When you think of Belgium, you think of beer, chocolate and waffles. This city can easily turn anyone into a roly-poly within a few days. Brussels felt quite underwhelming to us but it might be because it is our 21st country (out of a total of 27) that we have visited in our 7+ months journey! Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union (EU) and all its current challenges. Fortunately, there are plenty of good restaurants and loads of pubs in the city, with 260+ Belgium beers, to wash away all the EU problems of the day. Brussels has excellent food and the exceptional seafood is plentiful throughout the city. Also known for their mussels, they were the biggest and most delicious mussels we have ever had – especially when you combine them with a hefty mug of cold, dark Belgium beer! We were also very surprised at the very reasonable food & beverage prices throughout the city. (We had a tasty, casual $10 lunch today which would have been $30 in Switzerland.)
After arriving on Thursday afternoon, we headed out on Friday to take a walking tour of the City Center/Old Town section of the city. With all the cobblestone streets in this city, it is clearly a no-no for stiletto-clad ladies. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain like it has almost every day for the last two weeks. We met our tour group at the magnificent Grand Place which is the crown-jewel of Old Town and a UNESCO Heritage Site. The striking gothic Town Hall also sits majestically on the square. We think it is the most magnificent plaza we have even seen . . . . even more spectacular than St. Mark’s Square in Venice. This enormous square simply captures your attention with all the ornate baroque and gothic buildings & guild houses accented with gold-leafing on the facades. While the beautiful Galleries Royales Saint Hubert on the Grand Place square is one of the oldest shopping arcades in Europe, it does not rival the Strand Arcade in Sydney, Australia.
The walking tour was somewhat underwhelming, like the city. Perhaps, it is because we covered quite a small area in 2 1/2 hours and didn’t really gain any insight about the city. One of the most hyped “landmarks” in the city is the Manneken-Pis, the “tiny” fountain of a peeing boy known around the world as the symbol of Brussels – Really? Yes, a real disappointment to see in person. Even more ridiculous is that this little statue has a wardrobe of almost 900 costumes from around the world which are put on the little guy during certain holidays and celebrations throughout the year. The tiny outfits are all approved by a special government commission! Many of the outfits were given by heads of various countries when visiting Brussels to bring a miniature version of their national costume for the boy.
After our tour, we strolled around both the upper and lower sections Brussels. The upper section of Brussels hosts numerous financial and international institutions and museums. Belgium seems to have trouble keeping its northern and southern halves together. Apparently, the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking regions are in constant battle with each other. Brussels is bilingual; but, French is the main language and English is commonly spoken. The Flemish region is north of Belgium. As we looked around and confirmed by our tour guide, Belgium is indeed a melting pot of nationalities. While the lower section of Brussels contains the fabulous Grand Place and a fairly charming Old Town, we thought upper Brussels had much more impressive buildings, up-scale shops and a real sophisticated Parisienne flavor to it.
