As founding stories go, Krakow’s is hard to beat. It all started with a dragon, named Smok Wawelski, who lived under the craggy limestone chambers of Wawel hill. As was his want, Smok Wawelski ate everything and anything in his path, from local maidens to the heroic knights who tried to save them. Desperate to vanquish the beast, the king promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to whoever could slay the dragon. Up stepped an enterprising cobbler’s apprentice named Krak who tricked Smok into eating a sheep stuffed with sulphur. Having devoured the sheep, the dragon lunged towards the Vistula, burning with thirst. Having drunk the water down to the riverbed, his distended belly exploded and the village was freed of his wrath. Heralded as their savoir, Krak married the princess, became the king, and a castle was built in his honor over the dragon’s former lair.

The Facebook and Instagram of their day, postcards become a printing phenomenon in the early 1900s. Before they became the fridge-decoration they are today, they were a way to stay in touch with friends in far away ci... Read More