far away lands

I fell in love with Norway while watching the 1994 Olympics 

I'm pretty sure I could miss out on this experience at Preiskestolen.  I would be happy to be on a boat cruising Lysefjord and looking UP at the 604 metre cliff.

However, I would not want to miss out seeing a Stave.  How would a 900 year old wood church smell, I wonder? 

I don't know what triggered my fascination with Japan, but it would be my top dream destination if I could choose anywhere in the world.  I would prefer to be with someone who was Japanese and could translate and explain...

It helps that I love the food - sushi, sashimi, ramen... not to mention  over 300 flavours of Kit Kat!

I wish I had a more modern card of this exclusive and expensive shopping street. Not sure I could afford much anyway, which would make me less interested. 

  I would maybe last an afternoon before wanting to escape.  I would be much more interested in the train journeys and the shrines and temples.

The Kumano Nachi Shrine and a waterfall! (Nachi-no-Otaki, the tallest in Japan)

Izumo Taisha Shrine

Hong Kong was never really on my radar as a place I'd want to visit, it was just a place I'd heard of.  Then, with all the attention during the time of the handover, it became more interesting.

 the stunning vistas from the harbour and the mountains.  The city is densely packed with people and skyscrapers, but also with parks and gardens (over 1,600 covering more than 40% of the land area!)

'the second coolest street in the world'

This is more interesting shopping

pyramid

This ancient mosque with a pyramid shaped minaret sits atop a hill in the city of Ghardaia. It is thought to be the first building in the Ghardaia Palace, built around 1048. The smaller six metre minaret is the older one with the larger 23 metre minaret being built in the 16th C.

mosque-cathedral

 

The Grand Mosque was built in 784 by the Emir of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman I. In 1236 it became a Roman Catholic church

cave monastery

 

The Assumption Monastery of the Caves,

A cave monastery carved out of a cliff in Crimea from the 15th C

something I think I should have known (but have forgotten?) is that a cave dweller is called a troglodyte.

tiles

 

St Mark's Church, Zagreb  first built in the 13th century but radically reconstructed over the centuries. The roof tiles with the coat of arms of Zagreb and the kingdoms of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia are particularly eye-catching.

houses of god

First up is a wooden church built in 1765. The Lutheran church is popular for summer weddings

 

Next is this Catholic Cathedral of Djibouti built in the 1965.  

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Good Shepherd  1969

 

Going way back in time, the Benedictine Affligem Abbey  was dedicated in 1086

three very different styles of houses of worship through the ages for Sunday Stamps

soaring

Soaring high to see

 

the spires of Brno

 

 

 

 

and the wildlife of the forest

 

 

two monochrome stamps, coincidentally in the same colour, for Sunday Stamps

red roof

Red roofs aren't such a common thing to see here in Canada and I always find them so striking. This small, single nave, medieval church had a new roof within the last 15 years. St Catharine's Church in Karja. Built probably in the late 13th C or early 14th C.

Sunday Stamps - the colour red

the miracle worker

Officially known as Church of St Nicholas the Miracle Worker, the Russian Church was built on the site of a mosque which was destroyed in 1882 after the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottomans by the Russians. The five domes are coated in gold and the bells were donated by Emperor Nicholas II. No word if he ever worshiped there.

wooden gem

Considered one of the most beautiful wooden churches from southern Poland.

A roof detail of Saints Philip and James Church in Sekowa.  Built around 1520 from larch wood, it was extended in the 13th C with a spire and veranda. During 1914-15 some of the wood from the altar was used for trenches and firewood. There was some reconstruction done in 1918 and again in 1948 after the second world war ended. 

for Sunday Stamps - places of worship

little church

A peaceful country oasis in the middle of Manhattan.

Officially it is the Church of the Transfiguration (Episcopal), Built in 1849.

When actors were considered outcasts, a neighbouring church refused to officiate funeral services and suggested that "there is a little church around the corner where they do that sort of thing" and it has since had a longstanding association with the theatre.

Sunday Stamps - churches

Pretty in Pink

Die Kirche Maria Kirchental (1701) in St Martin bei Lofer, about an hour north of Salzburg. It is a popular destination for pilgrims as well as hikers where it is often a starting point for tours up the Lofer Mountains.

black gold

Famed for its Baroque Portuguese Colonial architecture, Ouro Preto is a World Heritage Site.

It was the focal point of the gold rush during Portuguese rule in Brazil.

frauenkirche

It has been said that the dome had been hit by more than 100 cannonballs during the Seven Years' War and survived. However, it did not survive the bombings of 1945. The ruins were left as a memorial until reunification when it was rebuilt. The reconstruction of the exterior was completed in 2004 and the interior in 2005.

black domes

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Tallinn's largest and grandest orthodox cupola cathedral. Built in Russian Revival style between 1894-1900, it was meticulously restored after Estonia gained independence in 1991.

Does anyone know why the domes are black??

Kazan

Kul Sharif Mosque

Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. It celebrated its millennium in 2005, which was also when this mosque was built.

painted monastery

A 16th century Eastern Orthodox monastery in Sucevita, Romania, with murals painted both inside and outside. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the Painted Churches of Moldova.

cathedral and bell tower

The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus, built in the centre of Vilnius, consecrated in 1793.

Sunday Stamps - O

2010, Austria, Churches
designer: Helga Herger

This Evangelical Church was first mentioned in documents in 927 and is thought to have been built in 888 for the visit of Arnulf of Carinthia, making it one of the oldest churches in Austria. It has been preserved in its original form with several Roman reliefs and inscription stones as well as remains of 13thC Romanesque murals.

for the letter O - Osterreich

Sunday Stamps II - C

2016, Russia, commemorative, joint issue

Russia and Slovenia issued this stamp to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Russian Chapel below Vrsic. In 1915, a Prisoner of War camp was opened near the present borders of Slovenia, Austria and Italy. Most of the POWs were Russian soldiers who were given the job of building a road across the Vrsic Pass. On March 12, 1916 a group of prisoners were clearing the road of snow when an avalanche killed more than 500 people. Local Slovenians buried the dead in a mass grave and to honour them, the remaining prisoners built a small wooden chapel at the site.

for the letter C - chapel, commemorative, centenary,