Brussels in 4 hours

How to see Brussels in 4 hours:

• Grote Market (Grand Place)
• Belgian waffles
• Manneken Pis
• Belgian beer
• Tintin shop

OK, so I'm sure there is much more to Brussels than this, but as we were making our way home from Venice via Brussels, we only had a few hours.  It was significantly cheaper (we're talking almost 1000 euros cheaper) to fly from Venice to Brussels, and then catch the train from Brussels back to Amsterdam, compared to flying straight to Amsterdam.

Our day started with a 6am ferry trip to the Venice bus station, a bus from Venice to the airport, a flight to Brussels, an hour bus ride from the the airport to the city (the Ryan Air flight only goes to Charleroi which is on the outskirts of Brussels), a metro from the airport to the city. a quick stopover in Brussels for lunch, 3 hours on the train back to Amsterdam (2.5 was spent standing up because the train was full!) and a tram back to our house.  A very full day!

So, back to Brussels. The heritage listed main square was surrounded by some really nice old buildings, including the town hall and gold plated guildhalls with intricate, curly facades.  It was overcast when we arrived but we were lucky enough to get a few minutes of blue sky later in the afternoon.

Town Hall in the Grote Markt (Grand Place)

Belgian waffles for lunch

For some reason, the Manneken Pis statue is insanely popular.  This foot-tall statue of a little boy taking a leak seems to be nothing special, but there was a massive crowd of people around it- so of course we joined the line to take a photo. Just nearby was a busy little pub called Poechenellekelderserving.  It was full of Manneken Pis paraphernalia, but most importantly served many types of Belgian beer.  Finally it was a quick visit to the Tintin shop, due to Belgium being the home country of the comic book writer Herge.  A tiring but excellent day to finish a tiring but excellent trip to Italy (and Belgium).

Belgian beer at Poechenellekelder

Grote Markt in the sunlight

Tintin shop