“I want to go to Brussels!” A phrase I had never spoken. When planning my Amsterdam trip, my travel partner and I found round trip bus tickets to Brussels from Amsterdam for $4!! Yep you read that right. 4 bucks. So we had to go to Brussels for the hell of it. I must say, one day in Brussels was enough to see almost everything, but to my surprise, I have officially fallen in love with the city. Our main focus was to eat Belgian waffles, have Moules Frites (Mussels and fries), Belgian chocolate, and a hearty Belgian beer. But the city itself is just as cool as the food. The buildings were stately and beautiful, while also full of character. Brussels is the center of the EU (European Union) and there were diplomats and important people all over the city. However, there were just enough native Belgians and immigrants to reserve the authenticity of the city.
Living in Denmark for these past few months I
am officially no longer a tourist and do not want to accept that title anywhere
else. When in Belgium we wanted to see
what the locals recommended, and hang out where they hung out. Tourist attractions are cool, but the locals
are the heart of a city. We wandered around the city the entire day, never
getting tired and never bored. We wanted
to get “lost” in this fantastic city and find the hidden gems. We hung out in a
skate park for two hours and talked to locals and people watched. It was so much fun. We stood out, but we were respected. We were even greeted by a cute Belgian guy
with kisses on the cheek. We marveled at
beautifully painted comics on the walls of huge buildings and stumbled upon a
church that had been turned into a refugee camp. It was full of information on the struggle for a refugees seeking asylum in Belgium and the problem of modern day slavery in various countries.
To end our night, we hung out with our Airbnb hostess, Yen, who introduced us to the best beer in the world! She was the absolute best and truly made our stay in Brussels better than we could ever imagine. She was extremely sweet, cooked us breakfast every morning, and told us the best places to visit in the city. She was not wrong about one thing. I saw the touristy side of Brussels, but I also got an experience that Trip Advisor could never provide.
Some takeaways & recommendations from my trip:
Belgian waffles
Yes. The waffles are really THAT good. OMG. And if you go,
get your waffle plain, with only sugar.
Only the tourists pile theirs high with fruit, ice cream, etc. You don’t want to be one of those guys.
Moules Frites
Moules Frites from
Chez Leon are divine. They are not the
absolute best in Brussels, but they are up there.
Delirium
If you are looking for a good time and thousands (literally)
of choices for a beer, Delirium is
the place to go. We tasted the “best
beer in the world” and I must say, it was the best beer I have ever had.
Belgian Chocolate
Chocolate is everywhere. And yea, that’s worth the hype as
well.
Manneken Pis
For some reason this statute is a huge tourist attraction
and symbol for the city. The legend says
that a little boy named Julianske urinated on a burning fuse attached to a bomb
that a foreign power was planning to blow Brussels up with, thus, saving the city. Kinda bizarre. Of course we got a selfie with it
anyway! It was
super small as well, which made it even sillier.
super small as well, which made it even sillier.
P.s. little
known fact, the Manneken Pis has a
sister called, Jeanneke Pis. She is
located in the outside of Delirium
and a cage was built around her to protect her from the drunken patrons who try
to run off with her.
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| Jeanneke Pis |
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| My head is bigger than the Manneken Pis. |
We didn’t really have a plan when we got to Brussels. We wanted to eat, and get lost in the city. We did just that, and gained a priceless experience.
More pictures from my trip below!
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Super cool skatepark we visited |
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