4 postcards to conclude the school year!

Summer holidays start today and this means the end of classes and of our activity for this academic year. We would like to express our special thanks to the students and teachers who have taken part in this project; it’s been so exciting to send postcards to so many different countries and read all the interesting information you’ve shared about Ourense and the destination/origin of the different cards!

We’ve received 58 cards and have sent 48 so far, which makes a total of 106 travelling postcards! Postcrossing at Padre Feijoo-Zorelle has been a huge success and we look forward to sending more cards in September, when we come back from summer holidays.

Please, keep posting your comments on your favourite entries, this last one includes the last four postcards with which we conclude this school year:

Stop 45: Sastamala, Finland

Stop 46: Neumüster, Germany

Stop 47: Neuville sur Escaut, France

Stop 48: Přerov, The Czech Republic

Thank you everyone and HAPPY SUMMER HOLIDAYS!

A self-made card is headed for Moscow (Russia)

Postcard 42 is a lovely card illustrated by an ESO student who was one of the finalists in the Ourense-themed postcard contest.

The card illustrates some objects and places often associated with Galicia like octopus, a grain store and Ourense's main square.

Hope our friend from Moscow, Kiku, will like reading Adriana's kind words explaining some of the emblems included in the postcard. Thank you, Adriana!

If you want to read about Galicia, our autonomous community, click HERE. Visit EXPLORING PLACES to learn about Moscow.

Card 41 is off to Rüsselsheim, Germany!

Our next postcard has been sent to Rüsselsheim, a town in the southwest of Germany, 1500 km from Ourense.

Manuela, an ESO student, has chosen a beautiful view of the spa of As Burgas, a complex built 6 years ago behind the Burgas springs for locals and visitors to enjoy a thermal bath right in the town centre!

Click DISCOVER OURENSE to read about this thermal complex. Manuela has done some research on Rüsselsheim and has posted her findings HERE. Thanks, Manuela!

Discover Ourense XXXV: The Spa of as Burgas

Postcard 41 (sent to the German town of Ruesselheim) features a recently built spa area located right behind As Burgas water springs.

Piscina termal As Burgas. Termasourense.com

The spa of as Burgas was inaugurated in 2010 and uses the natural spring of the Burgas, which, as you know from previous posts, continuously produces over 300 litres of water per minute at 67 ºC. The design of the spa, an outside heated pool, was the work of the architect Cesar Portela and its unique integration into the old town makes it one of the very few urban spas in Spain.

Piscina termal As Burgas. Termasourense.com

The water, at 37ºC, is recommendable for skin conditions and rheumatism.

Exploring Places LXIV: Rüsselsheim, Germany

Postcard 41 has been sent to Rüsselsheim!

Rüsselsheim aerial view. Wikipedia

WHERE IS RÜSSELSHEIM?

Rüsselsheim am Main is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is located on the Main, between Frankfurt and Mainz, only a few kilometres from its mouth in Mainz.

Location of Rüsselsheim am Main in Germany. Wikipedia

RÜSSELSHEIM IS FAMOUS FOR...

…the presence of the German car company Adam Opel AG.

Autointell.com

PLACES TO VISIT

The Fort

Russelsheim' Fort. Pixabay.com

The oldest sight to see is the fort which dates back to the year 1399. On the ramparts which are accessible on foot and in the excavated east round tower, visitors get an impression of the fort and grounds.

The fort is also the home of the Town and Industry Museum which is well worth a visit. The museum clearly illustrates the connection between social history and the history of industry.

Art Centre Open Villas

Art Centre. Ruesselsheim.de

Built at the beginning of the 20th century, the Opel Villas are situated between the fort and the Town Park and today house the Art Centre. Mainly works of classical Modern Art are exhibited here.

Lowenplatz

Löwenplatz. Azrm.de

On your tour of the town you shouldn’t miss the “memorial” on Löwenplatz. (Lion Square) It marks the place of Adam Opel’s first workshop and reminds us of its initial size in comparison to today’s factory.

Sources:

Wikipedia

Ruesselsheim.de

Lovely card showing Saint Michael's Chapel in Celanova sent to Hong Kong!

Postcard 40 shows one of the oldest and best preserved Pre-Romanesque buildings in the Iberian Peninsula.

We are referring to a gem of a church, A Capela de San Miguel (Saint Michael’s Chapel), located in the gardens of the Monastery of San Salvador in Celanova. Hope Antonia, our friend from Hong Kong, will like it!

Remember that Hong Kong, more than 10000km away, has already been described on a previous post. 

If you want to learn about the history and style of Saint Michael’s Chapel, visit DISCOVER OURENSE. Thank you, Andrea!

Discover Ourense XXXIV: Saint Michael Mozarabic Chapel in the Monastery of San Salvador, Celanova

Postcard 40 features a gem of a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel and located in the garden of the Monastery of San Salvador in Celanova, a town of 6,000 inhabitants located 23 km from Ourense.

Location of Celanova in the province of Ourense. Wikipedia

The Monastery of San Salvador is Celanova’s most important building in a well-preserved historical center. It was founded by St. Rudesind (San Rosendo) in 936. The nave is considered the most perfect Galician Baroque church.

Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova. Main façade. Galicia en fotos.com

Cloister Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova. Residenciabarroso.com

Saint Michael’s Chapel happens to be one of the best preserved pre-Romanesque monuments in Spain.

Capilla de San Miguel. Celanova. Absoluteourense.com

Completed in the year 942 (10^th century), the chapel has a Mozarabic style and consists of a nave, from where it is accessed, with a barrel vault, the central body  crowned by an inner brick cross vault, and a prominent outer overhang, and an apse, square on the outside and round in the inside, topped by a dome.

Capela de San Miguel. Turismo.gal

Despite its small windows, the chapel’s interior is incredibly luminous. In fact, its orientation is such that it captures the light of the rising sun at the equinoxes of spring and autumn.

Espectacular equinoccio Capilla de San Miguel. LaRegion,es

Sources:

Wikipedia

360 Cities.net

Three year-old Postcrossers discover Ourense's Old District

Our Very Very Young Postcrossers are going to send one more postcard before summer holidays begin and so they’ve been taken on a walking tour of the old town by their teachers Tamara and Yolanda in order to discover some of its most important spots.

Stop 1: Ourense’s Praza de Abastos (Wholesale Food Market)

Located right behind the Alameda, one of Ourense’s main parks, the Abastos market is the best place to buy fresh local products. The main building was designed by the architect Manuel Conde and built in 1929. It houses dozens of family businesses that fall into one of the following categories: fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables, meat, cheeses, bread and pastries. 

One of the Praza de Abastos’s peculiarities is its outside, where you can visit small flower stands and popular stalls in which products of the nearby orchards, fruit and vegetables are sold along with local wines, pies, the so-called “Pan de Cea” (Cea Bread) and many other products of the land.

Pan de cea. Cocinagallega.es

Stop 2: As Burgas

As you already know from a previous post, As Burgas are Ourense’s best known hot water springs. Medicinal mineral water gushes out from three sources: “Burgas de Arriba”, “Burgas do Medio” and “Burgas de Abaixo”. Water temperature is really high, between 64ºC and 68ºC, and the volume of water flowing daily is impressively high too: over 4 million litres!

Stop 3: Main Square

The Main Square was featured in the first postcard sent in this project. The Praza Maior is a sloped square enclosed by various stunning buildings with arcades to protect pedestrians from the rain and the wind. The two traditional powers of the city are located here: the Town Hall and the Bishop's Palace.

Stop 4: Town Hall

The Town Hall is the main administrative building in Ourense; it houses the town council, its associated departments, and their employees, who work to promote and enhance the quality of life in Ourense.

Stop 5: Praza Bispo Cesáreo

This is a lovely little square named after a well known 19^th century bishop. Its Baroque water fountain at its center came from the Mosteiro de Oseira, a Cistercian monastery dating back to the 12^th century.

Stop 6: The Alameda Park

The Alameda is the oldest park in town, Formerly the town hall’s gardens (“A Horta do Concello”), the Alameda was transformed in the 19th century into a park for the enjoyment of all the ourensanos.

Its transformation was commissioned to Vázquez Gulías, who built amazing modernist constructions such as the palco da música (music kiosk):

Thanks a million Tamara and Yolanda for taking us on this tour to discover the history of some of Ourense’s marvels!