Last week was one of the most eventful weeks ever. We spent time with our family, met friends, dined at many places, made plans for our house and travelled a lot too.
What are the chances that we would meet my cousin from Slovakia in Brussels? Not big, right (if not planned of course)? A few weeks ago, they told us that they would be spending the weekend in Belgium. We didn't plan to go to The Netherlands at that time, but plans can change, and so we happened to be spending the week with my in-laws, and as it's less than 2 hours drive to Brussels we couldn't miss the chance to see them. We planned to have lunch together and then walk around the city before they would take the bus to the airport.
I used to live in Belgium, but I haven't been there for more than 10 years, so I was excited to enjoy it again. During my entire stay there I visited Brussels exactly 1 time. I can only remember that it was cold, and that the city was grey and dirty. And this is exactly what I expected. I was surprised to see how much changed in those years. The old town looks well maintained, it is super clean, and people are so friendly.
Let's walk around!
We parked the car close to The Grand Place which is the main square in Brussels. I knew that there was a city hall and some other Baroque buildings, but I didn't remember it was so beautiful. I guess your experience depends a bit on who you are with when you travel 😊
There was a large platform built in the middle of the square and based on the applause and screaming you would think that at least Justin Bieber was performing there, but no, it was a graduation ceremony. There were so many people that we could barely walk among them, and the atmosphere was so nice that I didn't even mind the crowd.
I tried to ignore the screaming and focus on the architecture. The Grand Place is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it consists of the guild houses, the City Hall and the King's House. Here are a few examples of stunning guild houses built around the 2 most important buildings on the square. They used to host the most important people, and I believe that some of them are still used as residential houses, but don't quote me on that. Today, there are various shops and some restaurants on the ground floors.
All of them have plenty of golden details to emphasize the status of their inhabitants. Look at that golden statue on top of the house in the middle, and the cute balcony on the building next to it.
Behind the façade of The House of the Dukes of Brabant are 7 guild houses named after the busts placed into the façade. You can see the row of busts in the middle of the building. I thought that this building had some official function, but today it only hosts a hotel and a restaurant.
The King's house serves as the city museum, and I don't remember seeing it when I was here for the first time. I think that my memory is tricking me as I'm sure that they didn't build it in the meantime 😊
It's an impressive building that somehow reminds me of a horror house.
And finally we have the most beautiful construction (in my opinion) of the square - The City Hall. I had to split it in 2 photos because the tribune was built right in front of it. The building dates to the 15th century, and similar construction can be found in Leuven where I will take you next time. As it goes with many old buildings, the City hall was partly destroyed more than 300 years ago and restored in the 19th century. I think that you can book a guided tour, but we couldn't do it because it was blocked by the graduation ceremony.
We met my cousin and her family in a restaurant for lunch, and from there we went to explore the city. I thought that they had some plan, but it turns out they didn't, so we just went from one street to another admiring the sights.
I couldn't help but compare Brussels to Amsterdam, and I must say that Brussels won at many fronts. It's not so loud, people are really friendly, and it's not as flat as a pancake! I love Amsterdam, but Brussel is something special.
There is a lot of artwork from various artists in the old town. I liked this one named Propaganza by Belgian artis called Spear. We walked up just to see that there is nothing interesting around it, so we turned around and walked back 😊
I guess that this building is part of the European institutions considering the flag, but honestly I have no idea. To me, it just happened to be behind the rainbow pedestrian crossing.
No city trip is complete without a church visit. This time we visited The St. Michael & St. Gudula Cathedral. It looks a little but like Notre Dame in Paris (at least to me)
We couldn't really visit it because of the wedding ceremony, so many ceremonies that day! There was just a small part open, and plenty of people trying to take a tiny place in the crowd.
It's a pity as I would have loved to see the details of those intricate stained glass windows.
Our family had to take the bus to the airport, and we stayed for a few more hours. We found a place serving vegan waffles, and I could feel my veins clogging only by looking at them. They were so good.
It kept raining, and we wanted to hide in The Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert - as you can see we were not the only ones. It's like a huge shopping mall with many boutiques and a few restaurants.
I've heard of hyper-realistic sculptures, but I have never seen one...
There are a few artworks of an artist from Geneva placed in the gallery. I would love to see how she creates all those details and colours.
This one is hyper-realistic in shape, but not so much in colour 😊
There are water droplets on this swimmer, and I should have taken a close-up for you to see, I know.
It didn't stop raining, but we were clever an bought an umbrella, so we could go back to the city. What do you think you can find in this gigantic building? It's a beer museum! Those knowing Belgian culture are not surprised...
When you're in Brussels you have to see the Manneken Pis even though it's the most exaggerated attraction in the city, so let's walk there...
On the way we came across a mural of Tintin and captain Haddock from the Belgian cartoon called The Adventures of Tintin.
And here he is - Manneken Pis in his full glory. I remember being disappointed when I saw him for the first time. It's such a tiny sculpture and the basin is so big that you can 'barely' see him. It's usually dressed for special occasions, and in this case it was the graduation.
On the opposite side of the street is the Manneken Pis Café. Yes, we also thought it was a tourist trap, but it was quite nice. They had a large selection of beers, and I took a summery fruity (probably the lowest percentage of alcohol on the menu) and pink beer that tasted like raspberries. It was yummy because it didn't taste like beer at all.
When we walked back to the car we saw many people standing in front of this statue. Everybody was touching it, and one lady was stroking it a bit too passionately, so it caught my attention. I've learned that it's a memorial to a Belgian hero Everard t’Serclaes, and it is said that it brings luck to anyone who touches it. I'm a bit sceptical to touch something that was touched by who knows how many people before, so there goes my luck.
Our trip was coming to an end, but we couldn't leave Brussels without trying their famous Belgian fries. We forgot to take a photo before eating half of them, but you can see a portion on the balcony of the first floor 😊
See you next time...