I visited the wonderful Brussels and found out about the history of the European Headquarters.
I got to spend a very wonderful 2 days here and it was honestly not enough, I'd have loved an extra day to soak up all that this wonderful city had to offer. Here's my handy guide to this old yet new, city.
TOP TIP: If you're getting the Eurostar to Brussels-Midi don't forget your ticket entitles you to get to Brussels-Central so hop on a train to there, it'll save you a 30 minute walk and take you straight to the buzzing centre in 5 minutes.
Day One:
So I arrived at 10am so I had effectively 2 full days to explore. Our hotel (Hotel Floris Arlequin Grand Place) was perfectly centred just a 2 minute walk from the Grand Place and a 10 minute walk from Brussels-Central. We dumped our bags and headed straight to grab our Open Top bus tour - I don't normally recommend this as they are normally phenomenally expensive but it really is the best way to explore this sprawling city. We took the main Brussels line and took a brief stop outside Laeken Castle, The Royal Residence. You may ask why I didn't go into the Royal Castle and the answer would be that the King is permanently in residence here, and no one needs to see the King in his undies! They have a Palace for Official business, The Palace of Brussels but we'll get to that later.
After gawping at the beautiful Castle for a short while we moved on to visit the Atomium - this structure was specially designed and built for the 1958 World's Fair - It's now a museum and you can actually enter 5 of the spheres and if you're feeling particularly flush you could eat in the top sphere with panoramic views of Brussels. Walking round the corner and like a little kid I become too excited, it's like Christmas, but alas, it's not the water park, Oceade that we're going to it's Mini-Europe. I'd seen this place on TravelMan (the Channel 4 TV series, here in the UK) and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of the biggest reasons for coming to Brussels. Essentially it is exactly what it says on the tin - Europe... in mini.
Yup! All Mini! Well, 1:25 to be precise. It had every City in Europe and their main landmark - Paris; Eiffel Tower, Rome; The Colosseum, Brussels; Grand Place... Honestly, I know I'm sounding super nerdy here but it was so cool! Definitely worth spending an hour walking round here.
Once we'd had an ice cream from one of the many vendors waiting for us by the Atomium we hopped back on our bus and headed back towards the City Centre. If you have more time it would be worth a wander up to the Expo building and a walk to the Planetarium, all within a 5 minute walk of the Atomium.
Before heading back into the City we stopped at the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The imposing building is the fourth largest church in the world and the largest Art Deco building ever built. Even the picture below does not give a true representation of it's sheer size. It is first and foremost a place of worship but it also houses two museums - The Black Sisters Museum and the Modern Religious Art Museum. We filled up on wonderful food from Le Basilic before heading back on the bus.
Now arriving back at Brussels-Central we head to our final attraction for the day, Moof Museum - a Comic book museum. As you can see from the statue, Belgium are still very proud of their les Schtroumpfs or de Smurfen to their Dutch speakers (I should mention at this stage I suppose that in Belgium it's 2 main languages are Dutch and French, however German is not rare to see about the place either).
After a fun-filled day and an early start we are exhausted but we can't go to bed without some delicious grub. My top tip for eating out is do not eat on the main square or on the Rue du Marche aux Herbes - it's overpriced and not spectacularly good food. Instead head a little off the square to Chez Patrick - a traditional Belgian restaurant serving traditional cuisine from Rabbit to Veal. It's a little bit pricier than the alternatives in the square but you'll enjoy it so much more.
Day two:
Time to head back on the bus but this time we're heading for Line 1 - The 'Europe' line. This will take a more historical look at Brussels as well as a look into the EU side of Brussels.
First stop is The Royal Place - this is a square-about that offers fantastic museums and art galleries - especially renowned for it's Magritte Art Gallery on the corner but if that's not your thing you can explore the 18th Century Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg church or Courthouse before walking round to the Royal Palace of Brussels.
The Royal Palace of Brussels; a beautiful neoclassical building with a longer facade than Buckingham Palace. I mentioned this earlier when talking about the Royal Residence at Castle Laeken, well this is where the Royals come to carry out official business such as royal audiences, state receptions and it also houses apartments for official heads of state to stay when they visit the capital. This palace is built on the grounds of Coudenberg Palace a very old palace that dated back to the Middle Ages. The only part of Coudenberg Palace that remain are the vaults which you can still go and visit today.
If you turn 180 degrees you'll see the entrance to Brussels Park; originally this 32 acre park was part of the Coudenberg Palace too, which goes to show the scale of the old Palace. This Park was designed in classic Belgian, neoclassical style by Gilles-Barnabé Guimard and Joachim Zinner between 1776 and 1783. At the other end of the Park you'll see the Beligian House of Parliament building - tours are available here but make sure you book ahead as it is a working building.
Once you've sufficiently explored the park, head back to the Palace and you'll see a Bus stop for the Hop on Hop off Bus. Once on set your marker to Sablon, and you'll be dropped off just outside Church of Our Lady-of-the-Sablon. This 15th Century, late Brabantine Gothic church not only looks spectacular from the outside but the inside is beautiful. The whole construction took an entire century! The Church is most well known for it's Baroque Chapels, of which it boasts two. The well-to-do Thurn und Taxi family had them built in the late 17th Century and they are consider to be one of the best of their kind.
Once you've taken in the vast ceiling and incredible murals of the church, head outside and cross the road to Cafe du Sablon, if you're a coffee person you wont be disappointed or if like me you don't like coffee, then you'll be sure to like the tasty cakes and biscuits on offer - yum!
I had the most delicious carrot cake and a chocolate frappe - seriously, just reminiscing this place is making my mouth water. It's also a great location to keep looking at the Church. It's worth noting that Petit Sablon is just around the corner where you'll be able to see another spectacular church with the Statue of Counts Egmont and Hoorn.
If you cross the road back to the bus you'll be able to carry on up the road. Unfortunately whilst I was there the Palace of Justice was undergoing extensive work and therefore we weren't able to go in and scaffolding prevented us from seeing the beauty of the palace; we could only just see the exquisite gold dome.
If you carry on the bus you'll pass the luxury shopping street, Avenue Louise before coming to the EU Parliament building. If you have an interest in the history of the EU it's definitely worth taking an hour out of your day to visit Station Europe and the museum.
By this time I remember it being a little late for food - but going anyway... it's a holiday after all, right? If you head out to the square where the bus dropped you off and take a direct right you'll end up at The Grapevine, a lovely little cafe-bistro that can whip you up pretty much anything you want. I had a delicious croque-monsiuer and a lovely homemade lemonade. They do fuller meals too if you're even hungrier than me!
Once you're tummy is full, get back on the bus for one final visit to Cinquantenaire - meaning literally, the 50th. It was a park and building created to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Belgian Independence in 1880. The park is 30 hectares and has been used for many festivals and exhibitions over the years. Once you reach the halfway point you should be able to see the arches of the U-shaped complex.
Once you approach the arch you'll see there are information spots which tell you about the history of this building. In the North building (on the left in this photo), the Military Museum have inhabited this part since it's opening in 1880, and previous to then this area was used for military exercises. To the left, there is the Art & History Museum. In the northern corner of the park there is also The Great Mosque of Brussels. Once you've explored here head back to the bus and back to the Grand Place because you've not got long left to buy your 'tourist tat' or as normal people call it, 'presents for people back home'. Remember that if you travelled via Eurostar, there is no restrictions on Alcohol so if I were you I'd head straight to Biertempel to take full advantage of this loophole.
We were welcomed by a lovely northerner (yes, much to our surprise as well!) who was only too happy to help me, a non-beer drinker, buy the best selection of beers for my long suffering boyfriend who I had left back in England.
After grabbing some beer made by monks, so beer drank at the Battle of Waterloo, and some locally brewed beer, we were on our merry way to every chocolate shop on the street.
We firstly stopped at Elizabeth, a beautifully designed shop with flowers draping the window. It was full of fantastic meringues, little lavender biscuits as well as much more.
Elizabeth shops are dotted all around Brussels so I'm sure you'll find one on your travels.
Once we'd got our chocolate fix we were just walking back to Grand Place when I spotted the most spectacular window front. It was Rose de Damas, a patisserie full of colour. The shopkeeper was quick to offer me tasters of the pastries that caught my eye - which sadly left me spending far too much money in here and giving absolutely none to my family and friends (what... it's a 2 hour train ride back to London!).
And just one last thing. You HAVE to have a waffle. Try heading to Waffle Factory - it's quite popular so be prepared to wait but oh boy will the wait be worth it. Choose from one of their 4 waffles of varying textures and sweetness, then add your toppings - I had Strawberries drizzled in chocolate with whipped cream and macarons and it. was. delishhhhhhhhhh.
