On our first morning we had a walking tour of the city through WithLocals and our guide Eric was great - funny and energetic with knowledge of little corners of the city we would never have found on our own.
Eric took us to a historic lane where one of the home's lintel stone was inscribed with the date 1596! The lane was a tiny, cute little place with wisteria vines growing from one building across to another. We were also able to visit a private courtyard where you could still see one of the canals that was used to deliver goods to the city. Most of the buildings there are now student housing. We also saw a fountain and reflecting pool that are now all that remains of the original port of Brussels and we also saw one of the original watch towers from the city's medieval walls.
The Grand Place was impressive and there were so many different facades of the buildings around the square! There is a 15th century Gothic Town Hall, a building that housed some of the worker's guilds, and the King's House which houses a museum. Most of the buildings have gold details on their facades which shine nicely in the evening when the square is illuminated. It was all very, well...grand! Eric did remind us to mind our belongings here as there can be pickpockets and it's a very busy place with lots of people around. Mike and I had a really good dinner at a restaurant underneath one of the buildings, the restaurant Le Cave du Roy. It's next to the historic guild hall Maison des Ducs de Brabant. We aren't gastronomes or foodies, but we do like a good meal with good service and this place delivered on both counts.
Les Galeries Royale Saint-Hubert is one of Europe's first covered shopping malls. Opened in 1847 it was a beautiful combination of different types of marble and contained higher-end shops along with some touristy type of shops. Lots of chocolate shops too, they're very proud of the Belgian chocolate. We had a fantastic dinner here at Taverne du Passage. Superb food and good, although somewhat slow, service as they were quite busy. Both of the restaurant recommendations came from Eric so he was helpful in that regard also.
Another tip from Eric was to visit the Église Notre-Dame des Victories au Sablon which was near our hotel. It was originally founded and built by the Crossbowmen's Guild in the 13th century and is free to enter. The church itself was light and airy but the main reason Eric suggested we go there was to see a family tomb inside that is made of the blackest marble I have ever seen. Normally black marble has quite a few streaks of white in it but this was almost completely black. It was even more striking because the sculptures on the tomb were all done in white marble. Nearby is the Square du Petit Sablon, a small park with a statuary fountain that was a nice place to stop if you wanted to sit for bit.
One thing about Brussels: If you are driving to the city there are many tunnels you drive though that go under the streets and your car's navigation doesn't always seem to understand that you're in a tunnel so you can't possibly "exit now" as there is an actual tunnel wall in that spot! We took a day trip out of the city one day and played a game of "where do we get off this never-ending loop of tunnels?" when we came back. Finally I said to Mike just exit and we'll figure it out ourselves and we did! It also helped that our hotel was one of the tallest in the area so it was fairly easy to spot it.
Overall we felt we could have done Brussels as a day trip. We aren't shoppers and the city was just too busy and crowded for our tastes. In hindsight, we would rather have visited Brussels as a day trip instead of staying in the city.
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