Like so many places during our summer backpacking in Europe, Brussels was a city we stopped at for too brief a time. We hit the high points, the Atomium, the Grand Palace, the Guild Houses, and Mannekin Pis, but we didn’t have time for slower strolls through the city nor time to explore more of Belgium.
As corny as this sounds, our main priority while in Brussels was consuming Belgian Waffles. There were so many varieties to choose from, but I kept it simple: chocolate and whipped cream atop a fluffy art-de-waffle. When we return to Belgium, we will have to tour the breweries as well as revisit some waffle shops since our time was too limited for both on this trip.
Besides the Atomium, I think Mannekin Pis is the most well known site of Brussels. I had this idea in my head of this large life size statue of a child peeing. It is the smallest little statue ever, surrounded by crowds of people. It is a wonder we even captured a photo of it at all! Mannekin Pis, meaning “Little Man Pee” in Dutch, is a small bronze statue originally installed in 1618. Many versions of it have since been stolen with the one we saw being a copy from 1965. It is dressed in costume throughout the year.
I want to return to Belgium in the future, not only to see other towns like Bruges and Ghent, but also to further explore Brussels. Our next trip here will hopefully coincide with the Brussels Flower Carpet, an ephemeral moment of thousands of begonias covering the grand square.
The Brussels Flower Carpet is indeed magnificent! And Bruges is my favorite city in Belgium so hopefully you’ll be able to come back!