Planes, trains and Christmas markets.
We hopped on a train for Brussels and I must say the rail system in Europe is great, then we realized you could bring your own drinks on the trains. We watched a couple pull out a bottle of wine and asked ourselves why didn’t we think of that? Rookie mistakes.
3 weeks after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris made for a slightly tense trip to Brussels. There were heavily armed soldiers patrolling the streets and stationed in the lounge of our hotel.
With a couple of days in Brussels we needed to get some in some walking, and for that we needed to find some beers.
The Christmas market in Brussels takes over different squares in and swirls all the way from the Grand Place over the Place de la Monnaie, the Bourse, and Place Sainte-Catherine or the Marché aux Poissons. It consists of more than 200 Christmas stalls, which look like tiny log cabins, selling foods, drinks, crafts, Christmas ornaments, and all kinds of other things. You can also drink while walking around.
We wandered the lanes, contemplating what to buy and what to eat. Then we wandered them again to finally make our selections. We stopped the center of the market and pulled up a chair at a kiosk to sample the Abbey beers that Belgium is famous for. We didn’t want to miss any opportunity to try the local specialties at the Christmas market.
When you’ve had your fill of gluhwein, you can’t miss trying Belgian beer. One of the most famous places to try lambic beer is Cantillon Brewery (aka Brasserie Cantillon), In a neighborhood outside the historic center, a 20-minute walk from Grand Place. The Cantillon Brewery is not your typical brewery. There is no walled-off, sterile brewing area, no stainless steel showpiece tasting room with fancy tap handles spouting pumpkin ale. Instead it’s as open and relaxed as it can be, sticking with centuries old brewing tradition in its open vats and scattered spiderwebs. It’s also proof that there is not only charm but sometimes greatness in the old ways of doing things, with its creaky floorboards, thin layer of dust, and generations of expertise. Take a self-guided tour through the working brewery and make way your to the bar and tasting area. Two complimentary tastings come with the tour. We were able to sample their famous gueuze and kriek lambics right from the source. There are a number of bottles to choose from. We opted for the classic gueuze and the kriek, a sour cherry lambic that’s also pretty popular in Belgium.
No trip to Brussels would be complete without a visit to the Delirium Cafe. Delirium Village is an alley in Old Brussels dedicated to alcohol. This tiny and alcohol infused alley has a befitting name: L’Impasse de la Fidélité, which means, in French, “The Dead-End of Fidelity”. The menu at Delirium Café is a 60-page magazine. It’s both surprising and impressive to find yourself in front of such a behemoth of a beer list!
One of the absolute highlights for any beer lover on a trip to Brussels is a visit to the pub with the biggest beer selection in the world, If you visit Brussels, I would recommend you to check it out. Honestly, to really get a decent sampling of what they have to offer, you’ll want to visit several times and spend several long sessions here. Just be warned, some of the beers are mighty strong.
Next stop Paris.