Sunday stamps: Winter sports

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Winter sports'.

In the Netherlands there are no mountains, so it won't be a surprise that I don't have Dutch stamps about skiing.
On my turn I was surprised to receive a postcard from Portugal - not to receive the card itself, as Alvin and I send each other a postcard every now and then, but by the stamp he added to the back side, as I didn't link Portugal with winter sports, until now:



Nevertheless there are several Dutch people who go to mountains to ski in winter, too.
But the typical and most popular Dutch winter sport - which I used to practise in my childhood only - is ice skating.

Dutch Post has issued not one, but as far as I know at least eight stamps linked to this type of sport.

This one is from a definitive stamp sheet. The type of skate is 'Friese (Frisian) doorloper', a skate made out of wood, bound to the shoe, with one iron under it.



For speed skating the 'Noren' ('Norwegians') are more suitable. As you can see on this December stamp issued last year, the iron under this type of skate is longer and straight at the front side:



In contrary to skates used for dancing on ice (figure skating) and for ice hockey.
See this december stamp issued in 2014:



To improve the speed at speed skating, the 'klapschaats' ('clap skate') was invented in 1980 in the Netherlands. The idea already existed in the 19th century, according to a patent application in 1894.
Dutch Post has issued a stamp sheet on Dutch inventions in 2007, one of the stamps is this clap skate stamp:



Now some stamps showing skating people / personalities.
This famous one you will know. The stamp has been issued in 2010 as a December stamp, for the 60th anniversary of Snoopy:



This is a 3D stamp - scanned not as nice as in real as the image 'moves' when you move the stamp. It shows Yvonne van Gennip, a famous Dutch speed skater:



The stamp was issued together with a stamp of Ducth skate legend Ard Schenk. I don't have that one, but you can find it on the internet, see this picture.

Last but not least a stamp issued in honour or Reinier Paping. He won the so-called Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour) in 1963, which was a horrible tour at that time:



Each winter all people from Friesland (Fryslan, a province in the north east of the Netherlands) and West-Friesland (a part of the province Noord-Holland in the west of our country) and some other skate lovers, wonder if the winter will be cold enough to skate on natural ice and, more important, for the Elfstedentocht to take place. Most years it wasn't. For the ones who are curious about this 200 kms long tour skate happening, see for example wikipedia about Elfstedentocht and the official Elfstedentocht website.

See more stamps on Winter sports at and via this Sunday's Sunday Stamps!

In: from Portugal

Na de ansichtkaart van het vliegveld was ik de blije ontvanger van nog eens vier kaarten van de Azoren! Met mooie natuur. Boven zie je de Priôlo (Pyrrhula murina), eronder Scopoli's pijlstormvogel en nog nèt een staartje walvis.

After the Airport postcard I was happy to receive four more postcards from the Azores! With beautiful nature. Above you see the 'Priôlo' (Pyrrhula murina, also known as Azores Bullfinch), and below a Shearwater bird (Calonectris diomedea borealis), and the tail of a whale.



Hierboven het bijzondere 'maanlandschap' van Capelinhos. Die ene berg is best nieuw voor een berg! In 1957-1958 ontstaan dankzij een langdurige vulkaanuitbarsting. Hierdoor kreeg de vuurtoren, die eerst aan zee stond, ineens uitzicht op een berg...

Hieronder mooie postzegels, onder andere van de componist Verdi en... Een postauto!

Ontzettend bedankt, Eva!

Above the amazing 'moon landscape' of Capelinhos. The mountain is rather new, it's a volcano, which was 'born' in 1957-1958 by a long lasting volcano eruption.
Poor lighthouse: first it was close to sea (as usual), and since 1958 the lighthouse has no sea view anymore but a mountain view!...
(Eva: I saw some more volcano pictures here!)

Below you see beautiful stamps, among them one of the composer Verdi, and one of a... post car!

Thank you very, very, very much, Eva!

In: from Portugal

Hoera, weer een vliegveld! Gelegen op het eiland São Miguel (Azoren, Portugal) bij de hoofdstad Ponta Delgada. Met op de achterkant mooie postzegels van twee andere favoriete onderwerpen: openbaar vervoer en cartooneseke illustraties. Dankjewel, Eva!

I'm happy to receive another airport postcard! This one is located close to Ponta Delgada, the capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, on the island São Miguel. I also like the postage stamps a lot, they show two other favourite subjects: public transport and cartoons/illustrations. Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

In: My first lighthouse!

Verschillende mensen verzamelen vuurtoren-ansichtkaarten. Dit keer ben ik de gelukkige ontvanger. Wie weet: de start van een nieuwe verzameling?!
Rechts is-ie te zien, de vuurtoren van Kaap Sint Vincentius, op deze mooie kaart van Eva, verstuurd uit Portugal.
Ik was aangenaam verrast toen ik de volgende dag de linker kaart ontving, via Postcrossing uit Taiwan. Zoveel overeenkomsten! Reusachtige rotsen, een wijde zee, zwart kader, tekst onder de foto's... Dank!

Several people are collecting postcards of lighthouses. This time I am the lucky receiver, maybe it's a start of my lighthouse collection!?
You can see it on the right, the lighthouse of Cabo São Vicente, on this beautiful postcard sent from Portugal by Eva.
Amazing similarities I see between Eva's card (received 8th of March) and the card on the left which I received one day later via Postcrossing, showing a rock at Heren Beach in Hualien County, Taiwan.
Giant rocks, a wide sea, a black frame, text under the picture... Thanks to the both of you!



Update 19-3-2013: Ik was vergeten deze prachtige postzegels - uit Portugal en uit Taiwan - erbij te plaatsen. Bij deze, hierboven, dus! En leuk, zo'n sticker die ons leert hoe de Taiwanese brievenbussen eruit zien.
Tot slot nog interessant om te weten dat de Kaap Sint Vincent het meest westelijke punt van het Europese vasteland is!

Update 19-3-2013: I had forgotten to add these beautiful postage and cancelling stamps - from Portugal and Taiwan - so here you are!
From the sticker we can learn how Taiwanese mailboxes look like.
Finally an interesting fact: this card which Eva sent me from Cape Saint Vincent, shows the most western place in the European continent!

In: from Portugal

Ontvangen vanuit Portugal, deze fraaie kaart waarop je kunt zien hoe divers ooievaars gehuisvest zijn (en toch hebben ze allemaal eenzelfde soort nest!). Dankjewel, Eva!

Received from Portugal, this beautiful postcard which shows that storks are living in diverse ways (however their nest always is similar!).
Thank you very much, Eva!