Mussels in Brussels (Brussels)

Member Name: huddro

Product:	Brussels
Date:	17/04/01 (267 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to get to

Disadvantages: still building it

Easter in Brussels I’m up for it! And with those immortal words ringing in my head I found myself standing outside Brussels Midi Station on Good Friday !

Arrival Departure
Brussels Midi is the destination for the Eurostar from Waterloo and gives you the first impression of Brussels. The station is set out along one large rectangular concourse with shops and cafes one side and platforms the opposite. Exits at each end lead to very well organised taxi ranks and despite a large queue we waited no more than 5 minutes for a Taxi.

A word of warning Brussels Midi is a thieves paradise with pickpockets and bag snatchers galore. Do not spend any longer here than you really have to and do not let your guard down. During our wait for departure we watched four different arrests for these offences and spotted three or four other thieves scouting for business. So definitely put someone in charge of the tickets who knows 18.56 is five to seven and not six o’clock or you will end up sitting around for ages waiting for your departure!!

A short taxi ride took us into the Centre of town and dropped us, following several near death experiences at the hands of a driver who I am sure thought he was rally driving, outside the Central Station. A very short walk to the Grasmarkt / Rue Marche aux Herbes found us outside our Hotel.

Grasmarkt / Hotel
The Grasmarkt seems to be the central place for Hotels in Brussels boasting a Holiday Inn, Novotel, Sabena Hotel and our IBIS hotel all next door to each other. Located on the opposite side is a local hotel called the Hotel Madelaine, although this looks more like a knocking shop than a hotel it did afford us the opportunity of watching one of there guests begging our receptionist for a room following just a one night stay there!

The IBIS hotel is a modern hotel and as expected of such a chain provides clean functional rooms but once inside you could be anywhere in the world.
The staff were all exceptionally friendly and helpful even opening the bar in the wee hours of the morning and making toasted sandwiches for 4 starving guys. Although I am sure toasted means hot…never mind it was the thought that counted

Our rooms on the second floor were in a perfect location at the front of the hotel overlooking the busy square. A glance over the tops of the buildings opposite gave us a grandstand view of the top of the Town Hall.

Over the weekends an arts market installs itself in the Grasmarkt selling a range of arts and crafts from glass nibbed pens to lace to statues made from solder.

Grand Place
This is the tourist centre of Brussels and contains the major historic attractions. I can thoroughly recommend taking your time to site outside one of the numerous cafes drinking coffee and watching the world go by, even when freezing cold!

Located in the Grand Place are the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), the Kings House and the Guild Houses.

Hotel de Ville
Building work on the Town Hall started in 1402 and took 3 years to complete with the imposing tower added in 1449. Rumour has it that when the architect realised this tower was not located in the centre of the building he threw himself from the top.

Kings House
Directly opposite the Town Hall is the gothic Kings House completed in 1536 this imposing building was the main bread market until bakers started to sell their wares door to door when it was turned over to the Duke of Brabant and used for administration.

Both the above attractions cost 80 BEF per person to enter.

The Guild Houses
Most of the ornate Guild Houses located round the square are now restaurants but the facades remain original. Each of these buildings is named rather than numbered and guilded statues depict the trade of each.

Also located in the Grand Place is the chocolate museum although we did not visit.

From Apri
l to September at approximately ten pm the main attraction of the square is the light display with the illuminations taking place to classical music, this year it is Schubert’s 8th Symphony.

A word of caution regarding the restaurants located directly on Grand Place, they are very expensive and food,often better and much cheaper, can be found by venturing down the many side roads.

Manneken-Pis
This small statue about 18 inches high located on the corner of Stoofstraat/Rue de l'étuve about 5 minutes walk from the Grand Place is probably one of the most famous images of Brussels.

The official origin of this statue dates back to the 13th August 1619 when the city ordered the sculptor Jerome Duquesnoy to make a bronze of the original statue.

Nobody seems to know why the statue is here although many legends have been put forward but the tourists seem to like it and the current statue has around 600 costumes ranging from Santa Claus to Elvis

Worth a look just to say you have seen it and you can then pop across the road for a novelty corkscrew guess which bit forms the actual screw!!!

Beer
Well enough of this historic stuff Belgium is most famous for its beers and Boasts 498 different brands. The Beers can be roughly classified into three different types Brun or dark beer, Blonde more our lager, and Fruit pretty self-explanatory really.

Obviously we tried a number of varieties well it would be rude not to and I won’t go into them all here suffice to say we can recommend Kwak a dark beer served in what can only be described as a specimen bottle in a wooden stand. A very strong taste makes you very aware that this beer is much stronger than those available at home. Duvel a blonde beer at 8.5% has a smoothe clean taste and slips down easily, just try walking after a night on this. Of course last but not least there is Stella Artois a totally different taste to that at home but still
superb our apologies to bar Cuba for drinking them dry of Stella on good Friday night…..what a claim to fame!!!

Bars
There are so many bars to choose from in Brussels but you have to be able to find them first. Most are tucked away and a good map is an essential but our recommendations

Le Cerceuil (The Coffin) Haringstraat / Rue Des harengs
Located just off Grand Place at first glance you would not go here. A dark concrete corridor leads to four steps into a dark dingy room. The music is monastic chanting the tables made from sealed coffins your beer served in skull shaped pottery. A place not to be missed

The Cuba bar
Located next door to Le Cerceuil this is a totally different experience. A band played every night and this small bar was packed from around ten pm on. Service was still good though and the music fantastic. We eventually left about two am and the bar was still rocking

The Rum bar
Located off the south side of Grand Place this is a strange place serving nothing but rum mixed in various forms. A two-piece band plays an eclectic selection of music and the locals dance with anyone. Some words of warning the price averaged sixteen pound for four drinks and there is no separation of male female in the rest rooms.
A very good night all the same

We visited a number of other places but their names have been lost to me in the alcoholic haze.

Food in Brussels is generally not too expensive though be advised Sandwich Americain is not a BLT as explained by our friend who thought he could speak French!!! It is as we found out several hours after eating it raw hamburger!!!

Every type of food imaginable is available in Brussels from MacDonalds, through Kebabs to traditional fare of Mussels. Try the chips and mayonnaise even if only once, the mayonnaise is nothing like the stuff we get here in England and is totally gorgeous.

The primary language in Brussels
is French and although the waiters and bar staff speak English their grasp is not very good and you are much better off speaking French to them.

We enjoyed two days in Brussels and managed to eat and drink to excess. Although Brussels is not the cheapest place you will visit in Europe and is definitely more suited to couples than to groups of lads looking for beer and a lively night out.

At this time of year Brussels is freezing so wrap up warm and currently there seems to be a major building phase with scaffolding everywhere. Please note Health and Safety regulations do not exist with electric cables strung across the pavement and building sites open to walk across, so take care.

Overall with the convenience of the Eurostar a good place to spend a couple of days but I would go when the weather is warmer and when hopefully they have finished building it!

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