Agadir

My only postcard from Morocco so far :)
My friend went on vacation with his family here to a tourist resort in the coastal region, they visited Marrakesh, Casablanca and Gibraltar as well.

From: P. M.

Date: September 2010

The City That Never Sleeps

Skyline of NYC: the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building

This is my first postcard from the city of cities! :) My friend spent the whole summer in New York, working.
New York is absolutely my dream destination, I wish to come here, I'm just waiting for the time... :)
If I manage, first of all, I"M going to visit the Museum of Modern Art, where all my favourite artist has at least a piece of work there. 

This is one of my favourite postcards!

From: S. O.

Date: August 2010

Bologna

Bologna is the center of the region Emilia-Romagna and the home of the oldest university in the world, established in 1088.
These porticoes have a romantic atmosphere, makes the true Italian-feeling inside my heart :)

From: M. H.

Date: August 2010

Keszthely

The Festetics Palace

Keszthely is a city at the Western Bay of Balaton. It is famous for the Festetics Palace, an elegant Baroque style building from the 18th century. Kristóf Festetics was the commissioner of the construction in 1745. An additional part for the library was built by György Festetics between 1799-1801, it is called the Helikon Library.

From: P. M.

Date: August 2010

Balatonkenese

Balatonkenese is a town at the Eastern bay of Balaton. The godmother of my sister spends summers here and she sent us this postcard.

From: Sz. M.

Date: July 2010

Venice again

One of my best friend and one of her friends travelled to Italy together and they brought me this postcard with funny stories and drawings :D By the way, the photo is pretty.

From: R. J.

Date: July 2010

Piazza Navona

The beautiful Piazza Navona in Rome :)

From: S. Zs.

Date: May 2010

Colourful Munich

One of my best friends brought me this postcard upon her visit to the city. She would later move to Munich for some months with her boyfriend.

From: H. Á.

Date: April 2010

Piccioni dappertutto

Piazza San Marco of Venice

The very typical scene of Venice: thousands of pigeons in the Saint Mark's Square. It could be a picture of my first memory of Venice: I was running through a huge flock of pigeons and they were flying away.

From: H. J.

Date: 2010

Exotic

Jaguar Attacking a Horse by Henri Rousseau (1910)

Henri Rousseau is one of my favourite painters. I love his paintings of exotic jungles and deserts.

From January to May in 2010 there was an exhibition in the Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest) titled Degas to Picasso. The paintings were loans from the Pushkin Museum of Moscow. This picture was also on show.

Date: 2010

San Francisco

This postcard is from a friend who lives in Millbrae, California.
San Francisco is absolutely a dream destionation if I manage once to travel to the United States. I can't put off my art historian aims, I wish to see the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art :) And of course, to watch the sun setting by the Golden Gate Bridge!

From: C. D.

Date: 2010

The face of the wizard

The Lutheran Church of Siófok

This church has an important place in my heart. During my childhood summers I was amazed by it's forms and all the time I looked at the façade I pictured a face of a wizard (and the roof is it's pointy hat).
The church was designed by Imre Makovecz, a pioneer in organic architecture in Hungary. He designed many other churches and among others, the building complex of my university, the Faculty of Humanities of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Piliscsaba.
The construction had been finished in 1990 and the church was consecrated in 1992.
In the summer of 2012, my father and I attended a Sunday mass in the church and had the opportunity to speak with the pastor of the community. He explained us the symbolism of the forms of the building: the eye-shaped windows represent the eyes of God, the wings are wings of angels. The curved wooden lines starts on the sides of the gate and go up to the windows refers to the pastoral cane (Pastor Bonus - Good Sheperd). Below the cross on the top is an ornament that symbolizes the Tree of Life and the cross of Christ. The façade is orientated to the lake Balaton and the shape of the nave recalls the form of an arc, that one of Noah's.

I got this postcard when I spent my internship in a gallery and there was the photo exhibition of the buildings of Imre Makovecz. He also attended the exhibition opening so I could meet and speak with him. Makovecz died in the following year.
The photo was took by the photographer Gábor Máté.

Date: November 2010

Pécs Aktuál

Pécs is a southwestern city in Hungary, the administrative center of Baranya county. It has many historical sites, including the architectural remains of the Turkish reign. The early Christian necropolis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The world famous designer and member of the Bauhaus, Marcel Breuer is from Pécs.
In 2010 the city earned the title of European Capital of Culture and to this event, many restorations and constructions took place in Pécs. One noteworthy construction was the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter where the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufacture can be found.

From: T. A.

Date: 2010

The Wall

This is one of my favourite postcard in my collection. My friend was in Berlin for a couple of days and she brought me this card with a piece of the Berlin Wall in it. What a coincidence that it was the 25th anniversary in November of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

From: T. A.

Date: July 2009

A trip to Paris

In March - April 2010 we spent with my friends a great vacation in Paris. We visited one our best friend who moved to the city. Paris is is really what it is, enchanting, exciting, beautiful. My friend lived in a cute little flat near to the Montparnasse Cemetery. We climbed the Eiffel Tower, been to the Louvre twice, to the Centre Pompidou (there was a Gender Art exhibition at that time), Notre Dame, Sacré-Cœur, Arc de Triomphe, I liked a lot the Défense and its modern arch, we travelled to Versailles, All we missed was the Musée d'Orsay 'cause it started to rain heavily when we were standing in the queue. It breaks my heart, but I have the perfect reason to return :)

Regarding the postcards: I prefer the black and white ones to the sepia series, but the photos are all very good quality.

Date: 26 March - 5 April 2010

Chihuahua scares

This is a very funny postcard. One of my best friends sent me from Paris when she moved there.
Her text perfectly harmonizes with the humorous sense of the picture :)
We visited her few weeks later.

From: S. O.

Date: March 2010

Stockholm

My friend spent her vacation in Stockolm. I remember they had accomodation in a hotel that was a prison before, a must to see! 

Nice reflections ^_^ 

From: T. A.
Date: August 2010

Guangzhou Tower

The Guangzhou Tower

I like this graphic art of the tower. The glittery red writing makes a good contrast with the grey drawing :)

From: Postcrossing direct swap
Date: 14 November 2014

The Most Famous Temples

A lovely card from Egypt, I like this compilation, it's pleasure to take a look on this postcard :)

From: S. Zs.

Date: November 2009

Visegrád

The Salamon tower

Visegrád is a historical place situated north to Budapest in the Danube Bend. It had military importance in the medieval times as a castle and fortification. It is a popular tourist destination among Hungarians, 'cause you can take a walk in the nature, study some history and not to mention the breathtaking view to the Danube and the whole landscape.

From: T. A.

Date: August 2009

San Pietro and the popes

During our Roman vacation we walked through the endless collection of the Musei Vaticani that can be compared in largeness only with the Louvre.

Date: July 2009

Louvre

The Louvre and the glass pyramid

The Glass Pyramid is a modern contrast to the historical grand palace of the Louvre. It was designed by I. M. Pei, a Chinese-American architect. The big pyramid, which serves as the entrance to the museum is surrounded by three smaller pyramids. The construction was completed in 1989.

From: T. A.

Date: July 2009

Füred

If you have already read my post about Siófok, than I don't have to introduce lake Balaton. 

Balatonfüred is the 'capital city' of the northern shore. There is a big opposition between Füred and Siófok, 'cause Füred mocks at Siófok for being such a 'Jersey shore style' city and Siófok strikes back that Füred is expensive, it's the city of the bourgeois and there's not even a good beach there 'cause the water level is high.

In fact, Füred is a more cultural place, has the tradition of wine festivals, concerts, events and the many elegant villas built in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The most notables are the resort house of actress Lujza Blaha, and the resort house of writer Mór Jókai. One of the most important rehabilitation institutes of the country, the Hospital of Cardiology is in Füred.
The port opens a mesmerizing view to the lake.

From: P. M.

Date: August 2009

Vacation in Rome

We went on a five day-long vacation to Rome with my then boyfriend in July 2009. I proposed to go there 'cause he had never been before. We walked everywhere in the city during the day and enjoyed the nights in the piazzas of city. It was damn hot that week, I think 40 degrees, I was dying.

We have friends in Rome and they invited us to dinners which were fabulous, one in a hidden restaurant called 'The Fox's Den' (Tana della Volpe) and once in their home.

Since then, I miss Rome and I feel the urge to travel there. I know I'm going to return soon :)

Il Colosseo

Forum Romanum

Castel Sant'Angelo

Piazza di Spagna

Fontana di Trevi

Monumento Vittorio Emanuelle II

Date: July 2009

München

The Munich City Hall

Munich is the capital of Bavaria, the southern state of Germany. 

It's relatively close to my country, easily approachable by car, so it's a popular destination among Hungarians.

From: S. Zs.

Date: 2009

A greeting from Halmstad

Translation: A greeting from Halmstad

Halmstad is a city on the western coast of Sweden. 

I like this postcard 'cause it's as cheerful and it remembers me to my friend who brought it :)

From: M. B.
Date: April 2009

Firenze

The Duomo

Florence is another Italian city that is a must to visit. I've been there when I was 8 years old, but I wish to return to see it again through the eyes now of an art historian.

During the history of Italy, it was always the second most important city after Rome. It's a bit complicated since Italy never existed as a whole before the unification in 1861.

Firenze was an autonomous city-state, a political and cultural center.

Many world-famous artists lived and/or worked here such as Giotto, Donatello, Leonardo or Michelangelo. 

Modern Italian language originates from Florence thanks to Dante's Divine Comedy.

The cathedral (duomo in Italian) is a magnificent symbol of the city.
The construction started under the supervision of Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296 but it lasted for more than a century and later it became one with the name of Filippo Brunnelleschi the architect who managed to finish the construction in 1436. Brunnelleschi solved the problem of structuring the enormous dome to support its height. The duomo is the perfect example of the Renessaince architecture.

From: T. A.
Date: June 2008

Back to Prague

My favourite, the Astronomical Clock

Another nice view of the Charles Bridge and the Castle

The Wenceslas Square and the National Museum

Date: June - July 2008

Treasures from Karlovy Vary

In the summer of 2008, we made a 'farewell-trip' with our high school class to Czech Republic: we visited Mariánské Lázně (there is a 'singing fountain'), Karlovy Vary and Prague.

Karlovy Vary is the hometown of the famous Czech liqueur, the Becherovka. It's a digestive with a taste like a mix of ginger and cinnamon - we agreed with all my friends that it tastes like Christmas. Everyone has experiences during their teens with Becherovka. It has been produced since 1807.

So, the original factory is in Karlovy Vary, a spa town situated in the Western part of the country. The town is the venue of the eponym Film Festival, at the time we visited, they were prepairing the site of the festival. 

The Becherovka factory has a museum. where we went on a tour to know how the gingerbread liqueur is produced. At the end of the tour, you can taste different types of Becherovka. We had the original, another one called Aperitiv KV 14 and the Cordial. The second one, I didn't like, 'cause it was so bitter for me I couldn't enjoy at all. The KV 14 signifies Karlovy Vary and its fourteen springs. But the Cordial. The Cordial was fabolous. It had a taste like honey. I loved it. Since then, I regret not buying any bottle 'cause it's impossible to buy, actually I don't understand why they don't sell this type on market.  

I bought these lovely cards in the museum, they are old commercial posters of Becherovka.

The original Becherovka of Karlovy Vary
since 1807
the best digestive liqueur

Karlovy Vary is Karlsbad in German

Date: June - July 2008

Nei Pori

Palace of Rhodes

Even though, it's overly photoshopped, I like the vivid colours of this postcard.

It gives back the atmosphere of this small coastal village where my friend went to spend her vacations.

From: R. J.
Date: October 2007