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🇧🇪 City · Belgium
Brussels: Belgium's capital of arcades and comics
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Brussels is best enjoyed district by district, starting with the Grand-Place, a UNESCO-listed jewel ringed by guild houses with gilded façades. Around it, the Îlot Sacré unfolds its lanes and the Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert, among Europe's first shopping arcades. Higher up, the upscale Sablon lines up antique dealers and renowned chocolatiers around its Gothic church, while below the Marolles keep the city's working-class soul alive with the Jeu de Balle flea market and comic-strip murals. Near the canal, Sainte-Catherine retains its village feel around the old port basins, prized for their fish restaurants. Between the Atomium to the north, the Manneken-Pis and the Fine Arts museums, the Belgian capital blends heritage, art deco, surrealism and good food.
In the series “Secret Army” (1977-1979), a building on the Grand-Place doubled as Le Candide cafe, the escape network's headquarters.
Annoyed that soldiers insulted the Manneken-Pis, Louis XV dressed it in 1747 in an embroidered suit and knighted it, forcing his troops to salute the statue.
At the Place du Jeu de Balle flea market in the Marolles, open daily from 7am, bargain-hunters dig through the stalls before the tourists arrive.
Spring and summer suit strolling and terraces, but Brussels works year-round under often-changing skies, so pack an umbrella. The centre is walkable, while a dense network of metro, trams and buses covers the rest, backed by trains from the Midi, Central and Nord stations. For the Marolles market, come early in the morning. For connectivity, 4G and 5G mobile coverage is very good across the city, the metro included, and free wifi is common in cafés, museums and arcades such as the Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert.