Brussels - fun & style!

Our trip to Brussels was bitter-sweet. A few days before our trip we received some really bad news from home, but we decided to city break to get our minds off of everything.

Cafes on the Grand Place - Perfect for beer tasting!

 

Brussels was the perfect place for that. It is a beautiful city with loads of history, a few really cute and funky things like Tintin memorabilia and Manneken Pis. Tintin is a series of comic strips by a Belgian artist - Georges Remy - we grew up with the images of Tintin in South Africa and I loved seeing all of the cute souvenirs that you could buy in Brussels.

Beautiful Guilded buildings on the Grand Place

 

Manneken Pis is a bronze statue of a small boy urinating. Sounds a bit weird, but it is a big tourist attraction in Brussels. Best thing about Manneken Pis is that he gets dressed up into little outfits/costumes every few days. You can see the costumes displayed in the City Museum. Just a bit of a warning…don’t expect the statue to be big…it is almost like the Mona Lisa in a way…you build it up in your head and when you see it for the first time, you are so shocked about how small it is, that you don’t appreciate its greatness.

During our visit to Brussels we had such a great time. The Grande Place in Brussels is a beautiful square with guilded buildings. I love the whole vibe. While we were there it was so lively with a great buzz and sitting outside at one of the cafes on the square was a pleasure. The beer menu in Belgium is something out of this world and even though I am not traditionally a beer lover, I did the beer tasting thing with my husband and loved it. The flavored beers like Kriek (Cherry) and peach beers were just divine!

 

The Restaurant area close to the Grand Place

Just off the square is a small restaurant area - it looks great with loads of atmosphere and an almost Mediterranean feel, but most of the restaurants are totally overpriced and the quality of the food is nothing to write home about. Rather ask around or go to traditionally Belgian restaurants, because there you will have quality food at good prices.

We really enjoyed the Galleries Royales St Hubert, which is a small little shopping arcade close to the Grand Place with cute little shops, but there are also many great shopping areas where you can find anything from high end designer to cheaper shops. I’m not sure if this is still the case, but when we were in Brussels, most of the shops were closed on Sunday, so just as a precautionary measure, don’t leave your shopping for that day because you might be disappointed.

We really enjoyed Brussels - it is a beautiful city with a lot of character and ample opportunities to take loads of fabulous photos.