Brussels has to be the most beautiful city I have ever visited.
The aspect of Brussels that impressed me the most is that it has been so well looked after. There aren’t any horrible high-rise concrete buildings or tacky fast food restaurants. Everything is in keeping with the Baroque style of most of the buildings. I can’t help but think that if it were in England the atmosphere would be lost to excessive commercialisation as some areas of London are.
The Grand Place is exceptionally beautiful. It is a square in the centre of the city. When I visited it the flower carpet was on display. A large area in the centre of the square had been sectioned off and flowers had been laid on the floor in a pattern with a fountain in the centre, it was amazing.
The buildings surrounding the Grand Place are stunning. The town hall, Brussels museum, chocolate museum and various restaurants and bars are situated here. I enjoyed sitting outside the bars, listening to the Classical music that is played here every day and relaxing with a drink. The Grand Place is also beautiful at night, the buildings are lit up with different coloured lights. People are still milling around and the bars and restaurants are still open until about 1am.
The Manneken Pis, a short walk from the Grand Place, is also beautiful and well kept. It is smaller than I expected, however. The Manneken Pis is a statue of a little boy weeing. Flowers surround it. Every so often the statue is dressed up. The many different costumes he has worn, including Elvis, a Bullfighter, Lawrence of Arabia, and many more, can be seen in the Brussels museum.
The Royal Palace and the palace gardens are well worth a visit. The gardens have two fountains, one of which is so high that if you sit by it, you can feel the water droplets being blown onto you. The other is smaller but equally attractive. This is the ideal place to relax and get away from all the crowds. The Royal Palace is free to look around and is quite good. However it is not open all year.
The Musee Royal des Beaux Arts is a huge art gallery. You could spend all day there, however my boyfriend and I tried to see everything in a few hours - we managed it, but were very tired afterwards. The art gallery is split into sections of different types of art throughout the ages, so there is something here for everyone’s tastes.
The chocolate museum is quite small, but is very informative, explaining everything about how chocolate is made. There are videos to watch and plaques to read on the walls, and if you are lucky (as we were) you can get a free sample!
The Brussels museum was probably the least interesting attraction that I saw but that is because I am not really interested in history. For those people that are interested in the history of Brussels this is a great place to come to. It has lots of artifacts to see and is very informative. You can get a good view of the Grand Place from the balconies of the museum, many people were taking photographs from here.
There are many places to eat for everyone’s tastes: Italian, Greek, Belgian and fast food restaurants. You must try Belgian waffles while in Brussels because they are delicious. Mussels and Snails (Escargots) may not be to everyone’s tastes (such as mine) but if you like them you are in luck because they seem to be sold everywhere, even on the side of the streets.
Brussels is a relatively small capital city so most places of interest are within walking distance. It is ideal for a weekend visit. Everything I have mentioned here I visited in two days. I don’t think I could have stayed much longer because the crowds of people were beginning to get on my nerves and it is quite tiring walking around all the places of interest.
Entrance to most of the attractions is relatively cheap, I never paid more than 200 BEF (about £3.20) but most things seem to be closed on Mondays. It is possible to still eat good food if you are on a budget, there are some nice small restaurants that are very cheap but still sell delicious food and the atmosphere in these is very friendly. There are, however, some very nice bigger restaurants, if you can afford to pay a bit more, the food in these is a bit more posh. Prices of most things seem to vary depending on where you go, e.g. Belgian chocolate in some shops was very cheap, but in others very expensive.
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May 31st, 2001
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