Love stories, tradition and a lot of talent: the postcards from ARA readers

A selection of the initiative 'A postcard summer', in which we asked you to send us a postcard telling us about your summer

4 min
One of the postcards that we have received this summer at the editorial office.
16/10/2026 - 08:00 h

In a moment when we live surrounded by notifications, photos that disappear in 24 hours, and messages that are forgotten in seconds, writing and sending a postcard is almost a revolutionary act. The truth is that finding the time to look for a postcard, write a thought or an experience on it, buy a stamp, and go to a post office or a mailbox to send it forces us to slow down, to connect with the here and now. And that is precisely what we at ARA wanted to propose to you with the initiative A postcard summer, where we asked you to send us a postcard telling us about your summer and, in return, you could participate in the raffle for three analog cameras, thanks to the collaboration with Carmencita Film Lab.

Now that we hardly take our eyes off a screen, not even when we walk down the street, it was quite a challenge to propose an action as analog as sending a postcard to share a piece of your summer with us. And boy, did you do it! More than two hundred people have found the time, the space, and the desire to tell us how you spent your holidays.

Each postcard, beyond being the testimony and memory of a place we have visited, is a photograph of a moment, an emotion, and an experience of the person who sends it. And each of the postcards we have received has allowed us to travel with you. Without leaving the newsroom, we have visited the most emblematic corners of Catalonia, from the Costa Brava to the Terres de l'Ebre, also passing through Lleida, Manresa, and the Pyrenees. We have also wandered through the Catalan Countries. And we have even traveled to the other side of the world and visited countries like Canada, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. And all this thanks to your postcards.

Here is a selection of some of your summers.

The winners

These are the winning postcards of the first edition of the ‘A postcard summer’ initiative

Jordi and Naiara: “We loved your proposal and returning to paper, pens, and postcards as a souvenir of a trip!”
Jordi i Naiara : “Ens va encantar la vostra proposta i tornar al paper, el boli i les postals com a recordatori d’un viatge!”
Álvaro: “Greetings to the whole newspaper team from the southern lands! Thank you very much for encouraging and reviving this beautiful and now almost extinct tradition of sending postcards!”
Álvaro: “Salutacions a tot l’equip del diari des de les terres del sud! Moltes gràcies per incentivar i recuperar aquesta preciosa i ja gairebé extinta tradició d’enviar postals!”
Anna: “I am one of the few who still writes by regular mail sometimes. They’ve called me everything! Demodé, obsolete... Now I rub your initiative in their faces; I find it fun and original: in short, you have dignified me. Go ahead and thank you!”
Anna: “Soc de les poques que encara escriuen alguna vegada per correu ordinari. M’han dit de tot! Demodé, obsoleta… Ara els refrego pels nassos la vostra iniciativa, la trobo divertida i original: res, que m’heu dignificat. Endavant i gràcies!”

First times

We have been able to witness love stories full of excitement that are just beginning.

Eulàlia: “Happy to send you a postcard from my first trip with my partner. The first of many vacations together!”
Eulàlia: “Feliç d’enviar-vos una postal del primer viatge amb la meva parella. Les primeres de moltes vacances juntes!”
Clàudia: “I am writing to you from Manresa, my favorite vacation destination since I found the love of my life there”
Clàudia: “Us escric des de Manresa, la meva destinació vacacional preferida des que hi he trobat l’amor de la meva vida”

Escaping the heat

The thermometer has peaked this summer, and some have traveled north in search of climatic relief.

Jan: “Hello from Benasque! With a winter postcard to try to trick the brain and the perceived thermal sensation. I hope it serves to refresh you momentarily by thinking of the snow”
Jan: “Hola des de Benasc! Amb una postal d’hivern per intentar enganyar el cervell i la sensació tèrmica percebuda. Espero que serveixi per refrescar-vos momentàniament pensant en la neu”
Marga: “When I chose this postcard, I saw the usual London: umbrellas and wet streets. But reality surprised me. I’ve walked under intense sun and exaggerated heat”
Marga: “Quan he triat aquesta postal, he vist el Londres de sempre: paraigües i carrers molls. Però la realitat m’ha sorprès. He passejat sota un sol intens i una calor exagerada”

The summer phenomenon

After a long time of waiting, you have finally been able to explain to us how you experienced the total solar eclipse of the month of August.

Edu: “We’ve been waiting a long time for it and it didn’t disappoint, the eclipse was amazing!”
Edu: “Feia molt que l’esperàvem i no ens ha decebut, l’eclipsi ha estat una passada!”
Anna: “On the day of the eclipse, we went to spend the day in Valencia and were able to enjoy the spectacle from Malvarrosa beach. Seeing the dim light fall over the sand by the sea was magnificent”
Anna: “El dia de l’eclipsi vam anar a passar el dia a València i vam poder gaudir de l’espectacle des de la platja de la Malva-rosa. Veure com es feia la penombra sobre la sorra vora el mar va ser magnífic”

A shared tradition

There are many people who keep the tradition of sending postcards alive, some for many, many years.

Oriol: “I have been sending postcards regularly for years (about 170 per year!). A postcard is equivalent to an act of love. I even founded the Postcard Club with friends and family”
Oriol: “Fa anys que envio postals de manera habitual (unes 170 per any!). Una postal és igual a un acte d’amor. Fins i tot he fundat el Club de la Postal amb amics i familiars”
Montse: “I love writing letters… and postcards very much. And over the course of more than 80 years I have sent many, and I still send them often, to the people I love and always remember”

A handful of talent

Watercolor, comics, embroidery, photography… Postcards are also a space to explore creativity.

Eva: "Did you know that there, on the French Atlantic coast, you have a dedicated fisherman's hut?"
Eva : “Sabies que allà, a la costa atlàntica francesa, hi tens una cabana de pescadors dedicada?”
Imma: “I have drawn in comics what marked me the most this summer and my holidays”
Imma : “He dibuixat en vinyetes el que més m’ha marcat l’estiu i les vacances”
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