Volume Two: The First Days!
Ahoy there! I hope you’re all dying to know what happened in the first half of me and Ben’s trip to Brussels and which bodacious Brussels buildings we found the best. As you may have gathered from Volume One, the itinerary was mega busy. Molto busy. If you’re not dying to know, well you’re going to find out anyway if you stick around 😊
We spent five glorious and exhausting days in the Belgian capital. Let me show you in detail the itinerary and my experience from the first three days. To set the scene, it’s December the 12th and we have stepped off the plane and made our way to the city centre via Flibco bus (remember, book online to save pennies)….
You’re reading Volume Two – The First Days.
For Volume One, click here, for Volume Three, click here and for Volume Four, click here!
Come with me for a meticulous breakdown of each day, with the sites and attractions listed first, and the bites and beverages saved until after. Can’t have you getting too hungry and missing the beautiful buildings. Or the models of buildings!
Voyage and Discover
Let me take you through our first two days in Brussels. Two days out of our 5 here. You can use these as inspiration, peruse them out of interest, or pretty much anything you want to, I guess. For a reminder of the full itinerary, which may make the following a bit clearer, click here.
Day One
Our first day starts rather unsurprisingly with a flight into the country. Our itinerary starts at 15:15, after dropping our bags off and discovering filthy forks in our hotel room…. Yeah, you read right. (click here to jump to the Accommodation Evaluation).
It was a pretty nice day, although it didn’t end as planned. Then again, which good stories do?
15:15-15:30 Palace of Justice
Towering above the city like an all-seeing dome, the building of the Palace of Justice was sadly rather underwhelming due to the presence of my all-time arch nemesis… scaffolding!! I swear, it follows me everywhere. Pretty much anywhere and everywhere I’ve been, buildings have always been under construction or covered in scaffolding. St. Michael’s gate in Bratislava, the Cathedral in Croatia to name just a couple. Of course, we snapped a pic or two, but the best view was actually in the other direction over the buildings of Brussels.
We arrived at around 15:30 via a lift – and got our first taste of the Brussels street art; which is particularly famous in Brussels and worthy of attention. We didn’t stay long, as again, there wasn’t too much to see we thought. Hopefully if you go, you’ll have a better view – feel free to show me your snaps!
Unexpected, Along-The-Way, Things Worth Seeing
As the title suggests, we happened to bump into some sights that were not on the itinerary, but well deserve a mention, so you can add them to yours!
Square du Petit Sablon
Around about 15:50 we happened to pass the Cathedral we’d planned to visit another day: Eglise Notre-Dame Du Sablon. Opposite said Cathedral was a cute little park by the name of “Square du Petit Sablon”. A rectangular, landscaped garden with a wee pond and a statue. Very picturesque and quite peaceful, despite the “keep of the grass” signs… We thought it was a nice wee gem for a quick stop!
Place Royale Bruxelles
Home to impressive neoclassical buildings, museums, a large church and it used to be a market square. It’s a really clean area, which might seem bizarre but if you’ve been, you’ll know what I mean. White buildings all around and in the centre, the Statue of Godefroy de Bouillon. I personally felt dear Godefroy was more of a landmark than possibly some other buildings, as he cut such a sharp silhouette on the skyline. The square exudes 1700s architecture and European style. It certainly catches your eye. The Royal Palace is just around the corner.
15:45-16:15 Belgian Royal Palace
A very Buckingham Palace-type setting with the large street outside and the long house beyond the gates. There isn’t too much time to be spent there from the outside, and we arrived at around 16:05. Again, the wonderful scaffolding was up but despite this, it was rather a pretty and impressive building.
I would have liked to have gone inside, or for some kind of audio tour, although I could of course not be lazy and look up the information myself. Due to time constraints, we had chosen to only see the palace from the outside – next time on the inside, I think! Took some alright photos and went on with our afternoon.
16:20-16:35 Collect Brussels Card
Rather on schedule, we collected our Brussels card from the office at Experience Brussels (prepaid online, for more info click here). I say card, they printed out an A4 page with a QR code which acted as our card. They also provided us with booklets with the vouchers, discounts and descriptions of the attractions. Pretty easy and straightforward. I’ll say it louder for those at the back: it’s important to keep that booklet with you as it has the vouchers and discounts in it that you need to hand over to the businesses. No paper voucher = no discount or reduction given.
17:05-19:05 Brasserie Verschueren
Ready for our first Belgian beer of the trip, we arrived here at 17:00. Now, I’d read that this was a brewery and served beers brewed on-site. According to the information obtained within, this was incorrect.
In French, the word “Brasserie” can mean either brewery or a bar/café. This can be sometimes mistranslated on websites, leading to slight confusion when I’m looking for wonderful beer brewed just metres from the bar. In this case, it was the latter.
19:35 Christmas Market
Yeah… so we didn’t make it to the Christmas market that night. Ben and I decided to sample some other Belgian beers whilst we were there, and leave the busy markets to another night (as per itinerary). Sorry to disappoint, but click here to jump to the Christmas Markets.
What did we do instead…?
Brasserie Le Louvre
Just over the road from the Brasserie Verschueren, we had our next Belgian delight in this place. One of the more basic buildings, it rather basic inside but with a friendly and local vibe, this was certainly more pub than café. I enjoyed it in here, and I know Ben did too. We sat by the window and enjoyed a chill beer each of commercial Jupiler and Leffe – something Ben had wanted to try since deciding on Brussels as a destination. Rather spacious inside and compared to the noise and caffeine activity of the previous place, this establishment was calm and quiet.
Primus – La Bierco
Sticking to the theme of “over the road”, we crossed the road (no chickens involved) and entered this place. Different again, by comparison this establishment resembled more of a casual restaurant. The barwoman being Brazilian, there was a Latin-American vibe, with clientele to match. They served mainly beer from the Belgian brewery Haacht. In addition, we received a hefty plateful of nibbles with each beer: cheese, olives (yuck) and salami-type sausage slices. Cheese for me, and olives for Ben – suits me!
During our indulgence here, we learned a very important lesson: un demi, in French, means a pint. Not a half pint (although demi is half). We (I) learnt this the hard way when I ordered two ‘demis’ with the intention of trying a half pint of two different types of beer. Bit of a shock when she pours two full pints. When questioned, she corrected me in that a ‘demi’ is a half-litre, or 500ml. A.k.a., almost a pint of beer. Well, lesson learned and it didn’t go to waste 😊 Although it wasn’t my favourite (click here for notes).
The friendly bartender washed the beer glasses in cold water before pouring the beer, to make the beer colder. Damn good technique. Nice place.
Day Two
One marvellous day down, four to go. Up bright eyed and bushy tailed, kind of, we started the day a little clumsily as a booklet had gone missing (remember I said it was important to keep it safe!).
The Brussels Metro
A curious thing about the metro stations in Brussels: they are all decorated in a different style. Like miniature galleries of modern art. In a way, this matches the artistic murals and city art you find around the streets. Here are a few photos to show you what I mean. I know they’re rubbish; you try taking photos on a moving metro train with bustle, buildings, people and other trains! Take a look, if you go, and notice something unique!
We followed the big M sign, not to McDonalds but downstairs and to the right in the Brussels Midi station. The Metro tickets were 2,60€ each. In the station, Ben got a coffee and pain au chocolate deal for 3,70€. Not being a coffee person, I have no idea if that’s good or not, but Ben said it was really good coffee and he was happy about the price, so I guess that’s that.
The trains were fairly smooth, with intuitive 4G wifi. The metro trains actually go in the outside too, and not just confined to their tunnels. There are metal discs on the platform edge to warn the visually impaired about the proximity of the rail tracks. Some metro trains have manual doors, so you’ve got to actually pull them hard!
From the window, some of the Brussels houses and buildings looked like they had just sprung up like in a video game, and were extra tall. They seemed elongated and almost non-sensical in dimensions. Bit weird but certainly interesting to look at.
09:45-12:30 Mini Europe
We arrived a little tardy due to aforementioned misplacement of voucher booklet. Arrived around 10h10, left around 12h30, in total around 2h20 spent in this traveller’s wish list (or check list, if you’re lucky enough).
For the entrance, we used a voucher from the Brussels card. It gave us a discount of 20% of the ticket price, with the result that we paid around 16,50€ for the entrance (price correct as of December 2023 – it looks more expensive now in 2024).
It was actually bloody marvellous. We had the park practically to ourselves, which I preferred. You’re left to your own devices and you follow the path which is fairly intuitive. The British Buildings section of the park has now “borders” on the floor to separate the EU from Britain and vice versa.
The Buildings
Essentially, the park consists of a large collection of scale models of real-life, European, buildings and places. If you are a well-travelled individual, or deeply desire to be, you could walk around like “I’ve seen that, I’ve seen that, ooo I’d love to see that!”. This was me. Absolutely me. Personally, my highlights were the buildings that my boyfriend and I saw in 2022 on our European Tour such as the Blue Church from Bratislava, Slovakia, the Széchenyi Thermal Baths from Budapest, Hungary and St. Mark’s Church, Zagreb, Croatia. Can you name all of these buildings and cities?
The spread they have of Brussels Grand Place is also quite mesmerising and such a fantastic viewpoint to see the whole square, which is of course a challenge when you’re packed like sardines into the actual square. All of these models allowed you to view the buildings as if like a bird, with a unique and ‘up close and personal’ impression of the ‘bigger picture’. I’d certainly recommend this place.
Grub’s Up
We grabbed some burgers and chips in the café. It was essentially the only option for hot food; I think they also sold cold sandwiches. Not the best value for price though… In fairness, you got a decent portion of chips, but I thought quite naff for the price. And paying for some mayonnaise separately, that gets my goat. Altogether it cost around 8€, but that’s what you get from tourist attraction parks.
12:40-14:10 The Atomium
Ben’s highlight of the trip. Honestly, it was pretty awesome. Definitely worth a visit, and to go inside. We arrived pretty much on time, and left just slightly ahead of schedule. So far, so good.
The Atomium was built in 1958 for the Brussels World Fair, it was meant to be scraped after the exhibition, although it had won the hearts of the city and they left it up for prosperity. Today, it’s an event space, a museum and an essential silhouette of the Brussels skyline, and the feature of any and all postcard, snowglobes, figures, magnets, tea towels, you get the picture. We paid for the entrance fee along with the Brussels card, but as another option, you could have bought a combo ticket for just the Mini Europe and Atomium. They’re 5 minutes’ walk away from each other anyhow.
I had never been inside, previous to this trip. As a young whippersnapper, my parents brought me to Brussels. And they were so remarkably underwhelmed that we barely stopped to view the Atomium, let along get close enough to see the entrance. They viewed is as “modern rubbish”, clearly not aware that it’s older than them!
The Inside
It is so cool. Period. On the first floor, you have a history of the architecture and the World Fair and then on floors 2 and 4, there are light shows using thousands of strobe and strip lights around the inside of the ball. By the way, when I refer to floors, this also means transit between ‘atoms’ or ‘balls’ which is via an illuminated, colourful escalator, or stairs.
SAFETY WARNING! Please do not watch the following videos if you are sensitive to strobe lighting or flashing lights. It’s quite intense!
I don’t want to ruin it any more for you, but I’d say that this is a great family attraction and worth the time to visit.
P.S. there is a restaurant in the Atomium, but after checking the prices, we were very glad about our 8€ burger and chips in Mini Europe. At 54€ for a set menu 3-course meal, or a la carte from 28€ for a starter…. Unless you’ve got money to burn, perhaps plan for food elsewhere 😊
15:00-16:15 Army and Military History Museum
So far, we hadn’t activated our Brussel’s card yet (as the Mini Europe was a voucher, and the Atomium was an add-on to the card). This changed when we arrived to this museum, finally. Arriving around 14:55 which was difficult as it’s actually towards the back of the Parc du Cinquantenaire complex, we left at 16:30. 15 minutes late….
In brief, I was not impressed with this building, nor its museum. From the outside, it was quite grand, although keep your distance, I’d say. Apart from the rather enamoured teenagers clearly looking for some alone time against one shuttered end, it was fairly devoid of life. It took a while to find the correct, and open, entrance to the museum. Plus there was bloody scaffolding again… Grrr…
Their issue was communication. Upon arrival, nothing was really said to us about any room closures, yet when we scanned our card and entered, we were faced with a whole section of the museum that was cut off. And this looked the most interesting bit! No one was then there to ask, and the maps given to us in the form of a leaflet, did not correspond to the real layout, and the maps that were affixed to the wall in the hallway, was also seemingly completely incoherent. We could not work out where we were meant to be, or where we were headed.
In the Aviation room, we were met with walls of just blank exhibition, with no signs to explain the lack of literally anything, or signs inviting us to move through this bit. We did, however, move forward and found many large once-flying machines. These weren’t my cup of tea but they did look impressive. Following the closures and blank walls, we were met with further closed doors and “Area Temporarily Closed” signs.
Also, don’t be fooled by the really warm beginning, the plane section is really cold, so keep your jacket. To add further insult to injury, one of the main reasons we came to the museum, the Panoramic viewing platform, was shut. A waste of time. They were apparently going through renovations but did they communicate this previously? Nope. Lastly, they didn’t accept cash and only contactless payments.
All in all, I am very glad we got this entrance included with the Brussels card as I would have been rather miffed if we had paid full entrance fee for half a museum, with 0 communication about the fact. Not my favourite part of the trip, by far.
Ben, by contrast, did really enjoy the museum and I had to drag him out of there to try and stay on time. Poor Ben 😊 Here are some nice elements:
16:35-17:25 EU Parliament
It took a wee bit longer than planned to get to this area, as again communication wasn’t super strong and we got a bit confused. We were also a tad delayed. As well as this, it turns out I had gotten the wrong closing time from the internet… A cacophony of factors.
We arrived around 17:00, and tried to find the place to go for the famous EU Parliament room, where all the big decisions are made. This one. With the help (?!) of VisitACity, I had gotten the wrong information on the closing time and the place. So, we were not able to visit the Hemicycle or its buildings, as envisaged, but never mind.
We ended up visiting the Parlamentarium which, in my humble opinion, I thought was pretty rubbish. I certainly wouldn’t recommend unless you’re a die-hard fan of everything EU and know all the characters, I mean, politicians and everything.
I was bored to tears, and being fairly tired did not help. The tour is fairly long, but you are able to take the shorter route, although analogous to the last few hours of this second day, there were no signposts or instructions to indicate anything.
Some of the exhibition features didn’t work and it was essentially introducing the visitor to Europe and quotes and places from Europe. Perhaps this might suit a visitor from outside of Europe? Either way, not for me.
17:55 La Brouette Restaurant
We arrived between 18:10 and 19:46. Right on the Grand Place square, quite idyllic and consequently, the prices matched.
Without doubt a tourist-rich restaurant, for tourists on the richer side. It occupies the bottom level or two of one of the famous Grand Place buildings. We commoners only went as they offered a free drink as part of the Brussels Card vouchers. And this drink was worth up to 10€ each person, so pretty worth it. And yes, that’s the price of a beer here!!
The food we had was absolutely beautiful, and the drinks equally nice (Grimburgen Brun – A Christmasy Brew for me). With a real fire, this old-fashioned building is the image of a cosey Belgian taverny restaurant. Beyond the front door, the Grand Place in all it’s mightiness treats guests to a light and music show against the buildings, which are visible from the windows of this establishment, at around 7pm.
I ordered the Belgian food tasting platter which consisted of:
Carbonnades Flamande, Vol-au-vent et Boulettes a la Marollienne
Otherwise known as:
Beef stew with beer fries, Chicken vol-au-vent and Meatballs with tomatoes and shallots.
For more information, or their menus, click here to go to their website (I am not affiliated in any way).
The stew was very rich but I didn’t care so much for the chips. The chicken sauce was really nice, although it was somehow a bit thin. It was a bit too overpowering on the creamy too, as if they had dumped the whole carton of cream in it and not much else. The meatball sauce was very tomatoey, and very reminiscent of soup.
For me, the food was not quite the quality expected for the price of 23,40€ and was fairly petite in size. I could tell it was freshly cooked as we found some bay leaves that had been left in the dishes, yet I thought they still tasted a bit.. tinny? Bit Heinz-ey? But hey, I’m no expert 😊
20:00 La Fleur en Papier Doré Bar
We arrived at around 20h30 because we spent some time in the beautiful Grand Place taking in the tall, gilded buildings. My colleague had recommended this place to be as being quite oldy-worldy with some good beers in.
Inside, I could well have imagined some famous witches and wizards enjoying a brew of something magical, and there was even a cauldron-shaped beer pump on the bar. Towards the back of the building, there is a more modern room. This was nothing special, however, and so I recommend you stay more towards the front. Many curious and curiosities lining the walls and had we not have been so tired, we may have spent a good couple of hours here, perhaps with some playing cards.
On this occasion, we had a half pint each of a beer I did not care for in the slightest and headed back to the hotel. Despite very actively disliking the beer, the type we tried is unique to Brussels and the surrounding area. Keep reading to find out more!
The Belgian Beer
Whether you’re a beer connoisseur or a complete novice, I heartily believe that Belgium has a beer for you <3
Lambic Beer – A Quick Explanation
In and around the Brussels area, Lambic-style beers are brewed. In a word, they’re positively medieval darling. The technique used for the fermentation process harkens back to medieval times, or even beyond. A specialty of the region, they rely on “wild” yeasts, or spontaneous fermentation, and they’re brewed over the winter and spring months.
In brief, they start out like other beers, in their wort stage, but instead of having cultivated yeasts manually added in, the liquid is left to sit in vast un-lidded tubs. Then, as if by magic, the natural existing yeasts in the air ‘fly’ into the mixture and begin the fermentation process. After a wee while, the resulting liquid mix is poured into barrels and left to age and the magic wild yeastie beasties are left to do their thing. On a global level, these beers are rare and there’s only a small volume of them brewed.
Lambics are very sour tasting, and so by definition, not my thing. I find them super interesting as a new type of beer to learn about and a rare beer to sample. On the last day of our trip, Ben and I visited a Gueuze brewery, which involves specially blending lambic beers. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to read all about that though. Or, if it’s out already by the time you’re reading this (catch up?) then you can click here.
My Belgian Beer Notes
While sipping the beautiful nectar that is beer, I write the first thoughts that come to my head. These may make sense, or they may not. They may be way off from the official tasting notes, or they may be bang on. My point is, they’re very personal, like a diary, and I don’t write them for anyone other than myself although I’m now sharing them with you.
Disclaimer: This paragraph relates to beer and therefore aimed at adults. As it’s a family-friendly article, any swear words have been removed (reluctantly), but I cannot remove the alcohol part. Adult content: Alcohol.
The Beers Sampled on Days One and Two
- Tripel Verschueren – Brasserie de la Senne – Tripel 8.0% (Bottle) (Craft)
Nice, solid flavour. A bit fruity but also cooling and almost like a spike of ice. Really nice, nice head.
- Saison Verschueren – Brasserie de Ranke – Saison – 5.5% (Draught) (Craft)
Head didn’t last. Reddy colour. More ambery for sure. It’s alright, not as nice as the tripel maybe. A bit of a better finish. Meh.
- Jupiler – Anheuser–Busch InBev – Lager 5.2% (Draught)
Alright beer. Not as fizzy as looks. Decent lager. Would be good by a pool (not chilly Brussels). Meh.
- Primus – Haacht – Pilsner 5.2% (Draught)
Lager-type, also quite a soft lager. It’s nice, clear and crisp, probably because it’s a pilsner. Good job. Smooth.
- Tongerlo Blond – Haacht – Blond 6.0% (Draught)
Described as Leffe-like, and they’re not wrong. Very similar but I think softer and gentler. Perhaps brewery style? Yeah, it’s quite nice, perhaps almost nicer than Leffe.
- Super 8 Blanche – Haacht – Wheat/White 6.0% (Draught)
Hazy. Herby? Yeah alright. A bit watery though. Not my favourite either but it’s alright. Fine.
- Super 8 IPA – Haacht – IPA 6.0% (Draught)
Okay, nice. Refreshing and quite nice. Full of flavour and good. Yeah, quite nice. Ambery and a bit dark. It’s okay. Not my favourite.
- Grimbergen Brun – Grimbergen – Brun / Christmas Unknown ABV (mysterious 😉)
Christmas brew. Dark and malty but very refreshing. A special beer in a beautiful glass, on a beautiful square in Brussels. Not the nicest ever beer and I think the balance is a bit off, but it is nice. 🙂
- Witte Lambic – Morte Subite – Lambic 5.5% (Draught) (Craft)
Smells super fruity. Almost like a sour? Or juice? Absolutely not. Nope nope nope. Not for me. Doesn’t actually taste wheaty but hazy, but yeah, a soury kind of taste. Yuck.
Thanks for reading about Ben and I’s first two days in Brussels. We sure did a lot, and I’ve got a lot more to tell you about over the coming two articles. Three more days to go, lots of museums, beer, nibbles and a great deal in between! Coming up: Volume Three – The Middley Bit! See you there!
One response to “Busy Brussels: Buildings, Bustle and Belgian Beer – The First Days”
Very detailed account with a humorous touch