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| My street, Štítného, located in the Žižkov district of Prague 3. |
Žižkov was its own city prior to 1922, and is named for Jan Žižka, who led an army of local peasants to a victory over the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, early in the 15th century. A self-proclaimed rough neighborhood dating back to before World War II, Žižkov was often referred to as "Red Žižkov" due to its support of left-wing parties, and to this day many residents here refer to it as "The free republic of Žižkov".
The neighborhood is home to the famous and much-maligned Žižkov Television Tower, which was completed in 1992 and now dominates a skyline otherwise dotted with the Prague Castle and several medieval cathedrals and buildings. Several locals despised the construction of the spaceship-like tower, which has been voted as the second-ugliest building by one online publication. I can understand why they'd be upset, as it's the first thing you notice when you take to one of the city's lookout posts or fly into the city, rather than one of the more historical structures.
Žižkov is also home to the Czech Republic's National Monument, the Prague University of Economics, a few parks - including my favorite, the beer garden-boasting Holy Cross Hill - and FK Victoria Žižkov, a former Czech soccer power that has fallen on tough times in recent years. Known for it's cobblestone roads and sidewalks and located on hills that once served as vineyards for Prague's royalty, Žižkov has everything you'd need to survive within walking distance.
On a personal level, the neighborhood boasts one of the best Czech restaurants I've eaten at, Lavicka, a great pizza joint in Pizzeria VendeMaria, a gym, pastry shop and Vietnamese market less than 100 meters from my apartment building, and the Lipanska tram stop, which is less than a five minute walk and then two stops from the city's main metro and train station.
Across the street is the Street Radio pub, one of 300 in Žižkov, which is known to have the most pubs per capita in the world in a country that drinks the most beer per capita of any country in the world. Next door is the Veltlin wine bar, where I've now bought four bottles of wine despite the fact that I don't drink wine, just as a way to strike up a conversation with the cute blonde who works there. And around the corner is the Pokrok Art Studios, something I wish my brother, a fantastic artist in his own right, would love to check out.
Some locals here in Prague dump on Žižkov a bit, as a number of gypsies can be found here and numerous sketchy strip clubs and brothels dot the streets. Heck, I even complain about the apparent lack of desire folks living here have to clean up after their dogs.
But, like I tell those detractors, all that just adds to the colorful neighborhood that I will have called home for six months before moving up to our baseball facility in August.
For more photos of Žižkov, please click the link here...