Two-Day Trek: Brussels, Belgium
Torn between parties and politics, this city goes all out in embracing its quirkiness.
From urinating statues to stainless steel spheres, there’s a lot to digest — and that’s aside from the cuisine. Still struggling with its newfound importance, Brussels is in many ways the gateway to Europe, a buttoned-up city always ready for fun.
SATURDAY
Our first journey on the Eurostar took us into the city on a late Saturday afternoon, and after arriving at Brussels South station, we caught the Metro’s No. 3 line to De Brouckere, the closest stop to our hotel, The Dominican (Rue Leopold 9), built on the site of a monastery. After dropping off our stuff, we thought it would be a good idea to indoctrinate ourselves to the city by heading a few blocks south to the Grand Place, the famous central square.
Built in the Flemish Renaissance style of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the square itself is slightly more modern; Louis XIV’s troops used cannons to reduce it to rubble in 1695, but it was rebuilt within five years. A number of notable buildings ring the Grand Place, including the Hotel de Ville, now the town hall, which is topped by a statue of St. Michael killing the devil; Le Cornet, an elaborate white building that once housed the boatmen’s guild house; Le Cygre, a cafe where Karl Marx once held meetings; and the Maison du Roi [King’s House], which was built in the 1870s and is now home to the Brussels city museum.
A sudden downpour forced us into the comfort of the Maison du Roi, where we had a chance to see the city’s treasures, including the expanding wardrobe of the famous Manneken-Pis statue. Once our refuge ended, we traveled a few blocks south to find it, a two-foot bronze fountain of a little boy peeing protected by a large gate to protect it from the swarming crowds. The one on display is not the original from the early 1600s; that’s the property of the city’s museum, which swapped it out with a replica 50 years ago.
That sparked an impromptu quest to find the statue’s unofficial siblings: the 30-year-old Jeanneke-Pis, a squatting girl, located at the end of an alley known as Impasse de la Fidelite, and Het Zinneke, a sculpture, not a fountain, of a dog lifting his leg outside Rue des Chartreux 31.
What To Know
Date of visit: Aug. 19 to Aug. 21, 2017.
Airport location: Eight miles (13 km) northeast of the city center. The InterCity trains go directly from the station in the airport to Brussels Central.
Walkability: 6/10. It’s incredibly easy to get around the central areas, but the Metro will be helpful when going beyond the suburbs.
English: Widely spoken, even though French and Dutch/Flemish are the country’s official languages.
Must-See Attraction: The Grand Place is peak Brussels; in August of even-numbered years, the 19,000-square-foot Flower Carpet covers the square.
Traveler’s tip: If taking the Eurostar, book a ticket to Any Belgian Station. It will allow free travel anywhere in the country by rail within 24 hours of the departure and return journeys.
Content to have completed the collection, we returned to Theatre Royal De Toone (Rue du Marche aux Herbes 66), a Marionette museum that gives performances on weekends in Dutch and French, then explored the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (Galerie du Roi 5), a street lined by shops and covered by an ornate glass ceiling.
At this point, it was time for dinner, so upon a friend’s recommendation, we zig-zagged toward St. Catherine’s Church and found La Villette (Rue du Vieux Marche aux Grains 3), where we indulged in the traditional “moules and frites,” or mussels and fries. And, after returning to the Manneken-Pis to hopefully snap a photo without the crowds — mission accomplished — we stopped at a nearby chocolatier, knowing we couldn’t miss out on dessert.
SUNDAY
Knowing the rest of our family wasn’t set to arrive in Brussels until mid-afternoon, we decided to take some initiative and see a bit of Belgium. Friends and colleagues recommended Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp, and given that the first two were on the same train line, we made an early morning run from Brussels South station to the northwest.
We arrived in Bruges without much of a plan, deciding originally to wander along the streets toward the city center. Because it was early, and it was Sunday, it was peaceful and quiet — undisturbed by what we had been told could be insufferable tourist crowds during the summer. On a whim, we strolled up to the Belfry in the Market Square and climbed the 366 steps to the top of the leaning bell tower, offering a clear view of the city and the region. (It even chimed — loudly — when we were at the top.)
Our decision was rewarded when we encountered a massive line of people waiting to enter the tower as we left. We did a lap around the Market Square before snaking through De Berg, the city’s other plaza, and into the Basilica of the Holy Blood, built in the 1100s and home to a vial containing a cloth stained with the blood of Jesus Christ.
We then took an aimless ring around the city, making our way along the Groenerei canal and down the Langestraat to the Kruispoort, a preserved city gate that dates to the 1400s. Nearby, the Bonne Chieremolen, a windmill built in 1844 to grind corn, sits on an embankment. After catching a breath at the oasis that is the Hof de Jonge, a park that’s home to sheep and pear trees, we returned to the city center and wound through Ten Wijngaerde, a neighborhood that has been home to a religious community since 1240.
After we grabbed sandwiches at a local cafe, we returned to the train station to travel to Ghent, less than 30 minutes away but completely different in look and feel. The No. 1 tram took us all the way up to Gravensteen, a castle built in the 1100s on the River Leie and the Lieve canal. We stopped at a pair of food stalls in the Groentemarkt for two local staples — Belgian chips and couberdons, tiny purple diamond-shaped raspberry jelly candies.
By mid-afternoon, we had returned via train to Brussels, then joined up with the rest of our jetlagged family as they ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe near the Grand Place. And, in a city that emphasizes its beer culture, the night ended with a jaunt over to the Delirium Cafe (Impasse de la Fidelite 4), which has one of the longest beer lists in the world at more than 2,000 offers on hand — including the Delirium line.
MONDAY
A slow morning began by grabbing a croissant at local chain Exki (Rue du Marché Aux Herbes 93) before taking Metro lines 5 and 6 to Heysel, where we had booked tickets to the Atomium — a large, whimsical, stainless steel structure built in the shape of an iron crystal for the 1958 World’s Fair. Now a museum celebrating the culture of international exhibitions, it also hosted a temporary exhibit that, at the time, told the story of Sabena, the former national airline of Belgium. Don’t miss the views from the cafe at the top.
We returned to the Grand Place intending to meet a guide who would show us the art of making the traditional Belgian waffle — only to be disappointed when he not only failed to show, but also didn’t return any of our calls. No bother. We carried on, and considering we were in not only the capital of Belgium but the de facto seat of Europe, we chose to join a guided tour of the European Parliament, giving us an overview of how the European Union conducts its business. We then freely explored the adjacent Parlamentarium, the museum devoted to the history of the organization, but then missed out on a visit inside the nearby Royal Palace, which had closed for the day. On the way back across the city, we stumbled upon the World Padel Tour’s event in Place de la Monnaie and stopped to watch a match, which appeared to be a combination of squash and tennis. We then made the jaunt back to St. Catherine’s Church, where we stopped the first night, for dinner at Jardin Van Gogh (Place Sainte-Catherine 5), a cozy pasta and seafood restaurant.
After finishing, and with our waffle void unfilled, we took up the suggestion of a few locals and headed to Mokafe in the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert, which keeps late hours and, we were told, is the best place for a true Belgian waffle. Of sumptuous size and quality, we returned to the hotel satisfied, ready for our early morning trip home on the Eurostar.
Verdict: If there was one regret, it’s that we didn’t spend enough time in Bruges or Ghent, with just a few hours’ taste of two apparently delightful cities. But for Brussels, a place with so many culinary delights and local treasures, it was time well spent.
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Disclaimers: All products, services and experiences were paid for and arranged by the author and the vendors named herein had no editorial oversight of this piece. All photographs were taken by and remain the property of the author; contact for republication rights.
