Bon Jour Brussels!

So, Next stop in our Europe tour....Brussels! :)

Brussels is the capital of Belgium and very close to the diamond haven of the world, Antwerp.

By the way, I've got to tell you this, before leaving Amsterdam, we made some dough by selling our remaining passes in IAmsterdam Card and some spare canal cruise tickets that an Indian family gave to us as they had other plans.  70€ :)

We took an ICE train from Amsterdam to Brussels which cost us around 38€ per head. The train journey from Amsterdam to Brussels took us around 2.5 hours. You can take the Thalys too :)

Brussels Gyan:

1) We went to Brussels without booking any accommodation! and unlike other tourist cities, Brussels has  very few hostels, even those are not listed in the popular websites:

Click on the link below:

HiHostels Brussels

Hihostels is an international Hostel group, their hostels are very clean and they provide excellent breakfast. But its a tad pricey.

2) We got an amazing map at the hostel. Check out the below website. You'll love it, they have an online version:

http://www.use-it.be/

3) Belgium has a go-pass for 50€ using which you can make 10 separate trips inside the country, whats more? you can use the same pass for your companion as well, but there's a catch, you should be under 26.

Check out their website:

Go Pass

4) Coming back to our trip. I was a little apprehensive about going to Brussels because it didn't sound as exciting as Amsterdam or as famous as Paris, but since we had three unplanned days and one of our friends stayed in Brussels, we went. Thank god,we did, because till date if someone asks me which is your favorite place you visited in Europe, I say it is Brussels.

It is beautiful.

The roads are so wide and so clean. Brussels is the place where I felt that 'Yes! I am in a developed country'. The classical architecture of the buildings, the manicured gardens, the chocolate, my god! How can I forget it!

5) We had the best waffles at a place near the city centre. I don't remember the name of the shop though :(.
I forgot to mention this, Haagendas icecream. Amazing!

6) If you want to shop anywhere in Europe, make sure you do it before 6:00 PM otherwise everything is closed. Rain,shine and European shopkeepers wait for none, that's what I've understood. I bought pretty ballys in Brussels, and after coming back to the room, I turned it over to see, "Made in China", so be careful, not dumb like me.

7) Brussels has a pretty simple metro layout and the hour ticket costs 2€, day ticket costs 4.5€, and the three day ticket 9.5€. The same pass can be used for metro, bus and tram. This goes for all European cities.

8) There is a one of a kind comics museum in Brussels which is quite famous. We didn't make it there :|, but I heard its quite good. The entry is 7.5€.

9) The Mannekin piss is are-you-kidding-me-what-the-fuck kinda sight. Its too overhyped!

10) The atomium which is not so well known is a sight to see. It is magnanimous and also called the Eiffel of Belgium. It is crazily beautiful. You've got to visit it. It is basically an atomic structure magnified maybe a gazillion times. There's a museum inside the atomium, the ticket costs around 10€.

11) Near the atomium, there's a tourist trap called "Little Europe" which is miniature versions of all other tourist traps. Thankfully, we had the brains not to waste money on it!

12) Beware of all the chocolate sellers! They sell chocolates in all these attractive boxes and its such a waste. Don't buy any chocolates until you taste them. We wasted more than 20€ on worthless chocolates.

Hmmm..thats it for now!

Go to Brussels! :)