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10 Things to do in Belgium24-09-2006 In September 2006 Emma and I took the Eurostar to Brussels for a weeks holiday. Here is a list of 10 things that should be on the list of any visitor to Belgium. 1. Dine at the Grand Place one evening
2. Drink Belgian beer
During our week in Belgium we tried a wide range of beers. Some were absolutely terrible but we did enjoy cherry beer, especially one called Kriek MAX. We also tried Kwak which is served in a glass that looks like it came from a science lab. It is held in a wooden stand with a handle. Other beers we tried were Chimay, Orval, Duvel and Leffe. The strength of the beers ranged from 4.5 to 9 percent. One tip about Belgium is to always make sure that you have lots of change in your pocket. When it comes time to recycle all that beer you will find that public toilets and almost every toilet in restaurants and bars (even McDonalds) have an old lady sat at the entrance. It generally costs around 30c to use the toilet and you have to give her the money. In one popular restaurant the lady sat next to the men’s urinals so she could watch you pee and you just paid her for the privilege! 3. Eat Belgian food
Instead, head to a good restaurant and try chicken waterzooi. This is a creamy stew served with saffron potatoes, vegetables and chicken in an amazing sauce. Alternatively try Stoemp, a mashed potato and veg mix with mustard on the side and a big Belgian sausage. Yummy! Or try my favourite, Carbonnade Flammande, succulent tender pieces of stewed steak cooked in beer presented in a big bowl with lots of onion gravy and a side order of fries, which I tipped into the bowl. Yum! 4. Eat waffles and ice-cream The Belgians love their waffles. You can have them as is, with chocolate sauce, strawberries, cream or fruit. In my opinion the best topping for a Belgian waffle has to be ice-cream. You can have speciality ice-creams, Ben and Jerry’s, Hagan Daas or even Australian. There are lots of flavours to try. Our favourite was Belgian spiced biscuit. 5. Eat Belgian chocolates A top 10 list of things to do in Belgium would not be complete without chocolate. Belgian chocolate is famous world wide and you are spoilt for choice. There are literally dozens and dozens of chocolate shops in the cities and major towns. You can buy chocolate in all shapes and sizes. You can even buy candy, marzipan and other confectionaries. You may be surprised to find that I did not like the chocolate and did not eat more than a couple. I’ve discovered that my taste buds detest chocolate that has a high coco content. For some reason I can only eat dark chocolate if it is wrapped around marzipan. 6. Try Belgian spiced biscuit As well as chocolates and waffles the Belgians are also known for their spiced biscuits. If you’ve ever bought a coffee in a fancy coffee shop back home you may have been given a little biscuit in a sealed wrapper. Now imagine that biscuit from anywhere up to 2 to 30 inches long carved into the shape of a person or animal or whatever you want. There are speciality shops that sell biscuits in just about any shape and size that you could possibly want. 7. Statues that take the P
There are 2 more peeing statues in Brussels but they are not advertised by the local tourist board. One, the Jeanneke Pis is a little girl peeing into a fountain. While it is perfectly acceptable to watch a little boy peeing in public it is not acceptable to see a girl doing it. So its not advertised at all and is hidden down a dead-end side street in the side of a building under lock and key. When we read about it in our guide book we decided to find it as we were in the area. It was behind bars which were padlocked. They really don’t want you looking at it. The last statue is of a dog named Zinneke peeing against a bollard. 8. Live in luxury Although Brussels can be expensive with regards to eating out and the beer, you do not have to pay through the nose for your accommodation. In fact its possible to stay in a 5 star luxury hotel in a good location very cheaply. You can book a hotel in conjunction with your train/plane ticket online and make a saving. We paid for a hotel located between the central train station and the Grand Place. The historic old town was on our doorstep as was the train station. We only had to walk over the road to get a train to anywhere in Belgium or walk behind the hotel to be in the Grand Place. Although not our first stay in a luxury hotel it was pretty fancy. The sound of a doorbell to announce room service was a surprise. This was the first hotel room we have stayed in with its own doorbell! One tip about staying in such a fancy hotel relates to our habit of buying mineral water outside of the hotel but using the hotel minibar as a fridge. This did not turn out to be a sensible idea. On the 3rd or 4th day after moving stuff around to fit more water in I noticed a little sticker. It said that the minibar was fitted with sensors. Oh bugger. I went down to reception and told them I’d been using the minibar as a fridge. Apparently I’d ran up a rather large bill just moving stuff around. Luckily they had a sense of humour and deleted the bill. One day I found Emma watching movies on our in-room TV. She swore she never entered any codes or our room number. I went downstairs to reception again and said that we never entered any codes but that we could watch movies. “Well sir I’m not showing any movies on your room bill” the receptionist told me. “Forget I said anything” I replied. Later the hotel put notices up everywhere saying that the in-room interactive TVs were no longer offering movies while the system was being upgraded. We did enjoy our luxurious hotel stay though. We had a nice big bathroom with those dressing gowns made of towel-like material. I just did a Hugh Hefner impression most evenings. After a nice shower I’d just walk around in my hotel gown. One thing that I just could not figure out is how every cheap B&B in Great Britain has no trouble leaving tea and coffee in your room each day but this place kept forgetting. Every day when we got back in we would have to call down for it to be delivered. Then the next day it would be taken away again and I’d have to call again. I love those little cards that the hotel staff leave in your room about being good to the environment. If you leave towels in the bath or on the floor it signifies that you want them washing. If you hang them on the rail it means you want to keep them and use them again. I don’t think room service knows this rule because each day they would replace all the towels no matter where they were, plus the bed linen and the soaps. Yes, if you unwrap the soap and used it once you will get a newly wrapped one the next day. Good for the environment? I don’t think so. 9. Travel around Don’t just stay in one place, travel around. You can buy a train card of 10 train trips. Each trip is to one destination for one person. A return journey is two trips. At the time of our visit the cost of this card was 68 euros. So each trip cost 6.8 euros. If a one-way journey is cheaper than 6.8 euros, buy the ticket. If it costs more, use your travel card. We went to Ghent which was really nice and worth seeing. We had a river tour and sampled the local food and drink. We also went to Bruges which was very touristy and packed. Everyone recommended Bruges to us before we left but we found Ghent to be a more pleasant destination. We also went to Antwerp which is pretty dull and Ostend which was kind of dead. If you only have a short time in Belgian I would recommend staying in Brussels and visiting Ghent and maybe Bruges. 10. People watch As you explore Belgium why not stop at a café and sit down outside with a pastry and coffee and watch people go by. Belgian pastries are pretty tasty, if a little dry. Although not as tasty as those that are available across the border in Luxembourg, I do recommend trying one or two with a decent cup of coffee for breakfast. It sets you up for the day ahead, well until lunch anyway. More photos:
A busy day at the Grand Place |
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