Brussels 2023
In the Spring of 2023 we took a cruise through the Norwegian Fjords and planned a pre-trip to Brussels. Our cruise went in and out of Amsterdam, but we’d been there before and wanted to see something new. Brussels is only a 2.5 hour train ride from the Schiphol Internation Airport in Amsterdam. Here is what we found in the Capital of Europe!
Why Brussels?
Good question, and not one that was really obvious. Our cruise was staring and ending in Amsterdam, but we’d been there before and wanted something new. A google maps search later and we’d narrowed it down to Antwerp, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Brussels all within a 3 hour train ride. Brussels had the name recognition as both the capital of the EU and the headquarters of NATO, but in the end, its reputation as a beer and chocolate hub won us over. Our research found a number of places to explore, so we looked for our route, our hotel, our food options, and what we wanted to do and started the plan. We wanted center of the city, but also close to our top spots like the Grand Place, the EU Parliament, the Royal Army and History Museum, the breweries we had researched, and the numerous cathedrals in the area. We settled on 9 Hotel Central near the Centrale train station, one of three stops in Brussels.
That look when the agent tells you you’re in the wrong train.
The cool thing about traveling through Amsterdam is that the train station is in the basement of the airport. We were on a train within two hours of landing, unfortunately it was the wrong train. It was headed in the right direction, but it was one of the Thalys high speed, high cost trains that our ticket did not cover. We jumped off at the first stop and waited for our train and then we were off! Exiting the train in an underground station in Europe can always be tricky, luckily offline maps came to the rescue and a few minutes later we were knocking on the wrong door to our AirBnB. A quick question to the neighboring hotel and we walked around to the other side of the building for check-in. As always, the key is to stay awake, so we set off on a walk to the Grasmarkt - Agoraplein, an open air craft market surrounded by restaurants. We got some fried food at De Pistolei, chicken sticks and fries, and ate it out on the tables on the sidewalk. We scoped out a few places of interest on our “stay awake” walk, including spotting the local shops where we’d find snacks, souvenirs, and a samplings of the local beer by the can. There was a good deal of construction in the area too so we wanted to map out the best way to get back to the train for our departure in a few days.
Our first full day was spent walking and learning. We put 7.5 miles on our feet while exploring the city with stops at the Royal Army and History Museum, the EU Parliament, a local bar, and a pizza and beer spot.
The Royal Army and History Museum was fantastic, it’s housed in Parc du Cinquantenaire, a large public park surrounding the former Royal Military Academy. Inside is one of the most intriguing collections of military artifacts we’d ever seen. We started in the hanger which houses military aircraft from the First World War all the way until the end of the Cold War.
The next area started with an impressive array of armor, swords, and other medieval implements. The museum followed Dutch history through the renaissance, colonial times, two world wars, and the cold war. There was special attention paid to the nearly 5 years of Nazi occupation during World War II and the role of the Dutch Resistance in fighting back.
On our second full day in Brussels, we embarked on a tradition we’ve had since our Iceland trip, a food tour! We’ve found that these are typically pretty fun, very cost-effective when we look at what we actually get vs. what it would have cost us to do it alone, and we get the added experience of meeting new people who are stuck with us for several hours. Our tour started in The Grand Place where we walked to the Peeing Boy statue for some pictures. Our guide then took us to the lesser known Peeing Girl statue, which was a little weird, but it also showed us where the world famous Delirium Taphouse was located, we’d be back for their 2,000 beers. We had a lunch of mussels, meatballs, potato cakes, and multiple beer options. Our final stop was the Galerie de la Reine, the oldest shopping center in Brussels, built in 1847. We enjoyed a waffle and a drink to finish up our food tour.
Our third day in Brussels was a little more leisurely and we started with a tour and chocolate making class at Choco-Story Brussels where Miranda found a unique photo opp. An hour in the kitchen later and we had managed to make ourselves a number of souvenirs. After our sugar stop we took a self-guided city tour to hunt down some beer and a Primark for some shirts that Miranda really liked the last time we were in Amsterdam. We found some excellent beers at BrewDog and some good beer and people watching at Beer Capital.
We spent our last day crossing all the other stops off of our list. We started the day at the Botanical Gardens, a small but beautiful section of the city open to the public for leisurely walks, picnics, or apparently concerts but not while we were there. We finally stopped and took pictures at the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral, a building we’ve walked by plenty of times but never stopped at. We also visited the Congress Column in a plaza overlooking the city. It was a fries and finger foods kind of day with stops at Fritland, revisiting Papy Belgian Frites for dinner, and trying out the Team Room Gaufres for another Belgian Waffle when we happened by it with no line.
Embarkation day arrived we felt like we’d seen everything we wanted to see. Norway was going to be very different from how we had spent our last several days but we were happy we got this in. Issues with travel don’t seem to be letting up anytime soon, so getting somewhere a little early and trying to make a mini-trip out of it isn’t such a bad idea, especially in Europe. We really enjoyed how walkable the city was and how it didn’t really matter what part of town we were in, we never felt unsafe. The beer was great but we probably didn’t give the food enough of a chance, it’s just so hard to say no to all of that fried finger food.