Brussels: Great Chocolate and the Grand Place

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Ah, Belgium. On an itinerary entirely focused on London and Paris, Brussels was a last-minute addition mostly to add a new country to our travels (and eat chocolate). Is a single day enough to explore Belgium? Nope! But a single day in Brussels was plenty of time for us to realize that Belgium is absolutely worth a return trip. I do mean to experience more of the country, of course. But, let’s be very honest here: I also mean I want to eat Belgian chocolate until I am physically ill and then wake up the next day to do it again, sometimes with a side of frites.

Stop judging me.

Who’s on First?

We traveled on the Eurostar from Paris to reach Brussels quickly and comfortably.  But once in Belgium, the Gare du Midi wasn’t quite as easy to navigate as our previous stops on the Paris metro. Alas, we spent some time being comically lost and went up and down many escalators before landing on the correct train platforms.

Let me explain: Escalators in the same general area might descend to completely different levels – i.e., they do not have the same destination platform!  Since my friend tried to take the elevator while I took the escalator, we became seriously confused as to why we were ending up in different places. Unfortunately, this lead to us both trying to “fix” the problem. So we again ended up in different places.  This game is only fun for so long, I assure you.  It certainly made this a memorable metro station, though!

Once we extricated ourselves from the self-created metro mayhem, we stopped by our lodging first to drop off our bags.  The hotel was a bit of a splurge for us, but it was a reasonably-priced (and absurdly comfortable) Bed & Breakfast with a location very near the Grand Place. Our host chatted with us about our interests and recommended a walk that would cover most of the highlights in the city center. 

Rather than do anything remotely complicated, we took his recommendation (and provided map) and went exploring.

A Relaxed Walking Tour of Brussels

As it turned out, this walk was absolutely worthwhile without being too taxing.  We started off going a bit uphill on the Rue de Bogards, passing by some great comics murals.  Continuing straight, we headed onto a nice, fairly quiet pedestrian shopping area along Rue de Rollebeek.  This was our first encounter with many of the well-known chocolate shops of Brussels, so we explored Neuhaus and Marcolini shops here without any crowds. 

There were also many restaurants in this area, although we didn’t yet stop for lunch.  Instead we spent a few minutes browsing the stalls of a little local market set outside of a large church, Église Notre-Dame de la Chapelle. There were sparse crowds in this part of our walk, so we took a moment to enjoy the Jardin des Sculptures. This spot is a nice place to take a little break from the city streets and provides a number of spots or wander through the small garden.

We moved on down the street to the Koningsplein.  This was the original royal palace in Brussels and is a prominent feature on this hill.  We didn’t explore this massive building though; instead, we headed just a little further to Rue Montagne de la Cour. Here, we were provided with a wonderful view of all of downtown Brussels below us. 

A walk down this street provides access to the Museum of Musical Instruments. We didn’t tour this space, but the gift shop is accessible to everyone and is worth a few minutes to explore. Fair warning: It might inspire a sudden trip into the museum! This is probably the #1 attraction I would have added if we’d had a bit more time in Brussels.

We continued our walk along the Mont de Arts, through Tuin van de Kunstberg, which is a popular large park where groups of people were gathered on the stairs and in the green space.  There are attractive rows of trees lining the sides of the park, leading us past the statue of King Albert toward the city center.  A few more blocks and turns down small streets, and we walked into the Grand Place.

This is the most iconic area of Brussels, and it’s also where all the other tourists were hiding while we were enjoying our walk. The Grand Place is absolutely full of people gaping at their surroundings.  Crowds of people everywhere.

But aside from the crowds, you’re surrounded by palaces, grand buildings that look like palaces but aren’t, chocolate shops, and peeing statues.  Three peeing statues, although one in particular gets the majority of the attention. We spent the remainder of our afternoon here, eating lunch then popping into local shops.

Meat and Potatoes… but also Chocolate

We ate at a restaurant with a focus on meatballs. Yes, meatballs. They emphatically emphasized their great balls.  I’m not joking.  Honestly, they really were great balls, though.  And then we also tried frites (with local sauces) at one of the most popular stands, Fritland.  

We proceeded to try every chocolate shop we saw, with the exception of Godiva because come on, really?!  Neuhaus, Leonidas, Marcolini, and Galler were favorites.  My partner loves Neuhaus truffles, so I stocked up on those to bring him many many chocolatey gifts.  I quite liked Galler. They have so many delicious, prominent fillings and unusal flavors that it became my favorite of the chocolatiers we tried.  Leonidas definitely is a good product, and it’s far more affordable and made for a good gift option without breaking the bank.  

After an exhausting whirlwind of chocolate shopping, we finished our Belgian evening with a waffle.  When I write this, it occurs to me that it sounds like a ludicrous and fairly unhealthy day, nutritionally speaking. 

That’s totally accurate. 

When one is in any new location, one should partake of the local culture, no? And how better to do that than with food?! Particularly in a country well-known for its chocolate, amiright? Look, to be fair, we aren’t beer drinkers, so we skipped that option. But we certainly made up for it with samples of chocolates and frites.  And also a waffle, yes, because… of course we tried the waffles.

Next time I find myself in Belgium, I’ll be happy to try mussels and lambics, too! (But I will also be stockpiling more chocolate, because I have no self control and a deep appreciation of passionfruit pralines.)

Note: I literally cannot type OR say the word “waffle” without getting lines from Shrek stuck in my head, so the voice of Eddie Murphy might follow you as you visit Belgium. I dunno, could just be me. Might just be me.

A Few Recommendations

These are in order of importance (or effusiveness), although the top 2 of the 3 are something of a draw, honestly:

Art de Séjour (Bed & Breakfast)

Our lodging in Brussels, this is a small business tucked away a couple blocks from the Grand Place.  It’s a convenient location, not too far from a metro station and an easy walk to many sights. 

But the host here is just fantastic.  He was helpful in recommendations for the city, scheduled our taxi to pick us up for our morning flight, and provides an exceptional breakfast in the morning.  We actually needed to leave an hour before breakfast would typically be available, but he accommodated us by providing a full breakfast regardless of the early hour.  But a seriously full breakfast. Like eggs, choice of meat (if any), juice, breads, granola, etc.

The rooms are spacious and updated, with a great modern shower and nice toiletries.  Oh, and a Nespresso machine in case you, like me, absolutely need to make yourself three espressos simply because you can.

This was a splurge for us after more budget options throughout our trip, but it was absolutely worth the (still reasonable) price and provides great service, comfort, and location.

Galler 

This is my favorite chocolatier in Brussels.  The dark chocolates had the best flavor of those I tried, but the fruit fillings were truly interesting and emphasized the natural flavors of the fruits.  One of the most notable samples was the passionfruit pralines, because they genuinely tasted of sweet, tangy passionfruit.  They offered a box of summer fruit pralines which also contained berry and lemon varieties (the lemon was goooood). 

Galler is not widely distributed. It can’t be found as easily as brands like Leonidas or Neuhaus. And that means it is worthwhile to really stock up when given the opportunity! I certainly can’t get their products in the United States.

Balls & Glory

Yep, “Balls & Glory” is the actual name. It’s probably not too surprising that their schtick is meatballs. Various different types of meat, all formed into balls because themes are important! 

We ordered different options, and all the foods and sides were good enough.  They also have interesting and refreshing drink options beyond the standard sodas. But for the easily amused, the most important detail is the name. And they use it to their advantage as much as possible. 

Of course, there are probably plenty of other great options in this area and probably many better further from this hub of tourism. But let’s face it – this place has the best name.  

Until Next Time

I’d go back to Belgium in a heartbeat.  I’m content with our time spent, and chocolate eaten, in Brussels. But we probably would have added a hop-on/hop-off bus tour and the musical instruments museum if we’d had another day.  I’ll plan to return someday, though, because I’d love to see more cities like Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp.  Belgium seemed like an approachable destination with a fun personality, really great chocolate, tasty cuisine, and convenient transportation. All that is a combination worthy of exploration (and maybe a food tour).