Tours & Walks - Brussels Travel Guide

Don't miss this area: les Marolles - Marollen. It is the area beneath the Justice palace. You can access there either via Rollebeek street (coming from the downtown area) either from the Palais de Justice. Just take the lift to reach Rue de l'Epée then Rue Haute and here you are.

The area used to be the home of the real Brusseliers, more often, small people. It used to have its own dialect, hence the 3rd names on their plaque. A mix of French and Dutch. To the initial Marollians were adjoined Spanish workers who came to work in Belgium mining. That was decades ago. The area was then totally inhabited by the working class.

For sure, it has changed since some parts have been renovated so that only the rich can afford living there. Real Marolliens have left the area to make place to EC execs on one hand, and to poor foreign communities, on the other hand: African (both North & Subsaharian). The latter live in the social housing. The most famous is the set with names of workers. The street-names there indicate the types of crafts once practised here. For instance, Rue des Orfèvres (goldsmiths) and des Chaisiers (chair-makers). Also, Rue des tonneliers, des Charpentiers (carpenters)...

Beneath Rue Blaes, the area is rather poor with those buildings that may have deserved some coating since years ago. Still, they are there: greyish, dirtyish & dusty with families living in there...

Still, It is a charming place to stroll in. You will see the many comic strip murales while browsing around. Check the many ascending and descending streets as you walk in either Rue Blaes or Rue Haute.

Then, have a stop in the small eateries there, to have soups, tartines au fromage blanc and the very Marollian cuisine & Spanish restaurants. OK, I have experienced it in De skieven architek and it was perfect (see my restaurant tip). For other restaurants, you'll have to wait till I can try it there in La Grande porte and Les Petits oignons.

The pubs and estaminets are rather specific: one with live music, another with masks on the walls...etc.

Also, don't forget the flea market that is held daily on Place du Jeu de balle, in the morning (till 1 pm). Still, the Sunday market is the most important (till 1 pm).

Apart from the flea market, the area is the place where to find antiques, second hand shops & libraries. With neighbouring Sablon, they form the antiques Mecca in Brussels (cf. shopping tip).

It is always a pleasure to wander in Rue Blaes (that forms with Rue Haute the main streets of the district), entering the many antiques shops with their delicate, sometimes well-worn items. With Eva (diageva), we had spent some hours in there, entering the shops, talking to antiquaires, just browsing around the tables, displaying paintings, trinkets, lamps, books.. whatever...

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