Brussels - Capital of the EU and Beer
Taking a trip to Belgium? Planning on visiting the obvious city of Bruges? Why not do something unexpected and check out the countries capital, Brussels! Not the most common destination for the Eurotripper, but this worthwhile destination can rival any European city in terms of culture, architecture, and opportunities for beer drinking. Possible as a day trip from Bruges or even Paris you’ll never find a place with more varieties of beer on offer such as this one!
Frequent flyer miles are what first got me across to Europe. However, using miles to cross the Atlantic can be problematic to the point that the only available seats were taking me to Brussels. Maybe not my first pick but I jumped at the chance to get across the pond and discover a great city I might not have seen otherwise. Not exactly ranking up there with its neighbours Paris and Amsterdam in terms of being on most backpackers must see list, it is nonetheless definitely worth a visit. Staying at St. Christopher’s at the Bauhaus in Bruges will give you a great day trip in Brussels. But if you want to stay longer there is no shortage of cheap hotels in the city.
Arriving early in the morning on an overnight flight I was over-tired and jet-lagged but that didn't stop me from seeing as much of the city as possible. Knowing next to nothing about Brussels before arriving, I happily wandered the streets starting out from the central train station. Around every corner I discovered castles, museums and churches; just walking around the city was probably what I enjoyed most. Its historic centre was relatively concentrated and although the streets were windy and I did get lost at one point, I didn’t have much trouble finding my way again.
Deciding that I should eventually check out a specific tourist attraction, I chose to visit the Atomium. I reached it easily from the centre by taking Subway line 1B to the "Heysel" stop. Set on a hill in a neighbourhood northeast of the city centre, it's a giant silver replica of a molecule. Exactly 165 billion times bigger than an actual molecule, it rightly stands at least a few stories high. This Disneyland-like attraction was built in 1958 for the Worlds Fair and taking an elevator to the top I got a great view of the city.
Almost every station had some bizarre form of modern art on display; one station had hundreds of Papier Mache figures hanging from the ceiling.
Returning to the city I decided to follow the "comic book route". This is an extensive series of murals of all different artistic styles that stretch over a six km circuit. Following the whole route would probably have taken me over two hours but I decided to take a slightly shorter version. It allowed me to discover some less known and out of the way neighbourhoods I would have otherwise missed. Another great thing about the city, I thought, was its subway stations. Almost every station had some bizarre form of modern art on display; one station had hundreds of Papier Mache figures hanging from the ceiling. There were also some very lively pubs in this underground world and even some subterranean churches!
The most famous of all Brussels attractions is the Grand Place, where some of my fellow room mates from the hostel and I visited that evening. The whole square was surrounded by extremely ornate examples of Belgian architecture and was a great place to watch the crowds drift by. The square was packed with beer bars, and beer as far as I'm concerned is the countries star attraction. Belgium literally brews hundreds of varieties and in the pubs surrounding the Grand Place you can sample almost all of them. After choosing a bar, my fellow hostellers and I all had a tough time deciding exactly what to order. I decided to try a few "white” beers, and had a Leffe Blonde as well as a Hoegaarden. Both of these beers are very pale in colour and are worth the try if you've never encountered them before. It was incredibly entertaining watching the waiters run up and down the narrow wooden stairs with fully stacked trays. We all marvelled at how exactly they could pull of this feat and not drop everything. Also amazing was how we all managed to make it back to the hostel after each having sampled more than our fair share of pint varieties.
Brussels is a bit less of a tug on your purse strings than Amsterdam and especially Paris. It doesn't have the same crowds of tourists so it’s a good way to experience some of the "real" Europe. Smack dab in the middle of the Belgian linguistic divide, with the Dutch speaking Flemish to the North and the French speaking Walloons to the south, all of the signs are in both languages. Even the street names have both a Dutch and French translation. Hosting the headquarters of the E.U., it draws people from all over Europe. Like many European capital cities it has a large multicultural population, especially from former Belgian colonies like the Congo.
If you‘re planning to stay at St. Christopher’s Bauhaus in Bruges then you'll probably need to transit in Brussels. There are easy to use locker facilities in all of the train stations so you can store your backpack and explore the city for a few hours before making your connection. Trains leave every half hour to Bruges, cost €11 and take about an hour. The city is also very accessible from Paris as a result of the high speed Thalys train. Travelling between the cities in just over an hour at speeds of 300 km/hr, this amazing spectacle will have the countryside just whizzing by. So short of a travel time means you can make Paris a side trip from your adventure in Brussels. Likewise, Amsterdam is the same distance as Paris just to the north. But the tracks on this route aren’t the high-speed type so it will take you about three hours to get there.
If you’re heading out to Bruges make sure you leave at least a day in your itinerary to check out this amazing multi-cultural city of Brussels. Where else can you climb up a giant molecule, follow a route of cartoon murals and choose from a menu of hundreds of beers? You definitely won’t regret taking the time to pay it a visit!
