I can’t believe October went by so fast! My favorite month has come and gone and now we are getting into the holiday season. I have already started listening to Christmas music! I hope you enjoyed your Halloween this year. I spent mine at Edinburgh’s Oktoberfest at Murrayfield. My Halloween was not as adventurous as the weekend I spent before it though. Last Friday, my friend and I flew to Brussels. We spent the weekend trapezing all over the city, quite literally too. Since everything was in either French of Dutch, we got lost very easily. Even Google Maps led us astray a few times. Overall though it was an amazing trip and the weekend allowed us just enough time to see Brussels.
Day 1:
We departed Edinburgh Friday afternoon and arrived in Brussels at around 5pm just as it began to get dark. Since we flew in to the Brussels Charleroi Airport, we had to get tickets for a shuttle bus into the city which was a little pricey (around 35 euros for a round trip ticket). We got dropped off at the Midi area of the city. Excited to start exploring and (to get food), my friend and I found our Airbnb quickly to drop our bags off before leaving to eat dinner. Our Airbnb host recommended that we check out the Marollen area which led us to the Restaurant L'Ancien Bruxelles. It was small and quiet with pretty metal tins and old pictures of Belgian Royalty covering every inch of the walls. Here, my friend and I experienced our first language barrier. The menu was completely in French and the server spoke very little English, but we ordered anyway, laughing at how we were unsure of what food we would actually be getting. I ordered the mussels, a popular Belgian which came with a drink. Because I could not understand what the server was saying, I agreed to a pint of beer which turned out okay. I am not a big fan of beer but the Jupiler brand I was given tasted almost like a cider. Belgium is also known for beer, so I was glad I got to try some. My mussels, which came out in a huge smoking pot, also came with a side of frites (fries). It was delicious!
After dinner, the sun had completely set but my friend and I went in search for the Grand Place, probably the most iconic spot in Brussels. We got a little lost, but we finally stumbled upon it and were blown away. The Grand Place looked so incredibly beautiful in the moonlight! Grand Place is a courtyard surrounded by four tall, intricately designed gothic style buildings with gold decals and stone engravings. The courtyard was filled with people walking around and going in and out of shops. We came across at least a dozen chocolate shops that night which was very tempting, but we restrained ourselves from buying any until the next day, when we would have time to really explore our options. Before heading back to our Airbnb for the night, we passed the Manneken Pis statue, which was only a couple minutes from Grand Place. The Manneken Pis is a small statue of a little boy urinating into a fountain. Tourists are blocked off from getting within a certain distance from the statue by a metal gate.
Apparently, there is a legend behind it: some people were trying to burn the city down, but a little boy stopped it from happening by urinating on the fire. The Manneken Pis is part of three peeing statues in the city, the Jeanneke Pis, which is the female version, and the Het Zinneke, the dog version. I think it is weird and funny and worth just passing by if you are at the Grand Place. We got a couple photos and then left since there isn’t much to it beyond a boy peeing.
Day 2:
We woke up very early Saturday morning to make the most of our time in Brussels, but this turned out to be a mistake because nothing starts to open in the city until 9 or 10am. So, we just wandered around and saw the exteriors of places we wanted to go into (like the Royal Palace of Brussels which was stunning!). My friend and I spent most of our time at the Mont des Arts (means ‘hill of the arts’) which was a center where all the museums were congregated. It also has a beautiful garden and, from the top of the hill of steps, we saw a fantastic view of the city right down to the tallest building of Grand Place.
Finally, a café opened up right at Mont des Arts, so we went in and ordered something warm since the weather was so cold. Our coffee came with a little macaroon for each of us. Mont des Arts is very close to the Royal Palace and to a stunning park with a tunnel of trees. We wandered through the park for a little bit before heading back to the Grand Place hoping that shops were open by that time. We wanted to get waffles for breakfast, so we did not eat anything at the café. By the time we went to Grand Place, we were starving and bought waffles at the first stand we crossed. I had the best waffles of my life in Belgium. All of them were coated in a sugar and warmed. The first waffle I bought had melted Nutella and speculoos on it which tasted heavenly.
After taking lots of photos and walking around the area surrounding Grand Place, we went back to Marollen for lunch. This time we ate at Restobieres, a Belgian Restaurant we heard was fantastic. The interior looked so pretty with coffee tins and grinders as their décor. We were seated next to a couple other tables. At Restobieres, we realized that it is not common to drink water at a restaurant. The people next to us were sipping wine or a beer. They laughed when they heard us try and order glasses of tap water. Nevertheless, we got our water and some homemade bread before our meal. The food was amazing. We both ordered vegetarian lasagna and I could smell the sauce as it was being brought to our table. It was hot and delicious. After a lot of bread and waffles, some vegetables really hit the spot. After lunch, we walked just a few yards to the Marollen Flea Market which was just a huge garage sale. Normally, I buy so much at flea markets, but I felt so exhausted that I just weaved through it like a zombie. After so much walking (in the entire weekend, we walked about 26 miles) we went back to our Airbnb for a nap. Refreshed from sleep, we set out again to explore. We passed by the Sainte Catherine D’Alexandrie Cathedral which was stunning with its high vaulted ceiling and stained glass.
Afterwards, we continued to the Bourse area near Grand Place and wandered around a little. We got dinner at the Grand le Café. We went to a table on their second level and passed a huge basket of baguettes. I was tempted to rip off a piece it looked so good. After eating, we went back to Grand Place since it looked so spectacular the night before. From there, we wandered onto a street blocked off to cars filled that was filled with people and restaurants. One thing I loved about Brussels was a lot of their small shopping streets were for pedestrians only. The street we came to broke off into an alley to the right called the Delirium Village, which was an arrangement of different bars all connected to each other. Each bar room of the Village was for a different type of drink. It looked very cool and was swarming with other young travelers. We went into the beer bar and tasted some of their fruity beers.
Delirium Beer is a Belgium specialty (you will see its icon, a pink elephant, everywhere around Brussels) but since I am more of a fan of fruity drinks, I got the Floris Apple which tasted almost like sweet hard cider but with a malty kick to it. Once we finished our drinks, we went back to our Airbnb for the night.
Day 3
We woke up later that the day before knowing that nothing would be open early in the morning. Since we had to get out of the Airbnb by 12, we packed up all our stuff and headed to the Midi train station around 9. Midi was where the we had to get the shuttle bus back to the airport and we knew there would be luggage lockers in the train station close to our bus stop. We wandered underground into the station looking for lockers. We asked an official for help and he pointed us to the right floor. Once we got onto the correct level, we wandered some more before finding the lockers. I think there were three different sizes to choose from. We took a small locker since it went backward really far, and we didn’t have that much luggage. We had to pay in coins which cost, if I remember correctly, four euros for a 24-hour hold. Each column of lockers had a corresponding machine. Once the locker was paid for, the machine spitted out a ticket. When we went to remove our luggage later that day, we had to scan the ticket for the locker to unlock.
After dumping our bags, we went back near Grand Place for the Royal Gallery of St. Hubert’s, which was an indoor section of shops (smaller than a mall). It is known for the beautiful interior architecture. The ceiling looked almost like a cathedral with a high domed top, but instead of stone it was made of a glass material.
Before entering the Gallery, we bought waffles from a nearby stand (all waffles with toppings are pricey in the tourist areas so we paid about 7 euros each). I ordered one with speculoos, caramel, and chocolate. The stand also added whipped cream which made eating it very messy since the cream started to melt from the warmth of the waffle. After window shopping, we called an Uber to take us to the Atomium which was a good distance outside the city center. The Atomium is landmark in Brussels and was constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. It is now a museum and thousands of tourists flock to it to take an elevator to the top atom for panoramic views of Brussels.
Right next to Atomium was Mini Europe which is a miniature park of the most famous monuments in Europe. We bought a student ticket to see both attraction which costed just over 20 euros each. We bought tickets at Atomium after waiting in a long line. We then had to wait in another line to get to the elevator to reach the top atom. The elevator was the only way to get to the top part of the structure. We got lucky that it was such a clear day. We had beautiful views of the city and of Mini Europe below. I definitely recommend both Atomium and Mini Europe. A lot of sites in Mini Europe were unknown to me beforehand but I did see well known monuments like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, Grand Place, and Big Ben. There were tiny little protesters under Big Ben with signs about Brexit which I thought was so funny! There is a specific path and ordering of Mini Europe and the entire site took us over an hour since there was just so much of the world to see! We were absolutely freezing by the end of it though.
Since it was getting later in the day, we called another Uber to take us back to Midi. We ate dinner at a restaurant right across from the entrance to the train station. After an hour or so we picked up our luggage and went to our bus stop. There were many other people taking the same shuttle. We only had to wait about twenty minutes until the shuttle came. The bus drive asked us all to wait but one girl who didn’t have a ticket went right up to the bus door to buy one and board. This resulted in pandemonium. Before she came by, everyone was waiting very calmly. When the girl (un)knowingly cut in front of people, everyone herded the front of the bus like it was the last one for the night. People were yelling and pushing. It is crazy what the threat of one person can do to a crowd! The bus driver calmed everyone down, but he looked disturbed and irritated. It was actually very funny.
This trip to Brussels was my first time really outside of the UK I’ve been to Ireland but that is still very West of Europe. I very much enjoyed the weekend, especially the waffles and chocolate! Even though I had a great time, I don’t think I will make it a point to visit Brussels again, and I would definitely not do it alone. When we were walking back to our Airbnb later in the night, there were only men out on the streets. For female travelers, I would not suggest venturing out alone past 9 or 10pm in the city.
Wishing you warm drinks and new adventures,
Maria
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