Day 3
Brussels. Well, this was an experience. And what an experience.
Let’s start at the beginning. The bus ride was okay and compared to the previous one, very calm and short. As we were driving through Brussels I could see some of the gems of the city. Like the Atomium that I really wanted to visit.
I got dropped off at the North Station. Still keeping my word about the public transport. That „I can walk everywhere“ thing. And so a journey of 40 minutes of walk with my two heavy backpacks in 40 degrees Celsius began. And what can I say?. I was dying.
I couldn’t even enjoy the vibe of the city because of these hard conditions. While I was walking from the station towards the downtown, the walk was okay, nothing crazy. When I was downtown, the heat was way more harder to handle. And when I got further away from it, towards my hostel, I was getting more and more unsure of my surroundings and quite scared.
My first impression of Brussels was not going to be good. And if you know me, you know that I rely on these. The streets were disgusting, filled with trash and broken glass bottles. People were constantly looking like they want to not only rob you, but even murder you. Well, all I could think of was clutching my pepper spray in my pocket with my hands.
When I finally got into my hostel, again, first impression from the outside look.. terrible. And it was located at some deserted square, which I then learnt, there is some kind of a market every morning. But still, trash and broken glass everywhere.
The hostel was not as good as I had expected it to be from the pictures but better from what I thought of it whilst being outside. In my room was only one fan and it was getting closer to 42 degrees outside. So how many showers did I have throughout my whole stay in Brussels? Uncountable!
When I finally had one and changed from my sweaty clothes, I decided to visit the Atomium, because all I knew is that it was way further from everything else I wanted to visit.
So as I got out, I headed for the closest metro station where I bought myself a public transport ticket for 24 hours. I believe it was around 7 euros? Do I need to say that I was, again, quite scared, while walking to the station?
The ride was okay. And when I got out and walked for a few minutes.. The Atomium finally came into my view. And it was incredible.
I didn’t go inside because hello – student on a budget. But I did buy the most expensive bottle of water I’ve ever had and a fruit salad and sat beneath it.
I spent some time in there, just reading my book. Then took some more pictures and headed for a tram station that was a bit further away. Intentionally though. I wanted to walk through the park next to the Atomium just to get in some atmosphere. I also sat in the park for like an hour just writing stuff into my travel journal, which was like my best friend for the whole week.
As I got to the tram station I had one other frightful experience. I got into a wrong tram and it started beeping very loudly. Hahah. Well, what can I say. When I got into my room, it was not that late in the evening and I knew I didn’t wanted to go out anymore that day. So I basically showered and read until it was a decent time to fall asleep.
Day 4
The second day in Brussels started quite early because I couldn’t really sleep thanks to the heat. I got a breakfast in my hostel which was unexpectedly good. And then I headed out.
My first stop was the Mannekin Pis statue. I read on most blogs that it is a really crowded place, but as I’ve gotten there just before 9 a.m. there were only like two people in there. I also stopped by the Jeanneke Pis statue but it was behind closed bars, probably because of the early time, and it is located in a dead end where there’s so much trash I didn’t like one bit in that place.
After visiting the statues I found the most beautiful place in Brussels. And that is the Grand-Place of Brussels. The square is surrounded by the most beautiful buildings.
By this time I’ve seen most of the places I wanted to visit so I decided to find some place where I could just open my book and relax in the shade. And that is the one and only Parc du Cinquantenaire. I spent there like 2 hours just reading, journaling and watching cute dogs running around.
Around 12 p.m. I went back to my hostel mainly because the heat was getting worse and worse. I took another shower and decided to take a little nap. The „little“ nap lasted till 3:30 p.m.
As I was in Brussels, I wanted to try their waffles since they are one of the most popular „dishes“ in there. I headed for the Waffle Factory downtown and even though on their door it said they have air conditioning inside, you couldn’t really breathe in there. Sooo again because of the heat I decided to get out of there. I then visited the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert where you can find the cutest shops in Brussels in my opinion. My thoughts were clear – find a store with an A/C. And where in Brussels can you find A/C? The chocolate stores!
And there were many. So I found the one I liked the looks of the most and got in. And the smell? Wow.. just wow. If you ask me – you have to visit a chocolate store whilst in Brussels! The smell (and the coolness hehe) is awesome.
If you are lucky you’ll get offered some samples. One word. Yum! I asked the staff which one would they recommend for me to try. And she said she loves the mascarpone one the most. And it was delicious.
And then again the same question.. Where can I go that’s nice but also a bit more chilly. So I decided to spend the rest of my day in the Brussels Park.
And so that is it. My visit in Brussels. To be honest it was my least favourite place out of all the ones I had visited on this trip. I felt unsafe most of my time in there and except the actual downtown, the city is very messy and basically not clean at all.
