Brussels was a nice surprise for me, my girlfriend had gotten flights for us as a birthday present and that was enough to sway me (not that I could really say no). Upon touchdown we made our way to the train station to get as close to our hotel as the train would allow us.
We got off at Gare du Nord train station and left through the Red Light district. I had no idea there was a RLD in Brussels but there you go! We hurriedly walked past the windows bustling with sex workers and eventually got to Max Hotel – which was unique in the fact it had an automated check in… which we were unable to work and had to ring for the porter to come help.
As usual – we explored the local area, grabbed some food and had a few drinks the first day. Nothing too crazy as there was a LOT of sightseeing to squeeze in the following day.
Although we did go to a must see bar if you’re ever in Brussels, called Delirium Cafe – it holds the Guinness World Record for most types of beer commercially available within one premises. I could permanently review beer here if I had a bank account that would allow me to.
We probably overindulged a little too much on the strong 8.5% Delirium Tremens beer brewed by Delirium themselves, and needed some Belgium waffles the next morning to bring us around a bit prior to sightseeing time. Thankfully Heysel stadium, mini Europe and the Atomium are all literally beside each other, so we could complete most of what was on our agenda in one swoop.
Heysel was the first on our to-do list to be hit up, and I was surprised I was almost able to walk directly onto the pitch. A security guard came running towards me shouting in French before telling me in broken English that I had to leave now. I tried explaining I was just for a few pics but to no avail. I did manage to get a snap of inside to highlight how close I got to actually touching the green of the pitch.
Next stop was mini-Europe. Belgium is the seat of European Parliament and many of the Belgians we spoke to were extremely proud of their European heritage – which was an interesting perspective for us coming from all the ongoing turmoil surrounding Brexit. Mini-Europe is a collection of miniature famous monuments from around Europe – and provides you the opportunity to make crappy jokes like “the Eiffel Tower was taller last time I saw it”. It was nice seeing Ireland represented, even if poorly represented – and the added Brexit protest outside Westminster was a humorous touch.
After cramming all of Europe’s major sights into the space of an hour, we proceeded to check out the nearby Atomium – built for the world fair in 1958. It’s a beautiful building from the outset, but the ability to go inside and check out the different exhibitions was an experience in itself – although I may have been a bit distracted by the prospect of seeing Heysel (my inner football nerd comes out) from a different angle once I got high enough up the Atomium.
The poles connecting the different ‘atoms’ contain a mixture of stairs and escalators.
Prior to going back, I wanted to see Heysel from another angle – you could say I was becoming obsessed with one upping the security guard, but to be honest I was just enthralled with the venue and its’ tragic history.
We stooped for a drink at a nearby bar (the prices are so much cheaper outside the city centre, and we were inundated with cheese, pretzels and other free snacks with our drinks while there too.
We booked another walking tour with Sandemans for our last day after being so impressed with our one in Prague.
We got back to the centre of Brussels, scoped out the spot on the main square where the walking tour would begin and pub crawled back to our hotel.
During this pub crawl we returned to Cafe Delirium, and also called into the nearby strangely named ‘Drug Opera’. I found out from a friend who had been before that the food was amazing from Drug Opera so I was gutted we had only drank there.
Our trip to Brussels was during the 2018 World Cup, where Belgium reached the semi-final. We had watched their 3rd place play-off victory over England and their homecoming ceremony conveniently coincided with our final day in the city. When we met our tour guide at the Grand Place Square, hundreds of Belgium fans had already arrived eagerly anticipating the opportunity to see their footballing heroes.
We embarked on our walking tour, being ran through the sights of the city – our tour guide explained the multicultural nature of the city due to both Belgium’s colonial past and to the EU, and when we got to the Royal Palace he declared it was built on wealth stolen from Africa – he also encouraged us to drink on the walking tour as drinking in public in Belgium is permitted. A tour that also included nods to The Smurfs and Tin-Tin (2 of Belgium’s comic exports) as well as their invasion by the Nazis, as well as (justifiably) bragging about the quality of their chocolate and beer led us around many interesting sights – including the perhaps most eye catching – mannekin pis.
When we returned to the Grand Place Square, there were thousands of Belgium fans gathered and a heavy security presence. We got in before the square completely filled and had a few drinks. I wore a AS Monaco football top and kept being asked why I didn’t have Tielemans in the back. The atmosphere was incredible, a nation filled with pride due to their national teams footballing exploits. Our last hours in Brussels were spent celebrating with the natives and it was phenomenal
The joyous atmosphere was the perfect end to a brief, sporadic trip away – to a phenomenal city with great, friendly people. And as a plus I got to see Kevin de Bruyne and Vincent Kompany who are two of my favourite footballers. Other world class talents like Eden Hazard and Thibault Courtois were there too. And then there was Romelu Lukaku.
Brussels can be overlooked for Amsterdam and Paris – but it is truly a gem of a city itself.