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Blog > Postcrossing Spotlight: martinha from Portugal

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martinha (aka Marta) is a very active member on the forum's Portuguese community. Like many of us, she likes UNESCO images and other historical places on her postcards. Here is what she had to say:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

Back in 2006 a friend send me a text message with the site. He read about it on a magazine. I thought it was one of his silly messages but as i was working in front of the computer i decided to check the site. This sentence caught my attention “It’s a project that allows anyone to receive postcards (real ones, not electronic) from random places in the world.” After a bit of reading I registered, a few days later I sent the first cards and started doing some private trades. That was in September and in November I discovered the forum and then it got serious. Since then I’ve been receiving cards almost everyday.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Apart of collecting cards, I love to take pictures and travelling. These three hobbies are closely related to each other. My last travels were truly influenced by Postcrossing and by the lovely people I got to know these last years due to postcard exchanges.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your post office or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

I have 4 or 5 post offices in my city but this one is the biggest and the one I use the most. Some of the workers already know me, some call me the “stamp girl”; they don’t need to ask want I want, just how many stamps do I need.

post office portugal
This is my not so pretty mailbox but it sure makes me happy every time I find nice cards inside it.
martinha's mailbox
Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.
martinha's cards

I’ve got more than 4000 postcards, choosing a favourite card is impossible, I have too many favorite cards. As you can see on the picture, i truly enjoy beautiful landscapes and architecture. Every time I travel I try to visit historical places with wonderful architecture or breathtaking landscapes. The world is too big and I won’t be able to visit a lot of places; getting cards from places like that is the best and cheapest way to see the world.

martinha's cards
What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I love the excitement of opening my mailbox and finding cards; getting an address, reading the profile and finding the perfect card to that person and most of all getting in touch with people around the world. Thanks to Postcrossing I’ve met great friends.

Have you met any other members in real life?

I’ve met a lot of postcrossers from different countries and I know the most active members in the Portuguese community. We’re a great group of friends now and we often have meetings or travel together.
I’ve been to 2 big international meetings, the international one in Zurich last year and the Köln meeting last April. Both were wonderful opportunities to meet postcrossers and make great friends. I’ve also met a few postcrossers that were visiting Portugal.

31 comments so far

Tjitske, Netherlands
Woohooo, Martininha! Love it!
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octabis, France
Yay !
Happy to see you here, and hopefully we'll finally meet someday.
By the way, I really like your not so pretty mailbox ! It looks great !
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moonlessnite, Canada
Nice to read your interview!
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Sofa, Germany
Yay! It was great to meet you in Köln - see you next year in Lisbon! :D
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renegade_cavalcade, Canada
YAY for the feature! I got excited cos I know you lol!!! :D
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rosejoy, Australia
I like your post office building. I really enjoy getting postcards from Portugal-hope I get one from you one day!
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Bluma, United States of America
Marta! It was nice to read about you here :)
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dst121gr, Greece
Nice to see you here! I'm also happy to be one of the postcrossers you had met :)
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Blogger, United States of America
Hello Marta! I love it when they feature people I know! Koln sure was a lot of fun :D :D :D
It is great 'seeing' you here. Great article. :D
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JoaninhaC, Portugal
Nice to see you here Marta! I'm also happy to be one of the postcrossers you knew in real life and love travel with you some of that times.
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isagv, Germany
Hi Marta, great interview! I know where you get these Koblenz cards and I also got that animal book in Cologne's zoo last week. ;) I am thinking about Lisbon meeting too. ;)
Hope to meet you again! :)
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Geminiscp, Portugal
I believe I've already been at that Post Office's building! :D
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anagahan, North Macedonia
Marta dear! It's so nice to see you featured here! Loved the interview! And it is nice to see the mailbox where my postcards land in :)

hugs to you!!
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andreaeiko, Brazil
Hi, dear !! Great to see you here !!! And I'm happy because I met you too...:) Lovely keychain...LOL... kisses !
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sapic12, Portugal
Great spotlight Marta!

I loved it!

Greetings!

Manú
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sinta, Indonesia
Hi Marta, we never met but I enjoy our wonderful Unesco swaps! ;)
Hugs!
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postcardgal, United States of America
Marta, I loved seeing your post office and your post office box. I, too, go to my P.O. Box everyday with a hope-filled heart that a love letter or postcard may be waiting for me. I loved seeing your Post Box all full of postcards maybe that will happen for me one day!! xoxoxo I hope to visit Portugal one of these days. My father's family is from Sicily and I would like to return there one day as well. I love that there are meetings with fellow posters and I hope that I can visit some friends when I leap over the pond, would be such a joy to meet up with others who love to write as much as I do!!! from my heart, Post Card Gal from California
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Marionnetje, Netherlands
Always love the stories from Portuguese Postcrossers ! I have some Portuguese friends through Postcrossing and I can not miss them anymore ! Unfortunatly I have not met them in real yet, but I hope some day !

Abraço Marion from the Netherlands
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Kilona, Finland
Hi Marta :) I love to see you in the spotlight! Hope to see you in a meeting again.
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dj_christina, Bulgaria
Great to read more about you! :) I was just about to send you a tag card today, what a coincidence :)
greetings from Bulgaria
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volvomom, United States of America
So nice to meet you here! Loved your mailbox! :)
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abella, Algeria
very nice...!!!
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Zatarra, Netherlands
Hi Martha, Coooooooooooolll mailbox you have there :) We really do make the world a better place with all the cards we send around the globe!
Greetings from The Netherlands :)
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marica_t, United States of America
I think you have a neat mailbox :) This was a great spotlight!

Greetings from the US state of Ohio :)
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lucymonty, United Kingdom
Lovely to 'meet' you! Your collection looks very impressive :-D
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katts70, Estonia
Yay,Marta :) Nice to see GTKY gang here again :)
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dollart, Finland
Great interview Marta. I remember looking your well organised postcard albums at your home and feeling jealous :)
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ecprmb, Portugal
Parabéns pela entrevista, Marta! Saudações desde Elvas (Alentejo)! ;)
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nowaglas, United States of America
Wonderful to see you in the spotlight Marta! We met a long time ago in the infamous GTKY thread! Hugs!
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leugim, United Kingdom
He he :D Marta is famous now :D It very great to have you as a friend and a traveler partner :D

See you soon :D
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EvansCrew, United States of America
Love seeing Post Offices around the world--nice spotlight, martinha! :)
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