461 - Cap Corse Wine Bottles

Card no 461 – Martine 

Cap Corse wines 

Country Card Sent From: France 

Place that Card Sender Lives: Piedigriggio, Corsica 

Date Received: 30th March 2013 

Distance Travelled: 942 miles 

Time Taken: 5 days 

My much-loved Corsican friend, Martine, sent me these to toast my health but suggested I didn’t drink them all at once! LOL. This was reinforced by a message printed on the card that ‘ Un abus d’alcool est dangereux pour la sante’ (Abuse of alcohol is dangerous for health). I wonder if they are required by law to put that on as the card could be considered to be advertising! What a strange world we live in. Cap Corse Wines have been in existence since 1872 when Louis Napoleon Mattei, a modest wine merchant, invented an aperitif with quinine in it to combat fevers.

The stamp celebrates the fact Marseilles is the European Capital of Culture 2013.

The art of Jose Lorenzi

Card no 386 -  Martine

Oil painting by Jose Lorenzi

Country: France

Place: Corsica

Received: 5^th February 2013

Distance:   942 miles

Travelled for:  4 days

From his childhood memories of the windswept Cap Corse, the painter José Lorenzi remembered the intense blue as a symbol of the fierce light of the Mediterranean summer. He started painting marine watercolours at six years old and now his paintings can be found in collections throughout the world. 

In Bastia, in its José Lorenzi Gallery, there is a permanent exhibition of paintings where he sometimes receives his friends and loyal supporters.

In 2008 Liverpool was the European Capital of Culture.  In 2013 it is the turn of Marseilles as shown on this stamp.

 

Bulgaria

 Card no 357 – Martine

This card is in the shape of the country – how ‘cool’ is that?  (Is cool still an acceptable word or does it really date me?)

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artefacts in the world.

The population of 7.36 million people is predominantly urban and mainly concentrated in the administrative centres of its 28 provinces. Most commercial and cultural activities are concentrated in the capital Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are heavy industry, power engineering and agriculture, all relying on local natural resources. The current political structure dates to the adoption of a democratic constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a unitary parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative and economic centralisation. It is a member of the European Union, NATO and the Council of Europe.

Card no 358 - Martine

This is the Ivan Vazov National Theatre - Bulgaria's national theatre, as well as the oldest and most authoritative theatre in the country and one of the important landmarks of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It is located in the centre of the city, with the facade facing the City Garden.

Founded in 1904 by the artists from the Salza i Smyah company, it was initially called simply the National Theatre, but before being named after the prominent writer Ivan Vazov it also bore the name of Krastyu Sarafov between 1952 and 1962. The theatre's Neoclassical building, designed by famous Viennese theatre architects Hermann Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner, was finished in 1906 and opened on 3 January 1907. It was extensively damaged by a fire in 1923 during an anniversary celebration, but was reconstructed in 1929.

Corsica encore

Card no 356 - Martine

Another wonderful map card of Corsica from my friend Martine. 

Peace and Health from Corsica

Card no 337 - Martine

A greeting (in Italian) from the French island of Corsica.

I'd rather be reading

Card no 334 - Martine

How often during the day do I feel like this.   A card definitely to be scanned in, printed off and put on my notice board.

Food, Glorious Food

A novel approach to looking at the difference between Paris and New York, sent from Canada!

 Card no 301a- Louise

Croque-Monsieur is a speciality of Paris – a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  A hot dog is a sausage served in a sliced bun. It is often garnished with mustard.

 

 Card no 274 - Martine

Canistrelli are biscuits - a speciality of Corsica.  Here is the recipe.

And here is another Corsican recipe.

 Card no 275 - Martine

 These are doughnuts filled with a local, soft sheep's cheese - brocciu.

And here are some local specialities from S W Germany

Card no 104 - Kai-Eric

This picture of a cup of coffee and a bun is from the Helsinki Hotel and Restaurant Museum.

Card no 196 - Lisa

Corsica - île de beauté

According to Martine, Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea is one of the most beautiful islands in the world – and she should know, she lives there.

 Postcard - 188

Although the island is separated from the European continental mainland by the Ligurian Sea and is closer to Italy than to the French mainland, politically Corsica is part of Metropolitan France.

Corsica is one of the 27 régions of France, although it is designated as a territorial collectivity (collectivité territoriale) by law. As a territorial collectivity, it enjoys some greater powers than other French régions. 

 Postcard - 251

Mountains represent two thirds of the island and form a single chain, 183 kilometres long and 83 kilometres wide. Monte Cinto as the highest peak at 2,706 metres (8,878 ft) and 20 other summits of more than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft).

The French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio.  The northern town of Calvi is believed to be the birthplace of the explorer Christopher Columbus.

This statue in Corte is of Pasquale Paoli (1725 –1807), a Corsican patriot and leader who designed and wrote the constitution of the state.  The photo looks to have been taken on some sort of children's outing (note the supervising adult in the background)!

 Postcard - 226

The Corsican  Republic was a democracy asserting that the elected Diet of Corsican representatives had no master. Paoli held his office by election and not by appointment. It made him commander-in-chief of the armed forces as well as chief magistrate.

Paoli's government claimed the same jurisdiction as the Republic of Genoa. In terms of de facto exercise of power, the Genoese held the coastal cities, which they could defend from their citadels, but the Corsican republic controlled the rest of the island from Corte, its capital.

In 1768 the French conquered Corsica and Paoli oversaw the Corsican resistance before being  forced into exile in Britain where he was a celebrated figure. He returned and helped to create the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom which lasted between 1794 and 1796. After the island was re-occupied by France he again went into exile in Britain where he died in 1807.

The wonderful Martine has also kindly sent me map cards of some of the regions of mainland France and I shall aim to blog those (eventually – blogging cards is a slow business).