Photo:
Brussels, Belgium (Photo creds: me)

Due to poor research and planning, I ended up with only about 3 hours in Brussels, Belgium. So what could I have possibly done in only 3 hours? Plenty!

1. Delirium Bar

Delirium Bar was our first stop in Brussels. The bar takes up an entire alleyway and has over 2,500 beers on tap. It’s a great place to stop and chill out with a deliciously cold beer. (This blonde beer was super tasty).

 

2. Find the statue of Jeanneken Pis

Throughout Brussels there are multiple statues of people peeing. The original is Manneken Pis, a little boy peeing, and is located a few blocks from this girl. We actually didn’t go looking for either of them, she just happened to be in the same alleyway as Delirium Bar, so it was by chance that we found her. Definitely an interesting statue.

 

3. See street performers

It took me a few moments before I realized that these were real people and not a statue… How on earth they are able to do this, I have no idea.

 

4. See the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula

This stunning cathedral is right at the edge of a park and with more time I would have really enjoyed having a picnic on the grass with this as my scenery. But no time for that, so a quick selfie stick picture after admiring the cathedral and we were off.

 

5. Go to La Grand Place

This is Brussels’ main square and central market, as well as the number 1 tourist attraction in the whole city. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for good reason. The architecture is incredible and a must see if you’re ever in Brussels.

 

6. Check out the flower market 

In La Grand Place, also known as de Grote Markt, there is this gorgeous flower market. Walking through it you can smell the perfumes of all the flowers mixing together, and I was so tempted to buy myself a cute little flower pot, but backpacking isn’t really the best way to go about keeping flowers alive.

 

7. Buy some Belgian chocolate!

You can’t go to Belgium and not get some chocolate! We found our way to a huge chocolate store and put together a small bag of treats to take with us on our journey. Laura is allergic to cocoa, so she can only have white chocolate. Normally, it’s a bit of a difficulty to find white chocolate, and even if we do find it, there aren’t many options for her to pick from. Not at this store though. There were so many different choices for her and different types of chocolates and candy. Our train ride to Paris that day definitely had us on a bit of a sugar high.