty eight species of indigenous birds are known, approximately 20 species being sea birds, a few of which are migratory. One of this birds species is the Crested tern (Thalasseus bergii), a seabird in the tern family that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical regions, in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia

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1516, 1577 SAINT LUCIA - Pitons Management Area (UNESCO WHS)

May 13, 2015, 12:23 pm
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1516 Saint Lucia - The Pitons and Soufriere Bay
 

Posted on 07.04.2015, 13.05.2015
The Pitons are two mountainous volcanic spires rising side by side from the sea (770 m and 743 m high respectively), linked by the Piton Mitan ridge, and located near the town of Soufrière, on the southwestern coast of Saint Lucia. The volcanic complex includes a geothermal field with sulphurous fumeroles and hot springs. The Marine Management Area is a coastal strip 11km long and about 1km wide. It comprises a steeply sloping continental shelf with fringing and patch reefs, boulders and sandy plains. The coral reefs, which cover almost 60% of the marine area, are healthy and diverse.

1577 Saint Lucia - The Pitons view fron the Soufriere Bay

The dominant terrestrial vegetation is tropical moist forest grading to subtropical wet forest, with small areas of dry forest and wet elfin woodland on the summits. Because, on the one hand, the Pitons fully illustrate the volcanic history of an andesitic composite volcano associated with crustal plate subduction, and on the other they have an powerful visual impact and incontestable aesthetic qualities, the two adjacent forest-clad volcanic lava domes rising abruptly from the sea, the Pitons Management Area was included in 2004 by UNESCO among the World Heritage Sites.

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1578 CONGO-KINSHASA - An oil painting postcard depicting huts

May 13, 2015, 1:14 pm
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