Belgium... Brussels!

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With a heavy heart I left Amsterdam and my friend Ariane. When I planned my trip I thought four days in her house would be imposing too much but they went by so fast I wished I had stayed longer!

As our goodbye Ariane took me to the station in her bakfiets...

From there I took a flixbus to Brussels!

I arrived in Brussels in the early afternoon and had to wait for my friend Feli (who was kind enough to let me stay with her) to get off work.

First I thought I would go put my luggage in storage at the station and wonder around but the station was not conveniently located and by the time I dropped off and picked up my bag I wouldn’t have time to do anything so I decided to walk around with it.

At first it rained so hard one couldn’t even walk without getting completely soaked so I decided to sit down and wait it out. Then I kept walking and looked for the tourist info.

I had been to Belgium back in 2007 with my friend Giovanna but surprisingly my brain didn’t recall much about it! I was impressed when I got to “Grand Place” and looked at one of the most beautiful plazas I have ever seen! I couldn’t believe I couldn’t remember I had been there before!

From the Grand Place I went to the tourist info where they said I had to buy a map for €1! I said I didn’t want any and the lady probably fell bad and asked me to wait and got me a free walking tour map! Yeay!

Then I walked to the iconic “manneken pis”, probably the smallest and most famous tourist attraction in the whole of Belgium!

Me in 2007, and in 2017!

Then it was time to go meet with my friend Feli, who I met in Tanzania and offered me a place to stay.

In Myanmar I met Remy Who said he lived next to “the best fries in the whole of Belgium” (I bet he would go as far as saying “in the whole world”) but Feli’s opinion wasn’t the same and decided to take me to try what she thought were the best fries in Brussels: Maison Antoine!

To be honest the fries were really nice and the sauces that Feli chose were just perfect!

From there we went and meet up with some of Feli's friends and I came to realise that there are very few Belgians in Brussels, such an international city!

Remy stopped by for a drink!

The next day with map in hand I walked what felt like all of Brussels!!

Me, myself, and my free map!

I walked past beautiful buildings with amazing architecture, past big gardens with yellow and brown leaves all over, but my favourite part was looking at all the delicious baked good in bakeries and getting the hint of fresh baked bread... oh my! I just got hungry!

Love all the fallen leaves everywhere!

So European!

Park across from Flagey

I even walked to Remy’s “best French fries in Belgium” place to see if he was right!... he wasn’t!

Selfie for Remy haha

.... The moment of truth!

His fries were crunchier, that’s good, but they weren’t the best! The sauces definitely could have improved, I liked maison Antoine better... BUT if I was completely honest I would say nothing beats real French fries, like those I got from the road side in Malawi where the guy was peeling and cutting the fries into a bucket and then frying them as people ordered them! These Belgium fries are good enough for developed countries but the real deal you find them on the streets of third world countries in carts... trust me!

That night Feli and I headed to the Christmas market because who doesn't love christmas markets?!?!

We walked around, looked at stalls with handmade gifts, and had some mulled wine! Yumm

Mulled wine, anyone?

Feli buying some candy! Yum

The following day I went for round two of walking all day through Brussels.

I started by visiting the “parlamentarium” at the European Union 🇪🇺 and learning a lot about the organization. The parlamentarium was like a museum, very interactive and fun!

Then I walked, walked, walked, and walked all over the other parts of town I didn't walk the day before.

How cool is this?

Interesting art on the streets of Brussels

I even ended up by the river in a march for women’s rights.

Another interesting art piece on the streets of Brussels

From there I went back to center and enjoyed a waffle (actually 2

)

Did you know? That Belgians do not put anything on their waffles? Feli told me that they eat “liege”, a waffle that has already sugar in it and never put Nutella or Ice cream on top, that’s for the tourists! Haha

waffles!!!!!

With waffle in hand I walked to the grand place and waited for the lights to be turned on and when they did I was blown away!

The plaza converted into Disneyland’s light show! Colorful lights lit up the plaza and changed accordingly to the music playing to gold, pink, and purple, it went from slow to fast and faster... so pretty!

Doesn't it look magical?

Now off to France...

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!