Brussels, Belgium - the best attractions, part 1

Those of you who are following me can remember my previous post about the Atomium in Brussels. It's not the only attraction in this city though. Today I will mention a few other places worth visiting during our stay in the capital of Belgium.

Manneken Pis

Second (or maybe even the first) most popular attraction of the city - the small fountain of pissing boys from the beginning of the XVIIth century. It's often decorated with special clothes for the most significant events - for the national day it's in the clothes with colors of the Belgian flag, for the gay pride it's all in the rainbow and for Christmas, it's in the Santa Claus costume.

There are also two more modern monuments/fountains that are not-so-well-known for most of the tourists: Jeanneke Pis, which is a pissing girl from the second half of the XXth century, and Zinneke Pis - pissing dog created in 1999. The pissing girl is quite hidden, in one of the small squares between the old buildings and it's not so attractive, but Zinneke Pis I liked a lot. We visited it with our dog, Bestia. The monument is made so well, that Bestia wanted to play with the pissing dog. He realized that something is wrong when he smelled the ass of the sculpture. You can see how frightened he was in the photo below

Main square

All the buildings in the main square are tremendous, but in my private opinion, the best is the city hall, built in 1452, kept in that characteristic gothic style. You can buy the guided tour to visit the building, but even if you won't have the time or money to do so, watching it from outside is equally amazing.

There are many events organized on the square, some of them repeated annually. My favorites include the summer flower carpets that are constructed there and light shows that are organized three times a year. Besides that you may see in that place many concerts, shows or, in winter, you can skate on the artificial ice rink there.

While in the old town, you can't help but try one of the typical Belgian products. The most important are Belgian fries, waffles, served here in hundreds of different variations, and of course chocolate. Walking down the paths you will find many shops selling handmade chocolates. You can also go to the chocolate museum, where you will have the opportunity to learn something about the history of chocolate in Belgium, and finally, take part in a mini-workshop and prepare your own chocolates.

_{With my mother, enjoying the lights show on the main square}

Museum of instruments

Out of tens of different museums in Brussel, that one is probably my favorite. It's made of five different floors - four with musical instruments and the last one with the restaurant and souvenir shop. While entering, you get the headphones with the small electronic device. You can walk from one instrument to another and every time you get closer, the tool plays the music, so you know how each of the presented instruments sounds like.

The floors and rooms are organized in the time and location order. You can see there every single instrument ever made - from ancient drums, by medieval hurdy-gurdy until the modern ones, like an electric guitar or Theremin, that you may know from the spiritual events from the beginning of the XXth century. There is room for Chinese, Arabic, African, American, and even Polynesian instruments. You could easily spend there 6 hours without leaving the building and still wouldn't be able to listen to all of them.

Parlamentarium

For those of you who do not know that, little explanation: Brussels is the capital city of the European Union. Here are most of the EU buildings (not all of them though, it's decentralized), here is also the parliament of the European Union. Thanks to that facts, Brussels is the city with the biggest number of officials in the world and Belgium is the country with one of the highest taxes in Europe. Right next to the EU Parlament there is a free museum where everyone can learn a bit about the history of the EU and the current role of the EU parliament.

The museum is very well made, quite interactive, very educative and attractive. The area is safe, although it's good to be aware of the danger - because of the function of the nearest buildings, there are plenty of bomb alerts and sometimes terrorist attacks happen, especially in the subway. The clue is to not be afraid and live normally, not be terrorized by the radicals. Brussels manages it quite well, even though has to pay a very high price for that, like in 2016 when during the terrorist attacks died 32 people.

_{Photos with my mother}

Atomium

I dedicated whole post for the Atomium - you can read it HERE. I won't be repeating the information but obviously had to include it on the list, as it's one of the most important buildings in Brussels.

There is plenty of more attractions. I'll try to write about them in the nearest future. Follow me to stay in touch and learn in the next post about the comics graffiti, the Smurfs Museum, most interesting parks, LGBT district, and art galleries with the paints you surely know from the history of art lessons.

All the pictures presented in this post belong to me