Brussels (Part 3)

Day 3 : Flea Market - Les Sablons - Grand Sablon – Plaise de Justice – Grand Place

• Place du Jeu de Balle Market in Marolles – The flea market opens each day from 7am to 2pm. It offers everything from the weird to the wonderful at rock-bottom prices. It was a much more exciting place to shop – sorry I love shopping! But it’s also a great place just to look around. Really great market full of stalls selling bric-a-brac. I bought four ornated antique mini cups and saucers here for 25 Euros.
  
  
  
  
  
• The market started to close around 1pm and we stopped by Cafe La Brocante (Rue Blaes 170 - near the market) for lunch. Again it was another good meal! Apparently they carry the beer Westvleteren 12 which is meant to be the best beer in the world.

  

  [ Cafe near the market ]

  

  [ My lunch ]

  
  
  
• Antique shops – After lunch, we walked down the cobbled hill via the Rue Haute and Rue Blaesto towards Grand Sablon. These two streets are full of antique shops with interesting merchandise – some big pieces art deco style furniture and small home decorations. We basically spent most of the afternoon window shopping here. 
  

  
• Chocolate tasting in Grand Sablon – Apart from beers, mussels and fries. Belgium is also famous for their chocolates. Our first visit to a professional chocolatier was at Pierre Marcolini's. We sampled a few pieces and bought a few chocolate bars here. Then we bought a whole box from Wittamer because they were much cheaper but equally good. We also stopped at Wittamer Café (Place du Grand Sablon 6) for afternoon tea. 

  

  [ Pierre Marcolini ]

  
• Palais de Justice – Very grand looking court house situated at a high point where it is the best place to admire the view of the city.

  

  [ Flemish architecture ]

  
  
  
  
• Grand Place – The most notable landmark in Brussels. Surrounded by guildhalls, the Town Hall and the King’s House, it’s probably the most beautiful square in the world. The nearby Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is a quaint shopping arcades house a whole variety of boutiques.
  

  

  [ Grand Palace ]
• We had beers at Le Roys, the city’s oldest ‘café’ in the square and my first bottle of frambois (raspberry) beer was thirst-quenching.
• We had dinner in the lively Ilôt Sacré area near the Grand Place. The whole area is full of many restaurants and bars. We had moules frites (yes again) in Chez Leon. What a great dish and I just didn’t get enough of it!! The restaurant was really busy and their moules frites were even better than Chez Patrick. Highly recommend even though their web site looks a bit cheesy!
  

  

Day 4 : Atomium - Ilôt Sacré

• Another famous landmark is the futuristic-looking museum built in 1958. Atomium is situated in the outskirts of Brussels (Metro Heysel/Heizel). It was a very hot day when we were there and it’s quite a walk from the metro station to the museum. The museum sits near a huge park and at the time of our visit, there was going to be a big music festival there. We didn’t visit inside the ‘spheres’ as it didn’t has air-conditioning. Something you don’t want to do on a hot day even though I probably won’t be going back again! However, it looked amazing from the outside. I have seen nothing like it.
  

  

  
• Ilôt Sacré – The area has a different vibe during the day. Restaurants here were packed with tourists at lunch time. Rue des Bouchers (butcher’s street), the home of the Manneken-pis (the pissing boy statue), still bears many testimonies of the past. It has lots of beautiful stepped gables and curls, and ancient doors mostly dating from the 17th century. Across the statue, there sits the famous bar, Poechenellekelder. The restaurant Aux Armes De Bruxelles on 13 Rue des Bouchers) is another restaurant often mentioned in guidebooks for their national dish – ahem….yes it’s moules and frites again.
  

  

  

  Rue au beurre (Boterstraat) named after the butter market that used to be held here has the remaining few medieval buildings in the city. Further along the street and follow your nose, you will find the 17th-century building housing Belgium's oldest biscuit factory, Dandoy (Boterstraat 31). Their buttery and crunchy butterfly biscuits were my favourite. Remember to bring some home, they can keep and you won’t regret it!
• There is an open piazza in the area where we had a light lunch with salad. I think by then we had too much greasy fries and it was also about time to make our way home.

Brussels (Part 2) - Brugge

Day 2 - Brugge

• With the Eurostar ticket, we took the train for free to Brugge. However, the train was fully packed so we had to stand for an hour. There wasn’t any staff checking our tickets but we had confirmed with the ticketing office before we boarded. 
  
  
• Brugge is a really beautiful place. It’s full of well-kept medieval buildings. The historic city centre is a UNESCO site.

  

  [ Brugge ]

• We hired a sturdy bicycle for 4 hours (Euro 8) near the train station and tried to follow the map I had downloaded on-line but proved to be impossible! So at the end, we just ditched the map and rode around mindlessly instead. In hindsight, we should have gone with the Quasimundo cycling tour but you need to watch your time if you are going to do that.
  
• The town centre was really busy with tourists and it’s full of cute shops. Since we only had half a day to spend, we couldn’t see all the interesting places. We cycled along the canal and stopped by Café Vlissinghe on Blekerstraat 2I for lunch. It’s the oldest pub in town. It was really by chance that we found this place so we were very lucky. It was a glorious day so we sat in the garden and had another simple lunch – just some cold cuts, gherkins and pearl onions with bread. Food was mediocre but the place was special. By then, I was really liking the ‘Belgium diet’ though! 

  

  [ Oldet pub in Brugge ]

  

  [ Brugge Town Centre ]

• We did have time to have a boat trip around the canals, it was fantastic! Also we went to a few shops, had an authentic Belgium waffle - it was really delicious – and sampled more chocolates. There are a few specialty beer shops in Brugge so my husband had bought a few bottles back home. Although we did do a lot in half a day but Brugge is really a lovely place and I would recommend at least staying a night in order to enjoy it fully. Apparently the city has a different feel when there aren’t as many people around.
  
  
  
• Dinner in Bar Bik near our hotel in a trendy studious neighbourhood. We had steak with frites (extremely delicious fries) and pan-fried fish. The best fries we have ever tasted! The food was sensational although it was expensive.

Brussels

Trip made in summer 2010 (4 days)

Why?

I suppose Brussels probably isn’t a popular choice for tourists visiting in Europe but if you do have time, it’s worth to squeeze in just a couple of days to sample the great food offered in this city. We went there because it’s easy to get to via Eurostar from London and we can make a side trip to the beautiful medieval city, Brugge.

Eurostar

We bought a package with Expedia.com and saved a lot instead of getting train tickets and hotel accommodation separately. The train departs from St Pancras in London. The waiting area for Eurostar was easy to find. The journey was pleasant and fast. My first impression of Brussels however wasn’t that great. I thought the train station would look much more impressive but it wasn’t. 

Travel Around

We bought a 10-ride ticket from the metro station, it’s valid both on metro and buses. Honestly if you didn’t use the ticket, nobody will notice as there isn’t a gate. Beware of picked pockets in a packed carriage. My husband’s iPhone was stolen the very first second we got off the train. 

Accommodation

We stayed in Hotel Novotel Business Center Tour Noire on 32 Rue de la Vierge Noire.

The hotel looked decent, much better than I expected. Our room was spacious and clean. The view from our room was nice. There is a few Mac offer free internet access in the hotel lobby. Buffet breakfast was adequate but not of the same standards that we are used to in hotels in Asia. It had a very nice view and best of all in a very good location, it’s of walking distance to the metro and bus and the grand square, Grand Place (or Grote Market). So I think it’s good value for money.

[ View from our room ]

[ View at night ]

Day 1 : Flagey – Bailli – Place du Chatelain

• Lunch at Café Belga in Flagey - Sits on the ground floor of Flagey Building, the funky art deco building formerly known as Maison de la Radio and now hosting a cultural center. The café/bar is spacious and stylish with outdoor dining area. It holds regular music events and it’s a hip place to hang out in the evening as people gather around the plaza in front of the building. It was a bit quiet in the afternoon when we were there. We had a simple lunch – salad, lentil soup and baguette but it was all very delicious.

  

  [ Flagey ]

• Rue du Bailli & Place du Chatelain – I came to these areas suggested by a guidebook as there were meant to be full of cool shops. However, apart from the Wednesday food market in Place du Chatelain, forget about finding a good shop here. Try La Quincaillerie for a drink or dinner though. The restaurant opened its door in 1903 and the decoration is really different and funky. However bewares that it hasn’t got great reviews and for this reason I did give it a miss. I would have loved to come for a pre-dinner drink but the location is a bit far out from public transport.
  
• Dinner was at a family-run restaurant Chez Patrick on 6 Rue des Chapeliers in Grand Place – Just a few minutes’ walk from our hotel. The food we had was excellent, didn’t expect that in such a touristy area. I had moules frites (mussels and fries) in white wine sauce and my husband really enjoyed the knuckled-ham cooked with fennels. Somebody on-line also recommended ‘stoemp’, the Belgian bangers and mash!

  

  [ Chez Patrick ]

  

  [ Moules & Frites ]

  
  

  
  

• Night cap at A La Mort Subite on 7 Rue Montagne-aux-Herbes-Potagères – After dinner, we visited this oldie worldie but still beautifully decorated beer hall. We were transported back to 1928 with their delicious Gueuze beers. Service here was great and since it’s a big place, it’s the kind of place you can have a beer and a quiet chat.

  

  [ Grand Palace at night ]