190 ITALY - Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta (UNESCO)

Ferrara is an outstanding planned Renaissance city which has retained its urban fabric virtually intact. The developments in town planning expressed in Ferrara were to have a profound influence on the development of urban design throughout the succeeding centuries. The brilliant Este court attracted a constellation of artists, poets and philosophers during the two seminal centuries of the Renaissance. The Po Delta is an outstanding planned cultural landscape which retains its original form to a remarkable extent. Among the great Italian cities Ferrara is the only to have an original plan that is not derived from a Roman layout. It did not develop from a central area but rather on a linear axis, along the banks of the Po River, with longitudinal streets and many cross streets around which the medieval city was organized. The most significant characteristic of Ferrara's urban history rests on the fact that it developed from the 14th century onwards and, for the first time in Europe, on the basis of planning regulations that are in use nowadays in all modern towns. This type of development is known asaddizione ; the third phase was implemented in 1492, making Ferrara the only planned Renaissance town to have been completed. The street network and the enclosing walls are closely linked with the palaces, the churches, and the gardens. Throughout the 16th century the city was planned with the aim of making it a future 'capital'. Its evolution came to an end after the 17th century under papal administration, and the city did not undergo any extensions for almost three centuries. The city plan (1492) provided for doubling its area, an expansion limited to the south of the castle. This extension was completed by a new and very up-to-date defensive system made up of elements belonging to the various extensions carried out over several centuries (ramparts, keeps, semicircular towers, bastions, barbicans, etc.). These alterations completely changed the appearance of the city: new streets were created on a grid and buildings in a new style were built.

The most important monument surviving from the medieval period is the San Giorgio Cathedral dating back to the 12th century. The facade is a work of the master builder and sculptor Niccolo who, influenced by Benedetto Antelami, worked in the first half of the 12th century; the construction of the bell tower began in 1451 to a design attributed to Leon Battista Alberti. Standing in front of the cathedral, the 13th-century Palazzo Comunale was the first residence of the Este family and was joined in the late 15th century to the Castello di San Michele or Castello Estense. This massive, four-towered fortress was built in 1385 by the court architect Bartolomeo da Novara after a violent popular revolt. Works were carried out until 1570 with the creation of a noble residence with large halls to receive the court and embellished by frescoes and marble balconies and logge. The Palazzo Schifanoia, built in 1385, was first remodelled in 1465-67 for Borso d'Este by the architect Piero Benvenuti degli Ordini assisted by the young Biagio Rossetti, who was responsible alone for the work in 1493. The palace has a long brick facade with a marble portal bearing the arms of the Commandery, the work of Ercole de' Roberti. It is, however, the decoration of the halls, and in particular of the Hall of the Months, which best illustrate the humanist culture of Ferrara. The intersection of the streets coming from the castle (Corso Ercole I) and the main axis of Ercole 1a addizione (Corso Rossetti, Corso Porta Mare) linking two of the city gates is one of the most important elements in the 1492 city plan. This focal point, which links the modern and Renaissance city with the medieval, is underlined by four palaces: Palazzo Prosperi-Sacrati, Palazzo Bevilacqua, Palazzo Turchi-Di Bagno and Palazzo dei Diamanti. The construction of the Palazzo dei Diamanti began in 1492 for Sigismondo d'Este, but was not completed until 1565. The regular rustication over the entire height of the facades gives it a special appearance.

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Daniele Pennisi (direct swap) sent from Zafferana Etnea (Italy) on 12.05.2014

188 HUNGARY - Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and the Andrássy Avenue (WHS)

Within the unified perspective of an immense urban panorama the Danube is the dividing line between two cities, which were quite separate originally: Buda on the spur on the right bank, and Pest in the plain on the left bank. Human occupation of both sites is extremely ancient as it can be traced back to the Palaeolithic period; Celtic populations also established themselves here, attracted by the abundance of thermal springs. But the historic importance of the city is certainly prior to the medieval period, when the two urban developments received their present names. It dates back to the foundation of Aquincum by the Romans, the capital of Lower Pannonia, one of the border provinces of the Empire in the 2nd century AD. Aquincum played an essential role in the diffusion of Roman architectural forms in Pannonia, then in Dacia. Remains of Aquincum and of the camp Contra Aquincum have been revealed by archaeological excavations on both sides of the river and can be seen today, together with a few arches of the aqueduct which supplied the Roman colony, but the present city did not develop on the ruins of the ancient city. After the Hungarian invasion in the 9th century, Pest became the first medieval urban centre, only to be devastated by the Mongol raids of 1241-42. A few years later the castle of Buda was built on a rocky spur on the right bank by Bela IV and the inhabitants of Pest found shelter within its fortified outer walls. The castle is an architectural ensemble illustrating two significant periods of history separated by an interval corresponding to the Turkish invasion. Buda Castle played an essential role in the diffusion of Gothic art in the Magyar region from the 14th century.

The history of Buda became closely identified with that of the Hungarian monarchy and followed their changing fortunes. There was a brilliant period, corresponding with the Angevin dynasty, from the reign of Charles-Robert (1308-42) to that of Sigismund of Luxembourg (1382-1432). After the end of Hungarian independence, a second golden age coincided with the reign of Matthias Corvinus (1458-90), the humanist king who not only founded the university, the library and the royal printing office, but also attracted Italian architects, sculptors and painters, making Buda one of the main centres of Renaissance art in Europe. After the city was ransacked by the Turks in 1526 and its final fall in 1541, the two original cities were rebuilt and led a semi-lethargic existence until 1686. Recovery did not really begin again until the 18th century, when the Empress Maria Theresa and the Emperor Joseph II took an interest in the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary: the city was then influenced by late Baroque architecture, soon to be supplanted by the more sober lines of discreet neoclassicism. In the 19th century, the city's role as capital became enhanced by the foundation of the Hungarian Academy (1830), after 1862 housed in a neo-Renaissance palace, and especially by the construction of the imposing neo-Gothic Parliament building (1884-1904). The parliament is an outstanding example of a great official building on a par with those of London, Munich, Vienna and Athens. It exemplifies the eclectic architecture of the 19th century, while symbolizing the political function of the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Since 1849, W. T. Clark's suspension bridge has symbolized the reunification of Buda and Pest (which did not become official until 1873). With the Union of Pest and Buda in 1873, Budapest truly became the nation's capital, developing at a faster rhythm than earlier. The symbol of this development is the radial Andràssy Avenue. There had been no attempts at organized urban development since the Middle Ages, and the Hungarian capital needed to make up for this lack in a single great leap in terms of public services, transportation, and city planning. The route of the avenue cut straight through an unregulated suburban area, thereby radically transforming its urban structure. The Siemens and Halske companies built the first underground railway on the European continent there in 1893-96. This also led to the construction of a memorial on Heroes' Square (1894- 1906), the development and extension of the landscape garden, the development of the Szechenyi Baths as an establishment for spa culture, and the Vajdahunyad Castle that displayed the different periods of Hungarian architecture.

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ditk3 (postcrossing) sent from Budapest (Hungary) on 27.05.2014

184 BRAZIL - The City of Cianorte

Cianorte is a city in northwest Paraná, Brazil, with a population of 68,629, as measured by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics in 2009. The city was planned and founded by the Companhia Melhoramentos Norte do Paraná (Company for the Improvement of the North of Paraná), a British company for which it was also named. In the beginning of the 20th century the region was dominated by a subtropical forest and totally wild, except for the Road of Peabiru, used by the Portuguese to connect the Guaira region, further west, to the coast. That road was there since the 17th century, but reports registered that the first contact with the natives of the region, the Xetas, was in the 1930s. The Xetas, a group of three or four hundred, had their own language, and were early Iron Age in culture. The group vanished after they were contacted by the British in controversial and unexplained circumstances. In the 1940s the English company draw the city plan and split the region into very small farms. At this time, the city was redivided and part of the city and the areas around were sold to immigrants, mainly Italian-Brazilians and Japanese-Brazilians of second or third generation from São Paulo. Those immigrants were primarily poor ordinary workers in the huge coffee farms of São Paulo, and perceived the inexpensive land in Cianorte as their big opportunity in life. They built houses and schools, temples and business. The city become a municipality, which, under Brazilian laws, allows the area to extend its political structure.

The Municipio of Cianorte was created through the State Law no. 2.412 of July 26, 1955. Cianorte then had around 11.000 inhabitants, mostly in the country areas. The economy was based on coffee. A disastrous freeze in the winter of 1975, in which temperatures dropped below zero for the first time in recorded weather, destroyed the coffee plantations. Coffee trees take five years to begin producing, so the economy went through a terrible crisis. Population fell and businesses closed. The disaster transformed the city. People opened clothing factories and shops in their garages and back yards. By the time agriculture began to recover, some of the mini-factories had grown to medium sized companies, and the work force was already devoted to that. During the next decades some of those garage enterprises turned into huge factories that today sell clothes to the entire country, and export a significant portion to several countries. The shop owners from several states of Brazil visit Cianorte in the beginning of every season to buy, so hotels and restaurants were opened specially for them. Local agriculture is now significantly diversified—coffee is only 5% of the cropland now—and other farmers plant soy, sugar cane and corn. Beef and chicken are also produced in fairly big scale. With the factories and the agriculture doing very well, the city in the new millennium has attracted more and more immigrants from all over the country, and today the city population, business and infrastructure is increasing fast, turning Cianorte into the regional hub of that part of Ivai River Valley, which includes ten smaller cities.

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Davi Cesar Correia Jr (direct swap) sent from Cianorte (Brazil) on 30.12.2014

183 NETHETHERLANDS - Plane landing at night

I received this postcard without any information on the card, so I don't know where this is and what kind of plane this is.

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Kaatje Kaart (direct swap) sent from ? (Netherlands) on 13.07.2014

166 UNITED KINGDOM - Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City (UNESCO)

The city and port of Liverpool are exceptional testimony to the development of maritime mercantile culture in the 18th and 19th centuries, and played an important role in the growth of the British Empire. Liverpool is an outstanding example of a world mercantile port city, which represents the early development of global trading and cultural connections throughout the British Empire. The city was also a major centre generating innovative technologies and methods in dock construction and port management in the 18th and 19th centuries. Six areas in the historic centre and docklands of Liverpool bear witness to the development of one of the world's major trading centres in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on its harbour. The first ocean steamship left from Liverpool in 1840; from that date onwards the town became a fundamental link connecting Europe to America. It also became the major port for the mass movement of people: it was a centre for the slave trade until its abolition in 1807, and for emigration from northern Europe to America. Thousands of people from all over Europe gathered here to migrate to the New World. Liverpool was a pioneer in the development of modern dock technology, transport systems and port management. The listed sites feature a great number of significant commercial, civic and public buildings, including St George's Plateau. The view of Liverpool's waterfront was once very different from that of today. Where the world-famous riverside now stands was the tidal reach of the Mersey, merging with the Pool from which the town drew its name. The River Mersey is a tidal basin that flows into the Irish Sea and this geographical relationship was the foundation of its emergent overseas trade starting in the days of King John, who granted Liverpool its charter in 1207. The Pool was the safest mooring place for boats, and the borough council petitioned parliament to introduce legislation to build the first commercial wet dock in the world in 1715.

This development of the sea trade led inevitably to the expansion of associated trades such as sail-makers, blacksmiths, riggers and basket-makers. The growth of Liverpool continued dramatically in the 19th century: the population grew from 78,000 in 1801 to 685,000 by 1901. The borough council petitioned for Liverpool to be given city status, which it achieved in 1888, and by the early 20th century it was proclaimed the 'Second City of the Empire'. After the First World War, Liverpool experienced economic downturn, yet the city council continued to make improvements with the construction of the East Lancashire Road and the Mersey Queensway Tunnel, which in its time was the longest underwater tunnel in the world. Liverpool was bombed more heavily in the Second World War than any other provincial city in Europe and was almost completely devastated. During the war 1,000 convoys entered Liverpool and the city was the headquarters of the battle of the Atlantic from 1941. Post-war rebuilding took place and by the 1950s Liverpool was once again the second most important port in the empire in terms of the value of its imports and exports and the most important in terms of its passenger figures. In the late 20th century, after a prolonged period of unemployment and decline, the revival of the fortunes of the city lay in the redevelopment of its dock system. The Albert and Wapping Docks were restored as visitor attractions and a retail centre, and the installation of new dock gates at Canning facilitated the Tall Ships and Mersey River Festival in the 1980s and 1990s. It should not be forgotten also that Liverpool was the heart of a musical revolution during the 1960s.

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Binnington (UNESCO Forum) sent from Liverpool (UK, England) on 23.01.2014

144 USA - The City of Dallas

Dallas is the ninth-largest city in the United States and the third-largest city in the state of Texas. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position along numerous railroad lines. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat. However, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census Bureau, the city had a population of 1,197,816. The U.S. Census Bureau's estimate for the city's population increased to 1,241,162 as of 2012. The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county region. Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area had a population of 6,700,991 as of 2012. The metropolitan economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2012 real GDP of $420.34 billion. In 2013 the metropolitan area led the nation with the largest year-over-year increase in employment, and advanced to become the fourth-largest employment center in the nation (behind NYC, LA and Chicago) with more than three million non-farm jobs.

Dallas was founded in 1841 and formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea. It was developed because of construction of major railroad lines here; it became a hub in 1873. It was connected to Houston and other major cities that were railroad cities. It was booming by the late 19th and early 20th century, and was the world center of leather manufacture and harnessmaking. The interstate highway system in the 1950s and 1960s reinforced and consolidated Dallas' prominence. As with the railroads, east/west and north/south highways converged here. Four major interstate highways converge in the city, and a fifth interstate loops around it. Dallas developed a strong industrial and financial sector, and a major inland port, due largely to the presence of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. In the latest rankings released in 2013, Dallas was rated as a "beta plus" world city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network. Dallas is also ranked 14th in world rankings of GDP by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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Kevin Grimes (holiday card) sent from Pocatello (USA) on 02.01.2014

127 POLAND - National Stadium, Warsaw

The National Stadium is a retractable roof football stadium located in Warsaw, Poland. It is used mostly for football matches and it is the home stadium of Poland national football team. The stadium has a seating capacity of 58,145 which makes it the largest association football arena in Poland. Its construction started in 2008 and finished in November 2011. It is located on the site of the former 10th-Anniversary Stadium, on Aleja Zieleniecka in Praga Południe district, near the city center. The stadium has a retractable PVC roof which unfolds from a nest on a spire suspended above the centre of the pitch. The retractable roof is inspired by the cable-supported unfolding system of Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, Germany, and is also similar to the newly renovated roof of BC Place in Vancouver, Canada. The National Stadium hosted the opening match (a group match), the 2 group matches, a quarterfinal, and the semifinal of the UEFA Euro 2012, co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The stadium is equipped with a heated pitch, training pitch, façade lighting, and underground parking. It is a multipurpose venue able to host sporting events, concerts, cultural events, and conferences. The official stadium opening took place on 19 January 2012, and the first football match was played on 29 February 2012. The match between thePolish national football team and the Portuguese team ended with a 0-0 draw. The stadium will host the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League final.

The general contractor of the National Stadium was a German-Austrian-Polish consortium led by Alpine Bau and comprising Alpine Bau Deutschland, Alpine Construction Poland, PBG SA and Hydrobudowa Poland SA. The completion date was set for 24 months from the signing of the contract and the construction process involved approximately 1,200 employees. The stadium has a capacity of 58,145 seats for spectators during football matches and up to 72,900 during concerts and other events (including 106 sites for disabled people). The total volume of the stadium (without the roof) is more than 1,000,000 m² and the total area is 204,000 m². The retractable roof structure is 240 × 270 m and the central spire stands at a height of 124 metres above the River Vistula and 100 m above the pitch. The total length of the lower promenade is 924 meters. The stadium has the largest conference center in Warsaw with a capacity of 1600 people including 25,000 m² of commercial office space. Underground parking for 1765 cars is located beneath the pitch. The stadium contains restaurants, a fitness club, a pub, and 69 luxury skyboxes. The National Stadium is a multi-sports facility that allows for the organization of sporting events, concerts and cultural events. In addition, it will also serve as an office, market place, hotel, gastronomic point and have other uses. As a result, it is expected that about 2000 to 3000 people will visit the stadium every single day.

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Anna Szczepaniec (direct swap) sent from Kraków (Poland) on 04.01.2014

101 USA - Country Club Plaza in Kansas City at night

The Country Club Plaza (often referred to as The Plaza) is an American upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile. The 55-acre (223,000 m²) site is about four miles (6.44 km) south of downtown, between 45th and 51st streets to the north and south and between Broadway and Madison Street to the east and west. The Kansas state line is one mile (1.6 km) to the west. Established in 1922 by J. C. Nichols and designed architecturally after Seville, Spain, the Plaza comprises high-end retail establishments, restaurants, and entertainment venues, as well as offices. The neighborhoods surrounding the Plaza consist of apartment buildings and upscale houses, especially those of the Country Club District built along Ward Parkway on the Plaza's southern and southwestern side. The Country Club Plaza is named in the Project for Public Spaces' list 60 of the World's Great Places.

In 1925, a tradition began with a single strand of 16 colored lights placed above a doorway in the Country Club Plaza to celebrate Christmas. Through the years, the number of lights have increased annually. The first official Plaza Lighting Ceremony took place in 1930. On Thanksgiving night, tens of thousands of people visit the Country Club to enjoy the local entertainment/performances (including celebrities) and to watch the electric lights (including fireworks and concerts) to initiate the Christmas season. A special guest or celebrity "flips the switch" each year. In its 84th year (as of 2013), the Country Club Plaza's "Season of Lights" is a Kansas City winter trademark and one of the city's longest/oldest traditions. It's considered the most spectacular Christmas lighting display in the nation (The Plaza: Kansas City’s World Famous Shopping District). More than 80 miles of Christmas lights accentuate every dome, tower and window of the Plaza's Spanish-influenced entertainment district, featuring more than 150 shops and restaurants. The lights shine twenty-four hours a day into mid-January of the following year. The one to two-hour ceremony is free and broadcast live on location television station KCTV. A century-old tradition of Christmas lights and seasonal attractions also extends into neighboring Crown Center. The song "Christmas In Kansas City", sung by Brad Millison and recorded in 1982, received considerable airplay on KC radio (KUDL) during the holiday season. It expresses the sights-and-sounds of the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City during Christmastime.

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onepennyred (postcrossing) sent from Kansas City (USA) on 28.11.2013

097 INDONESIA - Cultural Landscpape of Bali Province (WHS)

A line of volcanoes dominate the landscape of Bali and have provided it with fertile soil which, combined with a wet tropical climate, make it an ideal place for crop cultivation. Water from the rivers has been channelled into canals to irrigate the land, allowing the cultivation of rice on both flat land and mountain terraces. Rice, the water that sustains it, and subak , the cooperative social system that controls the water, have together shaped the landscape over the past thousand years and are an integral part of religious life. Rice is seen as the gift of god, and the subak system is part of temple culture. Water from springs and canals flows through the temples and out onto the rice paddy fields.  Water temples are the focus of a cooperative management of water resource by a group of subaks . Since the 11th century the water temple networks have managed the ecology of rice terraces at the scale of whole watersheds. They provide a unique response to the challenge of supporting a dense population on a rugged volcanic island. The overall subak system exemplifies the Balinese philosophical principle of T ri Hita Karana that draws together the realms of the spirit, the human world and nature. Water temple rituals promote a harmonious relationship between people and their environment through the active engagement of people with ritual concepts that emphasise dependence on the life-sustaining forces of the natural world.

In total Bali has about 1,200 water collectives and between 50 and 400 farmers manage the water supply from one source of water. The property consists of five sites that exemplify the interconnected natural, religious, and cultural components of the  traditional su b ak system, where the subak system is still fully functioning, where farmers still grow traditional Balinese rice without the aid of fertilisers or pesticides, and where the landscapes overall are seen to have sacred connotations. The sites are the Supreme Water Temple of Pura Ulun Danu Batur on the edge of Lake Batur whose crater lake is regarded as the ultimate origin of every spring and river, the Subak Landscape of the Pakerisan Watershed the oldest known irrigation system in Bali, the Subak Landscape of Catur Angga Batukaru with terraces mentioned in a 10th century inscription making them amongst the oldest in Bali and prime examples of Classical Balinese temple architecture, and the Royal Water temple of Pura Taman Ayun, the largest and most architecturally distinguished regional water temple, exemplifying the fullest expansion of the subak system under the largest Balinese kingdom of the 19th century.

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Wulan Maulina (direct swap) sent from Gunung Putri (Indonesia) on 17.10.2013

081 TAIWAN - Taipei 101

Taipei 101, formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Republic of China (ROC). The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded LEED Platinum certification, the highest award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and became the tallest and largest green building in the world. Taipei 101 was designed byC.Y. Lee & partners and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture. The construction was finished in 2004. The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year's Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature and international media. Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. The building was architecturally created as a symbol of the evolution of technology and Asian tradition. Its postmodernist approach to style incorporates traditional design elements and gives them modern treatments. The tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. A multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of fashionable stores, restaurants and clubs. Taipei 101 is owned by the TFCC and managed by the International division of Urban Retail Properties Corporation based in Chicago. The name originally planned for the building, Taipei World Financial Center, until 2003, was derived from the name of the owner. The original name in Chinese was literally, Taipei International Financial Center.

The Taipei 101 tower has 101 stories above ground and five underground. Upon its completion Taipei 101 claimed the official records for:

• Ground to highest architectural structure (spire): 508 m (1,667 ft). Previously held by the Petronas Towers 451.9 m (1,483 ft).
• Ground to roof: 449.2 m (1,474 ft). Formerly held by the Willis Tower 442 m (1,450 ft).
• Ground to highest occupied floor: 438 m (1,437 ft). Formerly held by the Willis Tower 412.4 m (1,353 ft).
• Fastest ascending elevator speed: designed to be 1,010 meters per minute, which is 16.83 m/s (55.22 ft/s) (60.6 kilometres per hour (37.7 mph)).
• Largest countdown clock: Displayed on New Year's Eve.
• Tallest sundia

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amychen (postcrossing) sent from Taichung City (Taiwan) on 04.08.2013.

035 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Dubai

Dubai is a city located in the United Arab Emirates. The emirate of Dubai is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is one of the seven emirates that make up the country. It has the largest population in the UAE and the second-largest land terriotory after Abu Dhabi. The earliest mention of Dubai is in 1095 AD and the earliest recorded settlement in the region dates from 1799. The Seikhdom of Dubai was formally established in 1833 by Sheikh Maktoum bin Butti Al-Maktoum when he persuaded around 800 members of his tribe of the Bani Yas, living in what was then the Second Saudi State and now part of Saudi-Arabia. Today, Dubai has emerged as a cosmopolitan metropolis that has grown steadily to become a global city and a business and cultural hub of the Middle East and the Persian Guld Region.

Atlantis is a resort located on Dubai's reclaimed artificial island The Palm. It was the first resort to be built on the island and is based on the myth of Atlantis includes distinct Arabian elements. The resort opened in September 2008. The hotel has 23 floors and 1539 rooms. Burj Al Arab is a luxury hotel in Dubai. At 321 m, it is the fourth tallest hotel in the world, however 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space. Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 m from Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to mimic the sail of a ship. Sometimes referred to as "the world's only 7-star hotel", its star rating is disputed. Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper and the tallest man-made structure in the world, at 829,8 m. Constructions began on 21 September 2004 with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010 and is part of the new 490 acre development called Downtown Dubai.

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Nastya (postcrossing) sent from Dubai (UAE) on 30.03.2013

032 USA - Night View of Portland

Portland is a city located in the U.S. state of Oregon, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, estimated to have reached 587,865 in 2012, making it the 28th most populous city in the United States. Portland is Oregon's most populous city and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region after Seattle and Vancouver. Approximately 2,289,800 people live in the Portland metroploian area, the 19th most populous metropolian area in the USA. Portland was incorporated in 1851 near the end of the Oregon Trail and is the county seat of Multnomah County. The city has a commission-based government headed by a mayor and four other commissioners as a well as Metro, a distinctive regional government. Because of its public transportation networks and efficient land-use planning, Portland has been referred to as one of the most environmetally friendly or "green" cities in the world.

Located in the Marine west coast climate region, Portland has a climate marked by both warm, dry summers and wet, cool-to-chilly winter days. The climate is ideal for growing roses. For more than a century, Portland has been known as the "City of Roses" with many rose gardens - most prominently the International Rose Test Garden. The city is also known for its abundant outdoor activities, liberal political values and beer and coffee enthusiasm.

About the sender

Megan (postcrossing) sent from Portland (USA) on 30. 08.2013

004 ITALY - Mount Etna (WHS)

As one of the world’s most active and iconic volcanoes, and also as an outstanding example of ongoing geological processes and volcanic landforms, Mount Etna was one of the 19 sites added to the World Heritage List this year.

Located in the North-Western part of the Italian island Sicily, Mount Etna is the tallest activ volcano in Europe (3323 meters). The eruptive history of the volcano can be tracked back 500.000 years and at least 2.700 years of this activity have been documented. The almost continuous eruptive activity of Mount Etna continues to influence volcanology, geophysics and other Earth science disciplines. The volcano also supports important terrestrial ecosystems including endemic flora and fauna and its activity makes it a natural laboratory for the study of ecological and biological processes.

Mount Etna errupted 20.02.2013 the last time and is still an activ volcano which can errupt every possible minute, but the people aren't in danger, because geologists can tell when the Etna errupts next time.

About the stamp

Politecnico di Milano for the 150th birthday of this university (0,70€).

About the sender

Daniele Pennisi (Direct Swap) sent from Zafferana Etnea (Italy) on 24.08.2013