Two Days in Brussels

Another early morning flight to get out of Porto had us up before the sun. On travel days like these, we basically don’t speak until I’ve had a croissant, at which point I become way too cheery. My body is still wildly confused about when to be sleeping or eating and I’ve given up making sense of it. 

While this next move looks a bit like we just threw a dart at a map, coming from Portugal meant that we were at least a flight away from anywhere besides Spain. We were headed to Brussels, Belgium! Though we did entertain a quick trip to Bruges, we only had about 48 hours and it would already be a marathon (we made up for this by watching “In Bruges” at our AirBnB the second night).

After landing and taking the train into the city, we had an obvious first stop - Maison Dandoy for Belgian Waffels! We got Brussels waffles (big and rectangular with deep squares) and opted to have sugary Leige waffles later. A quick stop at the Manneken Pis (“Little Pissing Man” fountain, see below) and we had killed enough time to check into our AirBnB.

I can’t pretend that everywhere we are staying on this trip is luxurious. We aimed for an average budget of $100 per night and while some places we were able to stay nicely for $55 (Marrakesh), in others a basement studio costs $135 (looking at you, Paris). Basically, what you can get for ~$100 varies from place to places. In Brussels, it was a perfectly central studio with a comfy bed. However, to get there we had to walk through a mall that was entirely nail salons. Seriously. And while the view was great, the hot water heater was not and I used the kettle to shower. C’est la vie!

Now that waffles and check-in were out of the way, we could check out one of Belgium’s other claims to fame - beer. We grabbed cones of frites for the walk and headed to Delirium. They had a book of beers so big it was like a small phone book. We got a “meter of beer”, a sampler of 10 of their beers served on a 1-meter board. (And now I’ll always remember how long a meter is, haha). Since no one asked, here’s how I ranked them:
10. Trappe IV
9. Paranoia IPA
8. Delirium Red
7. Chimay Triple
6. Campus
5. Bush Amber
4. Averbode
3. Tremens
2. St Bernardus III
1. St Bernardus ABT 12

To follow that up, we got chocolates and were feeling sufficiently Belgian at that point. The rest of the day was spent drinking beer, then eating food to soak up the beer, repeat. I tried a Leffe beer with beef tartare at Mort Subite (Marcus had been talking about their tartare since his first trip here in 2018) and we ate at Le Cirio for dinner. Somewhere in there we also went to the Cathedral of St Michael and St. Gudula. We both love stained glass and this place had so many massive and interesting windows.

Day 2 started slow, with Marcus’s first shot at learning to French braid before we headed out for the day. Marcus planned the morning, with sightseeing around town, while I had a plan for the afternoon. You can walk to many of the major landmarks in about a 2 hour loop so it’s very doable to explore on foot. We started the day with coffee at this rad roaster, Corica. Then we checked out the palace, Brussels Park, Kleine Zavel (statue in a cute park), and returned to the Manneken Pis. 

Another waffle and a beer and we were ready for my spot - the Brussels Beer Project. This is a brewery space with taproom where they have some nice alternatives to traditional Belgian beers (though they have their own takes on those as well).  They had experimental brews, including a popcorn-flavored one we loved, and awesome service. We each got a flight and had great chats with the bartender and a brewer (who went to my alma mater, go figure). Brewer gave us a recommendation for dinner so we quickly booked a reservation and then wandered around for more beers until our dinner time.

Dinner at Nüetnigenough was traditional Belgian and very tasty. My sausage with bacon included Stoemp, a potato dish, while Marcus’s lamb cheeks included a side of fries. And one last Belgian beer of course ;)

Our walk home took us through the main square where the buildings were all lit up for the night. It was a pretty romantic end to our short trip in Brussels.