Lighthouses, Algeria

Well hello there! It's been a while, no?

After having updated my postcards' blog the other day, it would be fair to post something here as well, right?
So after a little bit more than four months, here comes something I received this year (before all the worldwide havoc which included the postal services as well).

And quite a perfect cover, so enough to get me motivated to blow the dust off... plus seems it is my first ever post regarding Algeria here, so even more reasons to have it posted :)

Turns out Algeria has quite a few lighthouses (around 30), most of them seem to be commemorated on stamps, and this seems to be the last issue (even though it was issued on 27th February 2013).
This set of three stamps features the following lighthouses:

- Ile Srigina
Established in 1847 while the present tower was built in 1906. It is a white square tower rising from a 2-story keeper's house, on the summit of the island, with a red lantern dome. It has a Red flash every 5 seconds, visible for 13 nautical miles.
This lighthouse marks the western entrance to the Golfe de Stora. Located atop a steep-sided island about 4 km (2.5 mi) north of Stora. Accessible only by boat


-Cap Bougaroun
There are two lighthouses with this name, so I will assume this is the active one (the other one is said to be inactive).

Established 1869 while the present tower was built in 1911. There are two white flashes every 10 s. visible for 10 nautical miles. Its octagonal tower with lantern and gallery is attached to the front of a 2-story keeper's house. The lighthouse painted white.
The lantern appears to have been transferred from the historic lighthouse. It is located on a steep bluff at the northernmost point of the province, about 15 km  northwest of Collo.


-Cap Ivi
Established in 1898,  It has a  white flash every 5 s. visible for 18 nautical miles. Its octagonal stucco-clad masonry tower with lantern and castellated gallery rises from a 2-story keeper's house. The lighthouse is painted white; formerly it was painted yellow with brown trim.
Located on a headland about 25 km  northeast of Mostaganem, directly on the N11 coastal highway. The site is open, but the tower is closed.



Nice to add all these to the bucket list. With the current travel restrictions though, and with the uncertainty of the future of cheap flights, this one surely wont happen in the foreseeable future.
But at least an update has happened, haha :D


Stay well and stay safe!

Lighthouses, Portugal

Well, I will do a bit of cheating on this week's Sunday Stamps and post on a Monday but I was away on a trip yesterday and in most cases would just miss the show, but being that L is for one of my favourite topics, I just had to show of part of my L-related collection. It is not very hard to guess it is lighthouses we are talking about, right?
Not the most creative word, but it is lighthouses we are talking about, already magnificent on their own!

A set of amazing 10 stamps (ignore the last two for the time being), showcasing Portuguese lighthouses, issued on 19th June 2008. I have some of these featured on postcards, but still a long way to go to get them all.
I haven't been to Portugal yet, and I am seriously having my eyes set on it for the near future, so I might just as well do a lighthouse tour while there :D

So in, not all their glory, here you can see:

- the Leça Lighthouse, located in Leça da Palmeira. It is in the shape of a white conical tower, with reinforced concrete, with narrow black strips and attached buildings. 46 metres high.

- Penedo de Saudade - located São Pedro de Moel, Leiria district. It is a quadrangular tower of stonework, with an annexed building covered in reddish-brown colored tiles and red lanterns. It is 32 meters high.

- Montedor - located in Viana de Castello - It is the northernmost lighthouse in the country and began operation on March 20, 1910. 28 metres high.

- the Esposende Lighthouse - set in front of the Forte de São João Baptista de Esposende. The 15 metre tall lighthouse dates back to 1922 and what is unusual about it is that it is made of metal.

- Santa Maria - situated to the south of the centre of Cascais, Lisbon District, Portugal. It is a quadrangular masonry tower covered with white tiles, with blue horizontal stripes and a red lantern. 20 metres high.

- Cabo Espichel - situated on the western coast of the civil parish of Castelo, in the Setúbal district of Portugal. The lighthouse was built in 1790 and is 32 metres high.

- Cabo Sardão -  Proposed in 1883, and of difficult access, only came into operation for the first time in 1915. The lighthouse is located at Ponta do Cavaleiro in Cabo Sardão. It has a white square tower 17 meters high in masonry. It has an annex building and a red cylindrical flashlight with light that reaches 43 kilometres.

- Bugio Lighthouse - situated on an island in the estuary of the River Tagus on the Fort of São Lourenço do Bugio, about ten kilometres west of Lisbon. It emits a green flash of one second every 5 seconds and marks the entrance to the port of Lisbon.

- Cabo de Roca - located 165 metres above the Atlantic Ocean, on Portugal's (and continental Europe's) most westerly extent (Cabo da Roca).  It is a third-order lighthouse, which originally began operating in 1772. It was the first new purpose-built lighthouse to be constructed in the country: the older lighthouses in existence at that time, were constructed on existing platforms or from pre-existing beacons. 22 metres high.

- Cabo de São Vicente - 28 metres high, located along the coastal peninsula of Sagres Point.
The traditional land's end of Europe, the extreme southwesternmost point on the continent, it was an essential landfall for sailors returning from Africa and the Americas. One of the most powerful lighthouses in Europe with its two 1,000 W lamps  - can be seen as far as 60 km away.


And back to the lighthouses I initially asked you to ignore since the one on the left was issued by the Azores, and the right one by the Madeira postal entity. And funny, they are double the face value than the rest.

- The Arnel lighthouse -   located at the tip of the Arnel, in the extreme northeast of the island of São Miguel, started operating on November 26, 1876, and was the first lighthouse located in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.

- Ponta de Pargo - an active lighthouse located in Ponta do Pargo, Madeira, Portugal. The lighthouse was built in 1922 on top of Ponta Vigia, a rocky cliff escarpment and has a focal height of 312 metres. 14 metres high.


So that would be a small part of the world of Portuguese lighthouses. I know it was a longish read and wont blame you if you hadn't read it all, but I would like to keep it for my future reference!

And unless you haven't done your task already, click here to head over to Sunday Stamps for some more L's!

Modern Lighthouses, China

I can't say I have frequent visits from the postman these days, and for certain not as I used to have some years ago. But he surely does bring joy to my mailbox when he comes, and today was such a day, so a great start of the week I can say. And I so much LOVE this cover, that I just had to share it with you right away, no way I would be waiting for the next L for this one... and I do have a lot of lighthouses in stock for sure, so it certainly won't be my ace up the sleeve...

 Now, I rarely take part in swapping stamps nowadays, which is mainly due to the fact that as years go by, Macedonian stamps are sticking to these ridiculous overpriced useless face values, while the images on stamps are becoming worse and worse (do you know that the last set of EUROPA stamps is almost 9 euros??!). It has become all about ripping people off and nothing about actually promotin the country cos obviously, that is the last thing on their mind...

So as I was saying, cos of a number of reasons I don't take part in stamps swapping, but an exception is made from time to time, like this time when I found a soulmate, who wanted to swap whole set covers, and on top of that, had this lighthouse set on offer. So how do you ignore such a thing? Well, you don't.

This fantastic set was issued on 28 October 2016, and showcases five different modern lighthouses which have been built in the last couple of years as part of China’s claim to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. All five of the lighthouses shown below are in the Spratly Islands which are also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia (If true, this is utterly ridiculous, but I cannot say I would be surprised...)

The lighthouses shown here are:

- Huáyáng Jiāo / Cuarteron Reef
- Chigua Reef / Johnson Sout
- Zhubi Jiao / Subi Reef
- Yongshu Reef / Fiery Cross
- Meiji Reef / Mischief Reef

It really makes me wonder if a disputed zone becomes more 'yours' just cos you issue stamps about it :D

Nevertheless, the stamps are just fantastic!

The 100th Anniversary of the Inauguration of Constanta Harbour, Romania

If I wasn't as lazy as I am right now, I probably would have been more inventive with the L letter, but unfortunately I am, so I would just go with the first thing that crossed my mind, which, oh so surprisingly are lighthouses ;-D  Well, it is just one but it is still a lighthouse

On 23 December, the Romanian post issued this lovely set of two stamps, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Inauguration of Constanta Harbour.
The first stamp shows the sailing ship Mircea, while the second one, the Constanta Regele Carol (King Carol) I lighthouse.


The Constanța Harbour is located in Constanța, Romania, on the western coast of the Black Sea, and is the largest Port on the Black Sea and the 17 th largest in Europe. The favourable geographical position and its importance are emphasized by the connection with two Pan-European transport corridors: Corridor VII – Danube (inland waterway) and Corridor IV (railway).


The lighthouse featured on this stamp was dedicated to honor King Carol I, who died in 1914. It is known locally simply as the farul vechi (the old lighthouse) and it has been inactive since 1961.

well, that was quite short :)

For some more interesting L-posts, well you know the drill, click on the following link - Sunday Stamps

Lighthouses, Ukraine

Wohoo! Today's Sunday Stamps edition is related to one of my all-time favourite subjects and that is lighthouses!! I'm in love with lighthouses! There is something so special about them, something so mystical and magical. And they hide so many stories at the rough seas...
So I can say that I surely have a lot of lighthouse-related stamps which kinda made it a bit difficult to make my choice today, but I think you won't be disappointed with these two amazing sheets of stamps coming from Ukraine.

The first one was issued in 2009 and contains 6 different Ukrainian lighthouses, from left to right you can see:
- the Kyz-Aulskyi lighthouse - located on the point of the Cape, South-East of Yakovenkove and helps guide ship(s) to the entrance of the Kerch Strait. The Lighthouse is in the diamond shaped peninsula of Crimea and is one of the Black Sea Lighthouse(s) in Ukraine. It is 28 metres tall and has a white, red, or green colour scheme (depending on the direction) with a flash of every 6 seconds.

- the Luparevskiy Lighthouse - located on the East coast, the south side of Luparevo. This Lighthouse is the second range for vessels bound upstream (North) in the estuary. The Lighthouse is in the Mykolaiv Area of Ukraine. It is 10 metres tall and has a white red colour scheme of continuous flash.

- the Yaltinskiy Lighthouse - located at the end of the Yalta breakwater, which extends South-Westward parallel to the shoreline. The Lighthouse is one of the best-known Lighthouse(s) in Crimea. The Lighthouse is in the diamond shaped peninsula of Crimea and is one of the Yalta Lighthouse(s) in Ukraine. It is 12 metres tall and has a red light colour scheme of 3 seconds on/4.5 seconds off.

- the Vorontsov Lighthouse is a famous red-and-white, 27.2 metre landmark (with a scheme of 3 flashes every 12 seconds) in the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine. It is named after Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, one of the governors-general of the Odessa region. The Lighthouse is accessible only by boat.

- the Sarych Lighthouse - located at the Southernmost point of the Crimean peninsula as well as Ukraine and South-East of Sevastopol. It is 15 metres tall and has a white light colour scheme of 3 seconds on/3 seconds off.

- the Berdyansk Nizhniy Lighthouse - located at the end of a long, hook-shaped spit South of Berdyansk. The Ukrainian coast features four long sand spits projecting to the South. The Lighthouse is in the area of Sea of Azov, connected to the rest of the Black Sea by a very narrow Kerch Strait. The Lighthouse is accessible by boat. It is 22 metres tall and has a white colour scheme of 4.5 seconds on/3 seconds off.

Each of the stamps from this issue has a face value of 1.50 UAH.

The second sheet was issued in 2010 and again consists of 6 stamps (with a slight face value difference - there are 3 stamps of 1.50 UAH and 3 stamps of 2 UAH). And another difference is that I couldn't find nearly as much information as for the previous one.
Anyways, the lighthouses featured are as follows:

- the Sanzhyisky lighthouse - located North-East of the mouth of the Dnister and South-West of Odessa. The Sanzhiiskyi is one of the South Coast Lighthouse in Ukraine. Its height is 19 metres with a green colour scheme of two flashes every 15 seconds.

- the Tendrivskiy lighthouse

- the Tarkhankut lighthouse - located in Crimea at the Tarkhankut Cape 5 km southwest of the resort village of Olenivka. Its height is about 40 metres. The construction of the Tarkhankut lighthouse and its twin tower on the Khersones peninsula started in 1816 to ensure safe sailing in the area.

- the Pavlovskiy Front lighthouse, located in Crimea, station established 1863. Active; focal plane 65 m; continuous red light. 17 m octagonal stone tower, painted white with a red vertical stripe on the range line. This light replaced the original lighthouse, which had a focal plane of 22 m. Located about 500 m from the waterfront in Arsyncevo, about 6 km south of Kerch city.

- the Illichivskyi lighthouse -located in a small town called formerly Illichivsk, nowadays Chornomorsk, located south of Odessa on the Black Sea.

- the Khersoneskyi lighthouse - station established 1816. Active; focal plane 34 m; white light, 3 s on, 3 s off, 3 s on, 3 s off, 3 s on, 6 s off, 3 s on, 3 s off, 6 s on, 3 s off, 6 s on, 18 s off. 36 m round stone tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. This historic lighthouse stands on the southwest corner of the Crimean peninsula. The original lighthouse was a conical stone tower. It was replaced in 1929 by a lighthouse built from the same plans as the Tarkhankut Light. Almost completely destroyed during World War II, it was replaced by a wood tripod tower until a copy of the 1929 lighthouse could be built. The tower is greatly endangered by rising sea level, and a stone berm and semicircular sea wall have been built to protect it. The unusual flash pattern, the Morse code "SW" for Sevastopol', is a traditional welcome-home for Russian sailors. Located at the tip of the peninsula about 15 km west of Sevastopol'.

So that would be my contribution for today. Can hardly wait (and be jealous of!) other people's collections of lighthouse stamps :) You can see them at today's Sunday Stamps episode.

Lighthouses of India, India

One of the few beautiful covers I received yesterday from India...

this set of two lighthouse stamps was issued by India Post on 23 December 2012, featuring the Alleppey (face value of Rs 20) and the Mahabalipuram lighthouse (face value of Rs 5).

The Alleppey (or the Alappuzha) Lighthouse is situated in the coastal town of Alappuzha, Kerala. It was built in 1862 and is a major tourist attraction. It has been opened to the public since 2007 and visitors are allowed between 15:00h and 16:30h on weekdays. The admission fee is 10 rupees.


The Mahabalipuram lighthouse is located in Tamil Nadu, and has been opened to tourists since 2011. The first light was commissioned in 1887, while it became fully functional in 1904. It has a circular masonry tower made of natural stone. India's oldest lighthouse, built around 640 AD by Pallava king Mahendra Pallava stands next to this modern structure.

Thanks a whole lot to Jinesh for this one!

Lighthouses of the Adriatic Sea and of the Danube, Yugoslavia

I have quite a lot of lighthouses stamps, but wanted to pick something where the odds of someone else posting the same would be really low....lets see if I had succeeded :)

this splendid set of lighthouses was issued in 1991 in the beautiful, but unfortunately, no more existent land of Yugoslavia...still, memories and stamps remain :)
I love the theme...I have a fascination for lighthouses and all the stories they know...there is just something magical about them, and what do they actually experience throughout their lifetime...at calm and rough seas...how many secrets are they actually hiding?
The booklet says: Although today's time is full of modern installations for ships orientation and regulation of their navigation, there are still faithful friends of sailors - nautical and fluvial lighthouses.
These proved helpers of ships and their captains, lead and direct sailors through stormy seas and rivers and enable them a safe and sure way and return to their homes and families.

The set shows lighthouses found along the shores of the Adriatic Sea and the Danube river, and ironically enough, only Macedonia doesnt fall in either category...the rest of the former Yugoslav republics either have the Adriatic Sea or Danube...or both, like Croatia.

the front page of this booklet shows the Prišnjak lighthouse at the Adriatic sea in Croatia, erected in 1886 not far away from the island of Murter (hello Agi!! :))))

and here inside the booklet we have the rest of the lighthouses, where the first ten stamps 'talk' about lighthouses found at the Adriatic Sea, while the last two are at the Danube river. I will briefly represent each of them below.

first comes the 29 m Savudrija lighthouse, the northernmost in Croatia and reputed to be the oldest on the Adriatic Sea, erected in 1818.
Next to it is Sveti Ivan na Pučini (or, St. Ivan at the open sea). It was built in 1853 and it is located on the most distant islet of the small archipelago in front of Rovinj, Croatia.
Third comes the Porer lighthouse,built in 1833, on the Porer island in Croatia.
Next to it is the Stončica lighthouse, built in 1865 at the northeastern cape of the Vis island in Croatia.
The Olipa lighthouse is the 5th stamp in the row, believed to be built in 1842. The lighthouse is on the uninhabited Olipa islet in Croatia.
The last in this row is the Croatian lighthouse of Glavat, built in 1884 on the Glavat island in the Lastovo channel.
the bottom row starts with the Veli Rat lighthouse, built in 1849, on the southwestern cape of the island of Dugi otok, 35 km west of the city of Zadar, Croatia.
Next to it is Vir, built in 1881, at the western coast of the Vir island.
Then comes a lighthouse with a probably complicated name for non-English speakers, called Tajerske sestrice, (or the Tajer sisters) built in 1876 on the Sestrica Vela island (or Sister Vela).
The last of the Adriatic lighthouses is the lighthouse of Ražanj, in Croatia again, built in 1874, at the western cape of the Brač island.
As I said previously, the last two lighthouses are at the Danube river, the first one being Đerdap (a beautiful National Park in Serbia that stretches along the right bank of the Danube river). The other Danube lighthouse is Tamiš, a 359km long river, originating from Țarcu Mountains in Romania, and flowing into the Danube in the northern of Serbia.

well lets see what others had to share for today....click on the button below, and enjoy your Sunday...it is a beautiful sunny one here!

Lighthouses of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

An amazing FDC sent to me by Trudy!

The port of Hong Kong has always been key to business prosperity of the territory. It not only acts as a hub port of the South Asian Pacific region, but also an entrepot for the Mainland of China. Standing guard at the entrance of a harbour, a lighthouse serves as a navigation aid to mariners. A system of lenses at the top of the tower casts flashing light to guide incoming and outgoing vessels away from danger. This set of special stamps depicts five surviving pre-war lighthouses in Hong Kong. With clarity and realism as their themes of design, the stamps show a map and a compass in the upper half of the backdrop and the latitude and longitude coordinates at the bottom. The layout highlights the important role of lighthouses in the maritime history.

$1.40 - Cape D' Aguilar Lighthouse  - the first of its kind in Hong Kong, was lit up to help vessels navigate on 16 April 1875. The round stone tower is 9.7 metres high and white in colour. Its base, arched doorway and spiral staircase are of fine masonry. The iron door is adorned with geometric decoration at the top. The opening of Waglan Island Lighthouse years later in 1893 rendered Cape D' Aguilar Lighthouse superfluous and it became inoperative in 1896. In 1975 the latter was automated and re-lit. Cape D' Aguilar Lighthouse was declared a monument on 3 March 2006.

$1.89 - Old Green Island Lighthouse - this lighthouse began guiding seafarers across the waters on 1 July 1875. The small circular tower is constructed of granite, measuring about 12 metres in height. Its doorway features projected rough-faced quoins. The two cross-shaped openings on its wall, resembling gun-posts found in medieval European castles, facilitate ventilation and light penetration. Immediately after the new Green Island Lighthouse came into operation, the old lighthouse was decommissioned and later declared a monument on 7 November 2008.

$2.40 - New Green Island Lighthouse - standing next to its predecessor, the new Green Island Lighthouse was constructed in 1904 and completed in 1905. The circular tower, built of granite and concrete, stands 1.5 metres high with a steel lantern at the top. It is painted white for high visibility, thermal insulation and structural protection. Its spiral staircase is made of fine masonry complete with beautiful railings. The entrance and windows, in the form of segmental arches, are decorated with ornamental plaster mouldings. The tower has been fully automated since the 1970's. Both the new and old Green Island Lighthouse were declared monuments on 7 November 2008.

$3 - Tang Lung Chau Lighthouse - it commenced helping mariners navigate the coastline on 29 April 1912. The skeletal steel tower is 11.8 metres high and painted white at the top. The adjoining brick house, furnished with a bedroom, a kitchen, a latrine and a storeroom, was the living quarters of the lighthouse keeper. With no well or fresh water supply on the island, rainwater was collected from the roof and diverted to an underground tank for storage and use. The now automated Tang Lung Chau Lighthouse was declared a monument on 29 December 2000.

$5 - Waglan Lighthouse - the first flash of light was beamed from Waglan Lighthouse on 9 May 1893. Its then state-of-the-art lamp burned mineral oil and was equipped with rotating apparatus floating on mercury. During the Second World War, the lighthouse was extensively damaged and repairs began from 1945. Fully automated since August 1989, the lighthouse serves not only as a navigation aid but also an outpost for collecting meteorological data from the eastern part of the territory for analysis by the Hong Kong Observatory. Waglan Lighthouse was declared a monument on 29 December 2000.

Date of Issue:     29 December 2010
Width:                  28.00 mm
Height:                 45.00 mm
Number in set:  5
Stamp layout:    pane of 25 stamps
S/S size:              150mm x 85mm
Perforation:       13.5 x 13.25 (one elliptical perforation on each vertical)
Paper:                   paper with security fibres

Lighthouses, Croatia

Sorry I havent posted ANYTHING here for over a month...true that in general I havent had much time for my blogs, but also gathering all the right information for this one in particular requires more time and patience, so I guess thats why I dont post here as often as on my postcard blog...but I promise from now on ill try to organize my time better and divided more fairly :)

Well, you know that my very soft spot goes to trains...but lighthouses are the closest behind them...and I cant possibly ignore this fantastic Lighthouse FDC coming from Croatia!

The FDC bears the three lighthouse stamps issued for this occasion...all bear the value of 3,10kn, where the first stamp shows the Vir lighthouse, the second one shows the Veli rat lighthouse, and the last one, the Tajer lighthouse.
Technical details about the stamps

Size: 29,82 x 48,28 mm
Paper: white 102g, gummed
Perforation: Comb,14
Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
Date of issue: 7.9.2010
Quantity: 100000

And some details about each of the lighthouses:

Vir
The lighthouse Vir is situated 40 km away from Zadar, to the north-west, and 20 km away from the historic town Nin. The nearest village is Križine, at a distance of two kilometres. Navigating from Zadar, parallel to the south coast of the island Vir, this lighthouse is easily spotted in the central part on the south-western coast, between the Cape of Pedink and the western Cape of Vrulje. The lighthouse Vir gives a recognisable character to the south capes of the island and marks the navigating direction to yachtsmen at night time. Built in 1881 at the north entrance to Zadar Channel, also today it sheds the light that can be seen from ten nautical miles away. The location of the lighthouse had been chosen by the Austro-Hungarian Office for Safe Navigation with the aim to mark for the night navigation the way to Zadar harbour, since the sea bottom in the wider aquatorium of the lighthouse slowly rises toward dangerous, shallow waters. The lighthouse building is a vast one-storey building. In the ground floor there used to be rooms for the lighthouse man while the dormitories and the apartment for his family were in the first floor. The facade is dominated by 11 meters high stone tower. Today, there is a deadly silence in the old building. Next to the lighthouse building there is a storeroom which once served as fuel storage and later as machinery room. The old water reservoir is also preserved. There is a legend about Vir and the hidden treasure from which only rare florins have been found to date. Today, the lighthouse is closed; its crew had been withdrawn after the automation of the lighthouse.

Veli rat
The lighthouse Veli rat is 20 nautical miles air distance away from Zadar, to the north-west. Its strong light can not be seen in Zadar Channel since it is covered by islands that build a barrier in the aquatorium between Zadar and Dugi otok (Long Island), on which north-western cape the lighthouse stands. Not far away from the lighthouse there are settlements Veli Rat, Verunić and Polje. North from the lighthouse there is Pantera Bay to which the light of Veli Rat is a safe guidance for navigators sailing through this aquatorium. The Austro-Hungarian Office for Safe Navigation was carefully preparing technical documentation for the lighthouse tower of Veli rat. The south-western part of the Long Island (Dugi otok) is flat in configuration and the navigating route through this aquatorium is marked by a number of shallows in the south-western, western and north-western part. The light of the lighthouse is the guidance in the night to the mentioned Pantera Bay and the harbour Solišćica, the only shelter in this part of the island. The lighthouse was finished in 1849. The light beam of the power of 2000 watt at the 40 metres high top of the tower is visible from the distance of 20 miles. Interesting to mention is the fact that while building the tower more than 10,000 hen eggs had been added into the concrete mixture. The purpose of adding eggs was to provide higher consistence and better resistance to sea salt. Because of this peculiar additive the colour of the tower is specific and the tower is different from all other towers in the Adriatic. Even today, 160 years later, the surface texture of the concrete tower of Veli rat is in excellent condition. The interior of the lighthouse building has been completely renewed. There lives the lighthouse man with his family while the unoccupied rooms have been adapted according to tourist valorisation. The lookout – a platform at the top of the tower – can be reached over 176 stairs. From above one can enjoy a unique panorama of the nearby islands Molat, Ist, Sestrunj and Rava. South-east and south of the lighthouse there rests endless open sea and to the north, in the haze, the panorama is closed by the peaks of the mountain Velebit. After finishing the building of the lighthouse and making it functional, in the north part of its stone paved court, a small chapel was erected - the sanctuary of St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors. Veli rat is considered to be among the most beautiful lighthouses in the whole Mediterranean

Tajer
The lighthouse Tajer was built on the bigger of the Two Sisters Islands situated in the vicinity of Grpašćak cliffs. From the 15 miles distant Zadar the lighthouse can be reached through the labyrinth of islands, islets and rocks. The last barrier to reach it is a narrow straight Small Proversa, north of the Tajer Sisters. Already at this point the unusual, metal, red-white tower of the lighthouse Tajer can be noticed. When navigating from the other direction and passing by the cliffs of the Nature Park Telašćica at night, the light of Tajer is awaited as the announcement of the nearby shelter situated in a deep and safe bay. Tajer and the Tajer Sisters border in the north and east on the Koranti National Park, but belong to the Nature Park Telašćica. The lighthouse was built in 1876 on the Big Sister (Sestrica vela). The huge stone building dominates a small island valley, where at the time when the lighthouse was built a dense pine-tree wood had been removed and turned into a clear land. In comparison to other Adriatic lighthouses, the building is connected to the protruding metal tower by peculiar stone bridge on high arches. The building is a vast one-storey construction with the attic of a total area of about 500 square metres.  The steel tower is 47 meters high. Recognisable red and white stripes of the Tajer tower have not been changed for decades, which is the reason why the lighthouse has become the tourist symbol of the surrounding archipelago. The turning light signal is today automated and the energy is provided by solar panels and converters. A strategic position and the density of the nautical traffic in the area in high tourist season are the reasons why also today there is crew at the lighthouse, though it is fully automated and remotely controlled. On the Tajer Sisters there is also a small meteorological station, regularly collecting data which the lighthouse men check and forward by a radio station to the national Meteorological and Hydrological Service. The stone waterfront was also built by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The lighthouse is surrounded by vast stony terraces offering an excellent view to Dinara mountains. To the west, there are the cliffs of Telašćica while the south horizon is the desert open sea. The dense pine-wood covering the greater part of the Big Sister Island is also an ornithological reserve. .