Lonely Planet India - August 2016

2012

The Flemish Nationalist Party

(NVA) becomes the largest

political force in Flanders

and demands greater autonomy

for the region

2016

Brussels’s Zaventem Airport

and Maalbeek metro station

are attacked by terrorists

leaving 35 dead

and more than 300 injured

Y

OUR room at The Dominican

sited in a gorgeous building

conveniently located behind

the opera house will be

dark and characterful

with haunting polyphonic

music. You will be tempted to linger.

Don’t.

Walk out to the opera house officially

named the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie.

The money reference comes from the fact

that it was built on the site of the former

mint. Today Belgium’s premier opera house

it has also earned its page in the history

books for being the spot where supposedly

a passionate appeal in performance

for freedom is said to have sparked

an impromptu revolution in 1830.

To your left as you face the opera house

is the new shopping street; to your right

a chance to step into medieval Brussels

with some buildings still dating back

to the 16th and 17th centuries.

Go with the old and find your way

to the Café Georgette for Belgian fries to eat

as you walk through Rue du Bouchers –

one of Brussels’s main restaurant streets –

where you will find some of the city’s iconic

restaurants as well as maitres d’ cajoling

you to dine in near-perfect Hindi.

Off in a side street is the Jeanneke Pis

gender twin to the town’s more famous

Manneken Pis created in 1985 and opposite

her in the same alley the Delirium Café

with its promise of a menu of 2400 beers.

Step back onto restaurant street bat a few

more maitres d’ away and turn right onto

the Galerie de la Reine a street lined with

superior chocolateries like Neuhaus Mary

and Pierre Marcolini and the boutiques

of high-end labels like Delvaux and Chanel.

Cross at a diagonal past the house where

in 1830 Madame Abts made the first Belgian

flag and onwards. All streets lead to the

Grand Place a feast of gorgeous buildings

former guild houses gilded and carved

flanking the magnificent 15th-century

Tow n Ha l l that was never destroyed. Listen

to the stories – the Maison des Brasseurs

built in 1698 is said to be where Karl Marx

wrote his manifesto for communism.

Opposite the lacemakers’ building is where

Victor Hugo supposedly retreated from

trouble in France to work on Les Miserables.

Wonder too at the misalignments in the

Town Hall and keeping your sights at

top-of-the-houses level find the house with

the golden phoenix – it burned down and

was re-erected thrice – and the one next to it

topped by lions that looks like a galleon.

Step out onto Rue au Beurre where

Leonidas and Elisabeth chocolates await you;

Leonidas has a vaguely-confusing token

system to allow you to make your purchases

while Elisabeth has some of the smiliest

girls in Belgium helping you choose your

Brussels

Brussels is considered the capital of the comic and

the city sure gives the funnies their due. Comics truly

came into their own in Brussels when the German

occupiers banned the import of American comics

around 1914 and the Belgians went on to fill the gaps

with arguably more realistic less superhero-inclined

offerings. Today comics are everywhere; pick up

a little fold-out guide from the Visit Brussels office

and follow the Comic Strip Trail. Make sure you visit

the Comics Art Museum. If you’re a hard-core fan

the Comic Strip Festival annually celebrates the ninth

art in the heart of Brussels. Expect book-signing

sessions balloon parades and more. Even if all you

know about Belgian comics is Tintin you can follow

that intrepid reporter around Brussels on a walk that

explores the different locations featured in the books.

Brussels’s Comic World

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EASY EUROPE FLANDERS

PHOTOGRAPHS: © MSP TRAVEL IMAGES/ ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (1) © DEBORAH HARMES/
ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (2) © OLIVER KNIGHT/ ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (3) FACING PAGE: GETTY IMAGES

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