Yeah, so keeping up with the blogs didn’t last did it? Had a bit of an off day yesterday for some reason. Today was better though! Anyway, on to what should have been yesterday’s entry.
Had a bit of a sleep in today, partly because I was up late getting this blog up to date, and partly because not much opens before 10am on a Saturday here in Brussels! The nice thing about the hotel I’m in now is that it has a little kitchenette, so I was able to fix myself a quick brunch before heading out to start the day.
As with a lot of the cities I visit, I like to try start my stay off with a tour, both to see some of the highlights and to try get a head start on finding my way around. In this case, Sandemans New Europe (which I’ve written about before) runs tours here, so that was easy! I made my way down to the Grand Place (Grote Markt in Dutch) where the tour was leaving from. The interesting thing about Brussels, and indeed, Belgium as a whole, is that it doesn’t have a language of its own – it’s estimated that about 60% of the country speaks Dutch, and 40% speaks French (although there’s a small population of German speakers near that border as well.) Functionally, at least in Brussels, French is the main language, although almost every sign you see will be in both French and Dutch. Luckily for me, Sandemans run their tours in English!
My guide for the afternoon, Adelin, was a native of the city, and it really came through in his enthusiasm in relating the history of his city to us. We started off in the Grand Place, which has been described as one of ‘the most beautiful squares in the world’, and I can see where that comes from! It’s dominated on one side by the 15th century Town Hall, which is still used as the council offices today. It’s a magnificent building, but gets more interesting the closer you look at it, as you begin to see things that don’t match up, such as the different numbers of windows on each side, and the fact that the door isn’t centred in the front of the building! Although there is a local legend about the architect coming back to find these errors and then throwing himself from the top of the building in shame, the truth is that it was built in a couple of different phases, and the architects and budgets differed in each of these, thus the inconsistencies.
Some of the other buildings around the square are the old guild halls, for Brussels began as a trading city, being located basically between the England, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The various guilds were very powerful here, and it shows in the magnificent halls they built for themselves. As well as the guild halls, some of the buildings were taverns, playing host to all number of people living or passing through Brussels throughout it’s history, including Victor Hugo and Karl Marx. The old guild hall of the brewers has even been turned into a Belgian Beer Museum!
Out next stop after the Grand Place was one of Brussels’ most famous sights, the ‘Manneken Pis’. This little statue of a boy urinating into a fountain has become a symbol of the city and it’s people in the centuries since it was originally installed around 1619. The locals are quite fond of him, and have been for years. In fact, when he was stolen in the early 1800’s, the offender was sentenced to hard labour for life and spent an hour in the stocks in the Grand Place! He’s often dressed up for special occasions as well, today it was a traditional costume to match the Folklore festival that was going on. One thing you don’t realise though, is just how small the statue is. Similar to the Mona Lisa, most photos you see don’t include any of the surroundings, so it’s difficult to get an idea of scale. In fact, Manneken Pis is only about 60cm tall, which has led him to be included on lists of ‘Most disappointing statues’ as well as ‘most famous statues’! It hasn’t affected his popularity though, and it was difficult to get a closer photo due to the number of people around. (It didn’t help that it was a weekend either!) Interestingly, the statue that’s currently on display is a replica from the 1960’s, made after the original was stolen. After an anonymous tip (not surprising, given what happened to the last thief!) the original was recovered and is now on display in a nearby museum.
From the fountain, we made our way through some of the tiny side streets as Adelin told us of the food and drink available in the city – from the hundreds of types of local beers to the fries (emphatically not ‘french’ fries though!). It did lead to one funny occurrence though, when most of the group stopped to sample a serving of fries instead of following Adelin on the rest of the tour! After a short break we made our way up to the 16th century Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. St Michael is the patron saint of Brussels, and appears all over the city. Interestingly, the cathedral is less of a tourist attraction and more of a proper church than many similar buildings, and so tour guides have been asked not to take people inside, as it disturbs the people there to use the church for it’s purpose. So we skirted the building and then made our way up to the Mont des Arts, where we had a lovely view over the city. (This is also why there’s no where near as many cyclists as Amsterdam – Brussels is a lot more hilly!)
This was the final stop on the tour, and it was here that Adelin related the story of the ‘Knight King’, Albert I of Belgium. What was to become the country of Belgium had been ruled, at one point or another, by the French, the Germans, the Spanish, and the Netherlands. When they got sick of it and gained their independence, they pledged neutrality, and signed the Treaty of London in 1839, which guaranteed both of those. In 1914, the German Army wanted to cross Belgium in order to attack the less defended Northern border of France. King Albert refused, citing the neutrality that they were bound by. This was a brave but futile gesture, as the Belgian army numbered barely 150,000 men, compared to more than 1.5 million in the German Army. As the Germans crossed the border anyway, King Albert gave a radio address to the nation, basically saying that ‘Belgium is lost, the German Army is coming, flee while you can’, and, although he had the power to order the army to oppose the Germans, he did not, knowing it was basically suicide. Instead he asked for volunteers to join him in resisting the Germans. To their credit, almost the entirety of the Belgian army responded, and as a result, what was supposed to be a one day dash across Belgium to get to France’s border ended up taking the Germans almost a month, which give the French time to prepare. It also gave the British time to prepare, as they were bound to protect Belgium in the event of war, according to the terms of the Treaty of London. It was this that brought Britain into what would become known as the Great War, or as we know it now, World War I. Albert led from the front for much of the war, and his wife, Queen Elisabeth, worked as a nurse near the front as well.
Adelin is a great storyteller, and it was a very inspiring way to end the tour! From the finishing point, I made my way back to the Grand Place while exploring some of the side streets, and eventually stopped at the fries place Adelin had recommended. The food was great, but I needed a rest after that much potato, so I headed back to the hotel to do some research on the next leg of the journey.
Tomorrow I’m doing a tour of the inside of the Town Hall (which only run on Wednesdays and Sundays which is lucky for me!) and then seeing where the day takes me from there.
