Brussels is the capital of Belgium. It is also capital of the European Union and home to yummy Belgian Waffles. It was an absolute delight to visit Brussels for 48 hours.
We made our way to Stratford International Rail Station to catch a train to Kings Cross St. Pancras Station. Those of you who don’t know about Stratford International Rail Station, its 5 minutes walk from Stratford Underground Station and only takes 5 minutes to get you to Kings Cross St. Pancras Station from here. Although Oyster cards do work at this station, you will be charged extra. Your normal monthly/weekly/day pass will not work at this station.
Upon reaching Kings Cross St. Pancras Station, we made our way through customs to Euro Star Train. Although breakfast is quite decent inside the train, I would recommend you to either bring homemade breakfast/food or buy it at the station because walking through carriages to get to the cafe can be quite tedious.
Where To Stay In Brussels?
There are many budget-friendly hotels to stay in, in Brussels. We chose to stay at Slina Hotel in Anderlecht which is 10 minutes walk from the Brussels Central Station. Slina Hotel is a very basic hotel. I found it to be quite good. The staff were awesome and the hotel was very clean. The hotel was easy to find. Anderlecht is a very diverse area. Slightly rough but you can find everything there.
Food
You can easily find halal food in Anderlecht. I was happy to see so many Pakistani grocery shops and chicken shops in this area. We didn’t have any problems at all.
On the first day, we didn’t go out for sightseeing, instead, we just had a bit of a rest. We ate at a nice Labenese / Turkish restaurant called Chinky Chicken. The food was affordable and very delicious.
On other days, we had food from other chicken and pizza shops but when we were in the city centre, McDonald’s really helped.
Attractions
You can get a bus to the old city of Brussels from Anderlecht. It’s not that expensive, you can get a 3 days pass very easily. If you’re more of an adventurer you can even walk to the old city.
I realised the first and foremost thing one should do when visiting a new city is to get on the Hop on Hop off Bus. It’s expensive but it can save you a lot of time. You can see all the places if you time yourself right.
So we made our way to Gran Plac and got the red route tourist bus. There’s one blue route too. Both routes show different landmarks and points of interest.
You don’t have to see everything so you can pick and choose where you want to hop off. For example, I really wanted to see the Atomium but because I was with my family, it would have been really expensive.
Gran Plac is quite magical and full of history. We must have visited it quite a few times.
The other place I found to be super cute was the Manekken Pis (the peeing child statue).
This is not the real statue, its just made of chocolate. The real one can be seen in my Vlog below.
There are many waffle places around Gran Plac but Waffle Factory was the best. You can even get a Horse Cart ride if you want to have a more historical feel to your tour.
You will also see many people basking in the city centre. Some playing classical music and some playing the guitar.
It was a great trip. The weather was amazing. We didn’t need warm clothes at all.
On the way back we travelled in the Premium part of Euro Star. It’s slightly expensive but very comfortable and they also serve food.
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