Brussel / Bruxelles

The Lonely Planet guide starts its section on Brussels by saying "It's hard to fathom how Brussels got labelled 'boring'..." Well, I can certainly see why people find this city boring. It is only when you really explore this city that you find its true culture and spirit.

When we first walked out of the train station all we saw is a dirty, bland city. Our opinion was not helped by the fact we walked 15 minutes in the opposite direction of the city. After help from a nice lady, one wrong tram and another 20 minutes waking later we finally arrived at the hotel. That was not our only navigational mishap (although we can blame it on the incorrect directions from the hotel), we were continually walking in one direction thinking it was another.

While the city is mostly dirty and boring, the occasion spark of life randomly appears on the sides of buildings in the form of comics. The whole city is obsessed with comics, and not surprising seeing it was the birth place of Tintin. There are comic stores on every street, a comic museum and a whole store devoted to Tintin comics and figureines!

The other things Belgium is famous for is beer, chocolate, fries, beer, chocolate, waffles and mussels. Infact, food in general is fantastic.

The first night we headed out into the city and found a small, dimly lit middle eastern restaurant called Kasbah. Not only was the atmosphere fantastic, I can say without hesitation that it was the best meal I have ever had! Jeni had a meat ball Tajine and I had lamb cous cous. Jeni's came out with the Tajine still steaming while my seemingly simple meal came out in 3 dishes. The first was a plate of cous cous, then a pot full of huge simmering vegetables, and finally a plate of the most tender lamb I have ever seen. I was full without needing another serving of cous cous and Jeni got stuck into some of the left over veggies. The local beer was great too.

The next day we spent most of the day in chocolate stores with mouths watering and filling our bellies with free samples. We went to a pub that night where Jeni had mussels, and I had Belgium beef stew, fries (a Belgium invention, not French) and 2 Belgium beers - Kwack and a framboise (raspberry) beer.

We missed most of the touristy stuff like the Atomium, Mini Europe, EU headquarters and various museums - partly because they were too expensive or closed, and partly because we just wanted to explore the city. We saw heaps of cool little design studios and trendy stores, all in back streets and out of the way corners.

All in all we really enjoyed Brussels and would definately would have liked to stay for a few extra nights, if for no other reason than to eat!