A Weekend Break in Belgium
A Weekend Break in Belgium
I’m in love with Belgium. There are a select few places I’ve traveled that I could see myself living in the future, and Belgium was just added to the list! We had Thursday off for All Saints Day, so my friend Kendall and I flew into Brussels on Wednesday after classes and enjoyed a couple of days in Brussels and Antwerp before heading back to Spain on Saturday. Read on for details of my idyllic weekend in Belgium.
A Tour with Brussels Greeters
I have discovered my new favorite thing. Apparently there is a network of ‘Greeters’ around the globe that show visitors around FOR FREE in their hometowns. I read about Brussels Greeters in a blog post about the Top 10 Free Things to do in Brussels, and immediately knew that Kendall and I needed to sign up for a tour.
Basically, how it works is you fill out a form with your travel and contact information, as well as your interests (like architecture, art, gastronomy, history, etc), and then you are matched with a local ‘Greeter’ that volunteers to show you around. When I say it’s free, I mean completely free. Greeters even refuse tips to better ensure a free flow of information. For a college kid looking to get to know cities in a quick yet in-depth way, this was perfect!
We met our Greeter, Patrick, at the Parc de Bruxelles at 10 am on Thursday morning to begin our ‘greet’ around the city. Patrick was a gem. I usually don’t enjoy tours all that much, but with just Kendall and I, it was personal, interesting, and didn’t feel like I was being herded from one tourist stop to the next.
The tour was organic, and Patrick gave us historical information, interesting facts, tips for where to eat and what to do, and we chatted about his life and ours.
We started at the Royal Palace, which houses the offices of Belgium’s King.
A view of the city from a square near the Royal Palace.
He took us into the Notre-Dame du Sablon Church, which is known for stunning stained glass. I’ve been to quite a few cathedrals in my day, and I can say that the vibrant blues, teals, and reds of these stained glass windows are exceptional.
We continued on through the town, and Patrick pointed out a great deal of street work. It turns out that Brussels is known at the City of Comics, and that major comics such as Tin Tin and the Smurfs originated here. As such, there are a lot of comic-inspired street-art works throughout the city.
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- A devil comic located near the Palace of Justice in Brussels.
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- A comic-based street-art work located near the Palace of Justice in Brussels.
Kendall and Patrick by the Palace of Justice, the second largest administrative building in the world.
Patrick explained that each Belgian beer has its own glass, and must be served in that glass.
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- An old church we passed near the Palace of Brussels.
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- A cute alley we passed on our tour.
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- An old church turned theater alongside it’s modern addition.
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- Another church we passed along the way.
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- A cute alley we passed along the tour.
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- Kendall with a statue of Pieter Bruegel, a Belgian painter.
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- Me with a statue of Pieter Bruegel, a famous Belgian painter.
Now for perhaps the weirdest little detail of Brussels, that also happens to be a major tourist attraction: Manneken Pis.
This itty bitty boy statue that pees into a fountain below is constantly surrounded by tourists and even has little outfits that they change for special events. The story behind it has to do with a bomb and it being peed on to be put out. Weird, but apparently a must-see while in Brussels.
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- The mannekin pis statue.
He even has his own street art a block away from the actual statue.
Manneken Pis even has a female counterpart, Jeanneke Pis, that Kendall and I tracked down after our tour.
Jeanneke Pis, Manneken Pis’ female counterpart.
The tour ended at the Grand Place, Brussels main square, which made my jaw drop. The buildings, done in Gothic style, are imposing, beautiful, and accented in gold. It was unsurprising the the square was jammed with people taking photos.
The Brussels Town Hall, the focal point of the Grand Place.
The Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles, another stunning building lining the Grand Place.
Me in the Grand Place of Brussels.
It was after our visit that we bid goodbye to Patrick, but not before we all stopped in a pastry shop for traditional Belgian cakes. Yum. But anyways, I cannot recommend the Brussels greeters enough. Even better, there are Greeters programs in cities all over the globe, from New York City to Cairo to Manila. The destinations can be found here, and I know that I will be requesting a greeter wherever I can find them from now on!
Waffles, Fries, and Chocolate
One simply cannot visit Belgium without trying these three foods.
Immediately after our tour with Patrick, Kendall and I set out in search of a Belgian waffle. We didn’t have to walk far – we found a little truck selling the treats for a mere 2 euros each. They were perfect all on their own. At home, I like my waffles drenched in syrup, but here they are fluffy and sweet and need no help whatsoever in the flavor department.
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- Kendall with her Belgian waffle.
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- Me with my Belgian waffle.
We couldn’t help ourselves from having another, so the next night we had more waffles, this time with caramel and whipped cream.
And the fries, oh good Lord the fries. When Patrick told us that the French invented fries, but the Belgians perfected them, he wasn’t wrong.
They were perfectly crispy, and made for the ideal snack served in a paper cone with sauce. We had multiple servings of fries, too, and tried them with Mayonnaise, as is traditional, and curry sauce, curry ketchup, and barbecue. All were great.
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- Fries with mayonnaise.
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- Enjoying fries with curry sauce in Brussels.
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- Kendall enjoying fries with curry ketchup in Brussels.
Last but not least, the chocolate. If you know me well, you know that I don’t really like chocolate. Well, it turns out that I like Belgium chocolate. Not so much the plain pieces, but the truffles and chocolates filled with gooey insides are to die for. Kendall and I spent the weekend hopping from chocolate shop to chocolate shop free sampling anything we could get our hands on. We ended up liking some so much that we bought a few pieces to snack on while walking around both cities.
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- Leonidas chocolate that I bought in Antwerp.
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- A free sample of chocolate we grabbed while walking around Antwerp.
Kendall browsing the selection at Neuhaus Chocolates in Brussels.
While in Belgium, we also had Indian, Chinese, and vegan food, but I definitely could go back and live off of these 3 staple foods for my entire stay.
A Day Trip to Antwerp
We felt like we got to know Brussels really well with Patrick, so we decided to take a day-trip to Antwerp on Friday. We also heard great things about Bruges and Ghent, but decided on Antwerp because I had the opportunity to add to my Hard Rock Cafe pin collection there. It also helped that the town had other draws.
When we first got there on the train, we marveled at the Antwerp Central Station. I came up the escalator from the platform and I literally stopped in my tracks with my jaw on the floor. The station looks like something out of a Victorian-era steampunk fantasy. Apparently it is ranked as the most beautiful train station in the world by Fodor’s Travel.
After marveling at the train station, we wandered our way through the town and ended up at the river-front. There we traveled underground to the St.Anna’s tunnel, where we admired the aesthetics of wooden escalators from 1933 and the seemingly never-ending tunnel that took us under the river.
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- The wooden escalators of the St.Anna tunnel in Antwerp.
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- The wooden escalators of the St.Anna tunnel in Antwerp.
Taken in the St.Anna’s Tunnel under the river in Antwerp.
When we made it to the end of the tunnel and went back above-ground, we were met with a nice view of the city, made better by clear blue skies and a shining sun.
A panorama of the view of Antwerp from the other side of the river.
After sitting peacefully by the river, we walked back across the river and up to the MAS museum. Along the way, we admired the river-front and buildings that we passed along the way.
Then, we arrived at the MAS museum, an art museum with a free panoramic view of the city.
The MAS museum, located directly beside the Port of Antwerp.
Inside, we were able to view the museum’s ‘Visible Storage’ exhibit, which gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at some of the 180,000 items that they keep in storage. I’ve never seen a storage room/exhibit like this at any museum.
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- A glimpse at the items in storage at the MAS museum.
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- A glimpse at the items in storage at the MAS museum.
Then, we headed up to the 9th floor for the panoramic view of Antwerp.
After the museum, we leisurely strolled back through the town to the train station, where we took the return train to Brussels. The train to Antwerp from Brussels is only about 40-minutes long, and only costs about $15 round-trip. The day-trip was well worth it.
We ended our time in Belgium with a stroll around Brussels as the sunset, with stops along the way for fries and waffles.
The Grand Place as the sun set.
The Grand Place after dark.
Kendall and I took this trip because Brussels was the cheapest flight for these dates, and I’m so glad for that stroke of luck. I never would have thought to visit Belgium, and I would have greatly missed out. People focus so heavily on Rome, London, and Paris when Brussels and its surrounding cities make for the perfect European getaway. If anyone ever wants to propose a trip to Belgium, let me know, because I may be keen to return. The locals are lovely, tourist sites and the cities themselves are not choked with people, and the food is delicious. What more could one ask for?