Brussels - The Royal Quarter And Grand Place

The Royal Quarter is undoubtedly the elegant part of Brussels, containing the majority of the architectural delights that the city has to offer. The Palais Royal turned out to be something of a prelude as around the corner, we stumbled across Coudenberg, which was the site of Brussels’s original twelfth century castle. The castle is now long gone, with the square now dominated by St Jacques’ Church, a huge white Neoclassical structure that overlooks the city. Built between 1776 and 1787, the building wouldn’t look out of place in London, with its balustrade of Greek style fronting a building that is quite colonial in style. In front of it there is a rather impressive statue of a horseman which grabs the attention almost as much as the church itself. Alas the cobbled roundabout on which it is situated was incredibly busy and we struggled to get a closer look at it.

 

Looking to the left, we noticed the imposing Palais de Justice, which immediately captured the eye despite being sheathed in scaffolding. At the time it was built, between 1866 and 1883, it was the world’s biggest building although it proved to be very difficult to lockdown, with a number of defenders absconding throughout its history. Alas its true grandeur was hard to picture through the scaffolding, with us having to make do with peering anxiously through the metal grates defending the main access point. From what we could see, the artwork and architecture inside the main entrance was stunning but alas that’s all we could see. Indeed we had to content ourselves with the obelisk war memorial outside which may contain Belgium’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier alongside the vista provided by the adjacent balcony  which afforded breathtaking views over the rooftops and beyond, all the way to the Atomium some 6km away. There was a glass lift which led down to the windy claustrophobic streets of the Marolles District but we decided to do a 180 and head back down Rue de la Régence as there were a number of interesting buildings to see. One of these was the Église Notre-Dame du Sablon, a flamboyant Gothic Church. Built in 1304 as an archers’ guild chapel, it had to be enlarged in the fifteenth century as pilgrims flocked there due to the supposed healing powers of its Madonna statue. This has long since gone, with only a boat remaining, a boat that was used in the theft of the statue from Antwerp in 1348. We managed a sneak inside, with the rich colours of the stained glass sunrise being the most striking. We didn’t see the boat unfortunately but the architecture was impressive and reminded me a fair bit of York Minster, such was its intricacy.

 

Pretty much opposite from the church sits the Place du Petit Sablon, which is fringed by 48 bronze statues representing the various guilds. In the centre there is a small lake, in the middle of which stands a fountain and plinth. One that plinth there stands a statue of two men - Counts Egmomt and Hoorn, two city leaders who were beheaded in Grand Place in 1568 for refusing to back the Spanish rulers. They look a little lonely to be honest, and somewhat melodramatic, as they stand there surveying what is now a busy thoroughfare. This little park is something of an oasis of tranquility though and it was a delight to spend a couple of minutes wrapped up in its silence. We needed to push on though, with our next destination the Église Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, which is the oldest surviving church in Brussels. We got there by dipping down one of the main streets, where in one of the pedestrianized squares we noticed there was a little festival going on. There was some live jazz music, a few stalls selling crafts and a few more selling food. We also saw one dedicated to a local artisanal beer, and having been on our feet for a few hours by this stage, we decided to stop off and grab a drink. This turned out to be a good idea as the beer was exceptional and the ambience was even better, with the live music and balmy sunny evening being a great combination. We sat to the side of the stage, just tucked out of the way, and soaked up the atmosphere. It seemed like a really neat local event with a range of different people from across the community. There were also a couple of doggo friends, who are always fun, while it was an odd experience having to pay to use a portapotty, although the lady attending them was doing a wonderful job of keeping them clean, spraying them literally every ten minutes or so.

 

I would have loved to have stayed longer, but time was pressing and we needed to get cracking so we returned our beer glasses back to the beer tent to claim our pfand before heading down to the church. Alas this was closed, which was hardly surprising as it was past 8pm, meaning all we could do was admire its exterior Gothic grandeur. Still, it was worth the trip nonetheless, not least because we were now in the Ilôt Sacré region, which is pretty much the heart of the old town. There are a number of interesting shops here, not least the one with a collection of ephemeral items over its shop sign, which suggested a quirky neighbourhood in keeping with the Belgians’ sense of weirdness. This was highlighted as we pushed further on towards one of the top tourist attractions of the city, the Mannekin Pis. As we got closer, there was graffiti in its commemoration but this edge gave way to commercial chocolate shops and souvenir concessions as we headed closer to the statue. This was Rue Charles Buls, tourist central, with us approaching from the south. Surrounding a corner, we soon spotted a throng of tourists, signifying we were at this famous statue of a little boy taking a piss. It’s somewhat comical, surreal even, and an unlikely tourist landmark. We were quite lucky as we could see the statue as intended - quite often it’s covered up in different national dress to signify an anniversary or major holiday/event. We were also quite lucky that we could easily get a picture of the cheeky chappie, although once you’ve seen the statue there’s little reason to hang around. Consequently we headed north, up three blocks of essentially tourist hell, heading towards the main square of Brussels, Grand Place. The best thing about this square is how you just stumble upon it. All of the streets leading into it are narrow, meaning its wonderful grandeur is not revealed until the very last minute and once you are inside, you are surrounded by some of the most consistently beautiful buildings in the world. This cobblestone square is flanked by golden gilded buildings, most of which were built between 1697 and 1705 to house the variety of guilds. My favourite was probably Le Cygne, largely because it was the only one I could easily identify although the golden Phoenix rising out of La Louvre was particularly striking too. However, what was most striking was the fifteenth century city hall which dominated the square, which was no mean feat considering the buildings around it were also competing to be dominating. The late evening sunshine glinting off the gold of the housings gave a warmly hue, while the square being full of life added to the sense of history which was apparent in the place. The City Hall is all spires and open Gothic architecture, in contrast to the closed, buttressed Dutch style of many of the guilds around it. On the eastern flank, one of the guilds more resembled a palace, with all of these different styles enhancing the diversity and magic of the square. I’m not going to lie, I never wanted to leave here, such was its magic but Wolfie wanted to push on and this is what we did. Exiting west, we stumbled across The Bourse, another fine building, yet one built in the neoclassical style. This completely dominates the square in which it is situated but the streets around it do enables you to have a full 360 degree view. It looks a little like the Bank of England and indeed it functions as Belgium’s stock exchange. Built in 1873, some of the work is by a young Rodin, and its lunging horses, reclining nudes and fabulous friezes all add to a sense of fantasy about the place. It is built on the site of the old Butter Market, so commerce was clearly important here, while a convent also formerly stood on this site, with the adjacent sweet church with its enchanting golden clock providing a religious link. This is near the site of Bruxella1238, a Franciscan convent which was ruined by a bombing campaign in 1695. 

 

Our final tourist site of the day wasn’t too far away - the Jeanneke Pis, the squatting female equivalent of the Mannekin Pis. She was placed in a back alley in 1985, one which had restaurants on either side so she becomes somewhat lost. The fact she is obscured somewhat by the iron gates that surround her certainly doesn’t help but there were a fair few tourists here coming to see her. She too is rather cheeky, casting her head to one side as of in defiance, and it’s a nice complement to her more famous male equivalent. Anyway, with the bars pumping and a long day on our feet, we decided a beer was in the cards so we made our way to the Brussels Beer Project, one of the main craft beer bars in the city. We were aware of the Brussels Beer Project as you can get their beers at Brewdog in Leeds, so it was great to see their base, just west of the city centre in the Dansaert region. Due to the huge sandwich we had had earlier in the day, we were surprisingly not hungry, but once we had had a four beer tasting flight, this soon changed. The beers we had were all from their limited batch EXP range, with us going for 051-054. The bar itself is quite narrow, with it opening out into a huge square space, around which there were some barrels littered. It was quite a pleasant place to sit for an hour, although we weren't able to stay much longer as they were slated to close at 10pm and stopped serving a fair bit of time before then. We did manage to grab some local sausage to snack upon though, which served us well until we headed back towards the centre of the city.

Our main aim had to be to secure some waffles, with the guidebook recommending a place, but as we got closer to the Bourse, we noticed that there was an outlet of French burger chain Quick, which we had not tried before. Not wishing to pass up an opportunity, we decided to go here instead, opting for a burger which was somewhat chewy and unsatisfying in all honesty. The fries were okay from memory, but this chain is certainly not as good as Hesburger in Finland or Max in Sweden, and is a place we are unlikely to visit again. As we exited the burger restaurant, we realised that we had not yet visited the main cathedral in the city, the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. Only given cathedral status in 1962, this impressive Gothic building is very much in the same vein as York Minster and Notre Dame, except it dominates the city somewhat sitting atop a promintory. Started in 1226, construction took over 300 years, with various different styles being incorporated into its design. Circumnavigating the building, you could see a number of different angles jutting out of the masonry, making for a beguiling and absorbing structure. As we walked around, a gang of around ten semi-threatening youths sat on the steps listening to some pretty awful rap music, but they were having a good time at least, which was something. They certainly didn't put us off looking at the intricate architecture that the church affords, although we did lament we couldn't actually go inside. Still, at least we got to see the Cathedral bathed in soft yellow artificial light, which added a majestic, perhaps ghostly hue, to the evening.

It was pushing 11pm by this stage and with Brewdog just around the corner, we thought we would swing by and have a swift drink before heading home. This is what we did, although we were shocked to discover that the bar was somewhat empty, even at that time of night on a Saturday. Granted it is situated a small walk away from the heart of the city, but I was surprised just how quiet it was considering it's right opposite the Central station. This meant the atmosphere wasn't all that great and we were contemplating going back to the hotel, until I noticed in the guidebook that a nearby bar was merely described as 'grungy, all-black madness with coffins for tables' and I thought this was worth checking out. Google Maps described it as a cocktail bar, which somewhat put us off, but we thought we would take a look anyway. Much to our surprise, it was around the corner from the Grand Place, and as we loitered outside, we wondered whether we should step inside or just get some sleep. Curiosity soon got the better of us and so we walked down the narrow entrance and into the main area of the bar, which turned out to be a rock/heavy metal place with an extensive range of Belgian beer on tap called Le Cercueil. It was busy, but not packed, and we soon found a table and ordered a drink. We had intended to be there for just one, but with an excellent playlist extending from hardcore metal to Linkin Park and random Irish folk being interspersed on occasion, it was just a wonderful place to be. Indeed we ended up staying for something like three hours and would have hung around longer had we not wanted to get up reasonably early the next day to do some sightseeing. I do wish we had such a place in Leeds, such was the excellent cathartic music, the range of beer and the friendly vibe, and this truly was a gem of a place we had stumbled into. Indeed, we couldn't stop smiling and as we dragged ourselves away at 2:30am, the desolate beauty of the Grand Place, with its gold guilding lit up by artificial street lamps, only enhanced the perfection of the evening. Walking through here and past the Mannekin Pis with barely anyone around afforded an excellent private showing of Brussels's main tourist attractions, but even as we made the twenty minute journey back to the Ibis, we did wonder whether we should just head back to the bar such had been the excellence of the evening.