- Brussels
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Belgium
I would like to recommend an Art Nouveau bus tour operated by ARAU (Atelier de Recherche et d'Action Urbaines), a non-profit local resident's group of architects, designers and interested citizens. The tour takes you to the most extravangant houses of the time around 1900, explaining not only who built it, but also who lived in it and what happened to the building throughout the century. The tour includes visits to the interiors of some Art Nouveau buildings, some of which are not open to the public.
The tour guide we were lucky to join was a very entertaining man, who also told us a lot about city developement and the way Brussels deals with its historical monuments.
The tour takes 3 hours, price is 17 Euro, online reservation possible. For details see: www.arau.org
Google map: tinyurl.com/nmfoha
The Cantillon Brewery is the last of what were once plentiful Gueuze Breweries in Belgium. The family brewery makes Gueuze, a unique beer that depends entirely on windborn yeast to complete the beermaking process, introducing an element of luck that most brewmasters wouldn't dream of accepting. To use the wild yeast the brewery has a number of unique features that cannot be found in any other brewery.
The location is also ideal. Just a fifteen minute walk from Brussels' Grand Place, there is no problem with imbibing as much of this wonderful beer as you would like and then wondering how to get home. The metro public transport system makes this a wonderfully tasty and safe experience.
Gheudestraat 56
1070 Anderlecht, Anderlecht
02 521 49 28
www.cantillon.be
Google map: tinyurl.com/l6jal2
Only 10 minutes walk from the Gare du Midi, down a (frankly rather unprepossessing) street, is the Cantillon Brewery. This is an independent family-owned brewery producing lambic, one of Belgium's most authentic and original beers. You get a short and enthusiastic introduction, and can then follow the brewing process on your own.
What makes lambic beer unique is that it ferments spontaneously. The wort cools down in a shallow copper tray in the attic where it comes into contact with airborne wild yeasts.
You can wander through the barrel store, with its heady and musty aromas, where it will ferment for up to three years. Tasting is an education. You will be offered the slightly tart Gueuze, a blend of old and new lambics, and the sweeter Kriek beers, blended with fruit.
This is a fascinating and evocative museum, offering a rare insight into traditional brewing methods.
Gheudestraat 56
1070 Anderlecht, Anderlecht
02 521 49 28
www.cantillon.be
Google map: tinyurl.com/l6jal2
A really fun - and tasty - tour of a unique brewery can be found in the gritty working class Brussels district of Anderlecht, where some of Brussels' best kept secrets are also hidden!
The Musee Bruxellois de la Geuze offers a great tour around the Cantillon Brewery, the last working brewer of Lambic, a strange spontaneously-fermenting beer, that has to be tasted to be believed and once tasted will be craved ever after! It takes Lambic brews from three different years to make a Geuze beer, so it's something pretty special and well worth waiting for!
The Cantillon Brewery opened in 1900 and little has changed since then. It is a great retreat from the modern world to an age when people had more time to sit back and enjoy a glass of beer.
We loved the tour but got a little confused, after tasting and sampling, about all the processes and spontaneous fermentation, so we might have to go again to refresh the memory - hic.
Musee Bruxellois de la Geuze
Cantillon Brewery
Admission: 5euros (includes a cold glass of beer)
Cantillon Brewery
56 rue Gheude
Anderlecht
1070 Brussels
Metro: Gare du Midi or Clemenceau
Tel: +32 (0)2 521 4928
www.cantillon.be
Open Mon-Fri 08.30--17.00, Sat 10.00--17.00
Google map: tinyurl.com/l6jal2
Near Dinant in the Ardennes region of Belgium there is a great place to canoe downstream and then follow up your exertion with a big bowl of frites.
From Dinant, make your way to Anseremme, where a little mountain train takes you to the town of Houyet. Here the five-hour, 21km kayak trip sets off. It’s also possible to alight earlier at Gendron and take a shorter, 2.5-hour and 12km, trip back.
Prices are the same for the 21km and 12km circuit.
Place Baudouin Ier, 2 5500 Anseremme-Dinant
More info at www.lessekayaks.be
Google map: tinyurl.com/mnsjtm
If you’re looking for a Festival without the mud and with all the best bands then why not go to Belgium? Travel is easier and just as quick as getting to most of the UK festivals. Book the Eurostar (it only cost me £70 last year) and you can relax until you get into Brussels. The rest of the travel is free with your festival ticket. So no worries about your carbon footprint!
It seems all the decent bands split between the UK festivals meet up in Belgium for one big event. Rock Werchter has won the ILMC Arthur Award for the four times in the last five years demonstrating that things are much more organized and as a bonus there is better chance of avoiding the rain.
Give it a go and you will be going back year after year.
Werchter, Belgium
Belgium Beer Tour is a tour operator specializing in tours of Belgium breweries. It offers a great way for beer lovers to visit their favorite breweries and discover new ones. The tours cover a wide range of beers and appeals to connoisseurs and amateurs alike.
You can’t go wrong with a room at the Be Manos – a new boutique hotel next to the Eurostar terminus with a five-star rating. It’s very chic and also has an excellent conference room.
www.bemanos.com
23 square de l'aviation, B-1070 Brussels, Belgium
Google map: tinyurl.com/mvjxx7
For a quality lunch, pay a visit to the Museum Brasserie, which is in the Museum of Fine Arts overlooking the Palace Royale. It has a menu terroir of Belgian cuisine cooked by the Michelin-starred chef Peter Goossens.
www.museumfood.be
Rue de la Regence 3, 1000 Brussels
Google map: tinyurl.com/njs39t
As well as news and interviews, The Bulletin has a great listings section, which reviews restaurants and bars and tells you what’s going on in the city.
Le Bier Circus - fantastic beer list (look at the vintage beers) and typical hearty Belgian food.
www.bier-circus.be/
Rue de l'Enseignement, 57 Brussels, 1000 Belgium
Google map: tinyurl.com/nppzrp
For the festive period, there’s a great Christmas market at Place Sainte Catherine in the Old Town, complete with a Ferris wheel and ice-skating rink. This is a great place to while away an hour or two and pick up some stocking fillers while you’re there.
Aux Armes De Bruxelles is a long-established restaurant near the Grand Place with an excellent menu and good beer and wine list. The moules are to die for. I ate there every evening on my last trip.
Address: 13, Rue des Bouchers - 1000 Bruxelles; Phone: +32 2 511.55.50; Website: www.armebrux.be/
Google map: tinyurl.com/mhoh6p
Place Saint-Géry is a great place to grab a drink in the evening in Brussels. There are also great restaurants around this area.
Place Saint-Géry
Google map: tinyurl.com/kta7uf
La Quincaillerie (if you can pronounce it) is the place to go for upmarket Belgian dining in the atmospheric, bustling setting of an old ironmonger's store. It's a really memorable experience for visitors to Brussels and has fantastic seafood.
45 rue du Page, Brussels
www.quincaillerie.be
+32 2 533 9833
Google map: tinyurl.com/myn6vs
Remember your Brussels Eurostar ticket covers same day onward travel to all stations in Belgium. This includes Brussels Central Station, so you can use it instead of the Metro to get across town from Midi station to your hotel or meeting near Brussels Central.
Thanks indeed to the Two Hairy Bikers for their suggestion to try this fantastic restaurant. The food was gorgeous and the staff were obviously selected for their efficiency as much as their looks. We dined like kings and yet the meal came to about 100 euros, a bargain. I'd love to go back and try the steak & chips and some more wonderful Belgian beer. Try it, you will not be disappointed.
Belga Queen Brussels
Rue Fossé aux Loups 32
1000 BRUSSELS
Phone:+32 2.217.21.87
www.belgaqueen.be/
Google map: tinyurl.com/l3ev64
Pop over to the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the Geographic Arboretum in Tervuren - it's the best green space in Brussels.
Then head to "Het Park"in the town square for fantastic cuisine.
www.africamuseum.be/
Leuvensesteenweg 13 3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Google map: tinyurl.com/mrk8s6
The Mokafe cafe in Galerie du Roi 9 serves a delicious and complete breakfast for around six euros including mouthwatering croissants and real fresh squeezed juice.
Galerie du Roi 9, Bruxelles 1000
Google map: tinyurl.com/krr7jb
Brussels is a colourful, charismatic and stunning city, full of rewarding surprises, it is least of all “boring”.
Don’t bother with the slightly eccentric and haphazard metro system – just walk. Central Brussels is small enough to potter round in a day.
Aim for the splendid Place du Grand Sablon (where you can get the best chocolates in the world) then head downhill to La Bourse and Grand Place and west into the trendy St. Catherine and St. Géry areas.
Make sure you take in plenty of good food and drink along with the stunning Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings that populate so many streets.
The best thing about Bruxelles/Brussel and the bilingual-Belgians is that they know all this; they just don’t go shouting it from every corner of the Grand Place.
I can heartily recommend buying the finest cheeses, meats and bread, beer and chocolates from the above areas, getting back on the Eurostar and turning all the other passengers green with envy as you tuck-in. Brussels is nearer than Paris too!
Is this your business?Search Been there
