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Brussels Vacations and Luxury Travel Packages
Brussels, a city made for happiness. Either for a week or a weekend, the following pages will help you discover the Brussels' life, from dusk till dawn. It will show you the most extraordinary places of this capital inspired by surrealism. Click here for the best Brussels hotels and here for some extraordinary tours and vacation packages.
Because spending one day in Brussels isn't enough, and two are barely sufficient to scratch the city's surface, Brussels Tourism is recommanding "3 days in Brussels" to enable tourists to make their own discoveries.
This first part presents discoveries chosen to reflect Brussels's strategic mainstays, their touristic attractiveness and their originality: Brussels city of surrealism, Brussels city of royalty, Brussels good living style, Brussels city of all kinds of music, Brussels city of arts, Brussels Europe's capital. These discoveries can be sampled the whole year round.
The Market Square
My stroll starts at the Grand-Place/Grote Markt, with a close up of this flower stall. Vibrant colours come alive every day in front of the gilded facades. On Sundays, my stroll through the markets is full of
contrasts : gleaming among the stalls of antique dealers in the Sablon, confusing just a few metres away at the flea market of the Place du Jeu de Balle/Vossenplein.
In the Marolles, you will find yourself in the heart of Brussels through its locals. After all, markets are just a pretext to meet people, aren't they ?
Windows of creativity
Fine shopping attracts me to tread my way through some of the most prestigious streets of the capital. In the Galeries Saint-Hubert/Sint-Hubertusgalerijen, and further, Rue Antoine Dansaert, I am enchanted with the most recent creations of Belgian designers. Man and woman are reinvented. As I go by, I visit small, original shops that typify Brussels while revealing their shopkeepers and clientele. Then in the upper town, along the Boulevard de Waterloo, you will find the famous fashion designers. Magritte, today
His paintings draw on day-to-day reality but change its elements.The changes of scale upsets the hierarchy of motives. The specific qualities are altered and functions permuted. Magritte speaks to our sense of reality and surrealism ! You will feel as I do to which extent Magrittes's derision in his work corresponds strangely to the typical Brussels' state of mind.
The forerunner
Whereas his native city, Ostend, remained a central source of inspiration, for James-Sydney Ensor Brussels was a second home. Witness his "Entry of Christ in Brussels" where he shows himself to be a merciless observer tainted with bitter irony. I am disturbed by his original imagination oriented towards the fantastic close to Brussels. Who today would deny that Ensor was one of the forerunners of surrealism ?Music of all types
Do you enjoy classical music ? Then let me take you to "La Monnaie / De Munt" one of the most coveted lyric "temples" of Europe. A classic among classics : "Othello", "Parsifal" or "Orfeo" are staged among many other famous works.
There is classical dance too : Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker has taken up residence in the same premises. Classical concerts, and finally the dense programme of the 70 years of the Brussels Philharmonic Society. Bach, Haendel, Debussy, etc. all the great composers are honoured, together with less known repertories and music from around the world.
Moreover, unexpected are the festivals that give rhythm to the city all year round. The prestigious Flanders Festival schedules some 300 events well beyond the capital, whereas the Wallonia Festival reveals its innovative character more and more every year. And then, go and listen to Ars Musica, the contemporary music festival with its ever so intriguing sound. In April, you shall discover the "Printemps Baroques" (Baroque Spring) in the Sablon/Zavel which brings out its glorious past.
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Terraces and marionettes
Early in the evening sitting at the terrace of a café will fill you with a cheerful atmosphere. That is where the older generation of Brussels mixes with the young and with the tourists creating a joyful contrast.
Wherever I go, the great variety of beer arouses my curiosity. It would take a whole evening to appreciate a Faro, a Gueuze, a Lambic, a Kriek, etc. Among other things I stop also at Toone's to enjoy the humour of the famous puppeteer.
The Gourmet tour
Brussels offers a lot of fine restaurants. There are more than 200 in my Gourmet Guide. You will discover in Brussels its inimitable crisp shrimp croquettes, "américain-frites", rabbit simmered in gueuze or local dishes like stoemp and waterzooi. From the simple "mussels and chips" to a starred restaurant, I have always eaten well. It is a pleasure to be able to list so many gourmet restaurants.
About surrealism
Brussels has been transformed, like the work of Magritte. By bringing together unexpected objects, dissociating and, at times even distorting, certain elements from their intended function, the city, like the artist, brings forth a new perception of reality.
Brussels is therefore surrealistic first and foremost,
through its " zwanze " the typical Brussels' humour. Through the extravagance of its Atomium and Court House. I wander through the streets of this strange Brussels whose artists of the 1920s have settled. James Ensor will be honoured in 1999 in a major retrospective where the awkward appears into the paintings.
Magritte, today
His paintings draw on day-to-day reality but change its elements.The changes of scale upsets the hierarchy of motives. The specific qualities are altered and functions permuted. Magritte speaks to our sense of reality and surrealism ! You will feel as I do to which extent Magrittes's derision in his work corresponds strangely to the typical Brussels' state of mind.
The forerunner
Whereas his native city, Ostend, remained a central source of inspiration, for James-Sydney Ensor Brussels was a second home. Witness his "Entry of Christ in Brussels" where he shows himself to be a merciless observer tainted with bitter irony. I am disturbed by his original imagination oriented towards the fantastic close to Brussels. Who today would deny that Ensor was one of the forerunners of surrealism ?
Royal splendours
At the heart of the federal state, Brussels is firstly the capital of the realm. The Royal Square, with the statue of Godfrey of Bouillon seems tiny and encourages me to explore the rich surroundings.
I leave the Royal Museums of Ancient and Modern Art behind and head for the Park of Brussels.
It is laid out in pleasant, perfectly symmetrical paths which provides the link between the elected representatives of the people (the Parliament) and the monarchy (the Palace). One of the pediments of the Palace leaves me speechless ! A low relief represents Belgium showing a medallion bearing the effigy of Leopold II, the "Builder King."
Fairy tale
The other Palace in Laeken houses the sovereign since 1830. On a spring day I walk along the paths to its greenhouses, one hectare and a half of oval-shaped, crystalline galleries, for a delightful stroll through gardens subtly perfumed with rare essences. I have no difficulty whatsoever convincing myself that its collections of orange trees are among the finest in the world.
Inestimable riches
The majestic arcades of the Cinquantenaire/ Jubelpark arise on the axis of two fountains. Since it was built to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Kingdom, this site has played host to a thousand and one treasures in the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History, Autoworld, and the Royal Museums of Art and History. Like many others, I discovered the wonders of these museums.
There, I explored Egypt on the 2nd floor, through the 9,000 objects and works of art brought from the Valley of the Nile.
"Congo"
The royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren is a legacy of Belgium overwhelming colonial power bequeathed by Leopold II : the twenty exhibition rooms are all the more grandiose as they attest to a bygone age. Later, I stroll through the fountains and enjoy the majestic surrounding nature. Belgium has a lot to offer and I yearn for more.
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Royal Theatre of the "Monnaie" |
Music of all types
Do you enjoy classical music ? Then let me take you to "La Monnaie / De Munt" one of the most coveted lyric "temples" of Europe. A classic among classics : "Othello", "Parsifal" or "Orfeo" are staged among many other famous works.
There is classical dance too : Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker has taken up residence in the same premises. Classical concerts, and finally the dense programme of the 70 years of the Brussels Philharmonic Society. Bach, Haendel, Debussy, etc. all the great composers are honoured, together with less known repertories and music from around the world.
Moreover, unexpected are the festivals that give rhythm to the city all year round. The prestigious Flanders Festival schedules some 300 events well beyond the capital, whereas the Wallonia Festival reveals its innovative character more and more every year. And then, go and listen to Ars Musica, the contemporary music festival with its ever so intriguing sound. In April, you shall discover the "Printemps Baroques" (Baroque Spring) in the Sablon/Zavel which brings out its glorious past.
From ancient to modern
Just round the Place Royale/Koningsplein, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium inspire contemplation. A few metres from each other, linked by a single corridor, ancient and modern art provide a most pleasant walk. I enjoy wandering here to admire the masterpieces of Rubens, Breughel or Bosch.
I stand astounded in the Breughel room that boasts some of the master's finest paintings : "The Census of Bethlehem", "The Adoration of the Magi", "The Fall of Icarus", etc.
I also learn that the collection of the 17th century Dutch painting is one of the finest in Europe.
Down below, in the basements of the modern art section, I go from Fauvism to Expressionism and onto Surrealism. In the former Palace of Charles of Lorraine, works of modern art come into their own. This time, I stroll deliberately from sculpture to sculpture : works by Wouters, Anthoons, Strebelle, Long, etc. are as pleasant as those by Miro, Dali, Boltanski or Picasso in the vicinity.
I have of course started with two temples : the Wiertz Museum and the small Ixelles Museum. You will not be disappointed, but the Brussels of the Arts is teeming with originals.
Thanks to Brussels Tourism |
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