Tours & Walks, Brussels

Discover Brussels by cycling on May 9 - Brussels will celebrate bike with Dring Dring 2004.

Last year's program was the hereafter text. Check website for updated info.

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Be at Parc du Cinquantenaire- Jubilee Park before 10 a.m

The aim is to reintroduce bicycle as common transportation means but it would be an opportunity, for tourists, to discover Brussels through small streets. For sure, you won't be bothered by cars.

- There shall be guided and commented tour that would not last 1hour and a half.
- Kiddies will have their own program, Tour des enfants, starting round 11o'clock.
- Not to be missed: V?lo Parade "Bike parad". Departure for disguised participants at 17 o'clock from Parc du Cinquantenaire. Easy circuit in Schaerbeek and Woluwe, biking police squad will supervise the Parad. Sounds fun!!

Many activities at Parc du cinquantenaire, such as Bike hiring/ renting

Huge show at l'Esplanade (Parc du Cinquantenaire) starting from 19 pm.
Personnally, I would like the V?lo parade.. kind of fun !!!

- Please also note that it is possible to discover Brussels by bike. On Sundays, during April-October period, Provelo arranges Brussels visits by bike. See my "Off the beaten path" tips on that, in my Brussels page of course! *****************

Update Dec. 2003: Funny that this international event that Brussels hosted in summer 2003 really fits to Belgian humour.... Check my Belgium page to learn about the tales of the cows. They told me features of Belgian society, belgium itself, Belgian culture. Many things to know if you visit Brussels and other parts of Belgium.

From June 21 to Sep 21, 2003, cool cows will be seen "grazing" in Brussels streets.

Don't expect milk from them, instead have a view of art in Brussels. "Art on cows" project aims at promoting art and culture within the streets of the city. Each sponsor bought a "virgin" cow, chose the artist he/she wanted to promote. And the artist eventually displays his/her oeuvres (decorated cows) in Brussels streets.

185 cows can be spotted. I guess the pleasure is to discover them by chance. Instead of spotting the cows by chance, Dannie and I really took the itinerary leaflet and walked for hours under the sun.
For those who want to locate some of them, have a look at this link. French and Dutch only. Choose the language you want. When in, click at the 6th icon in the series on top of page.

You don't have to pay to see the cows. Though, profits from cows' auctions will partly go to caritative actions (for underprivileged Brussels youth and childhood) . Sponsors who sell cows that they sponsored will be redeemed 25% of auctions' profits. Auctions will take place on Oct. 16. Only those sold cows will be displayed in Grand-Place/ Grote Markt area. As exhibition will end on Sept. 21, this will be the last time for you to see them.

I recommend that you DO NOT USE GOLDENTOURS SIGHTSEEING BUS IN BRUSSELS !!!!. It was dreadful. A group of us paid on entry to the bus and were told that the bus would leave in ten minutes. Then the bus driver disappeared. The inside of the bus was grubby and looked like it was overdue to be scrapped. The driver eventually returNed and we set off. There is a timetable on the leaflet that shows these buses run every 30 mins. Our bus left either 20 minutes late or ten minutes early. I found that the earphones for the guide did not work. i went down to speak to the driver but we was not intetrested to talk to anybody, in fact he was on a mobile phone while he was driving the bus and ignored my efforts to speak to him. I tried about 6 different seats. many were completey dead and on one live socket only 1 of a bunch of 7 headphones I had picked up from different seats actually worked on the right channel only and only by holding the plug and pressing with a finger to get some kind of noisy electrical contact. The guide was rubbish anyway with quite short announcements with little effort being made to make it interesting. We got off at The Atonium. After our visit we waited for the next bus, and waited, and waited. In the meantime two red buses and one blue bus of competing tour companies came and left. We waited 50 minutes and eventually sneaked aboard the rear exit one of the red tour buses to get back to our hotel. NEVER AGAIN !!!!

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Everard 't Serclaes lord of Cruyckembourg , a famous alderman of Brussels, who freed the city from the rule of the Count of Flanders. In 1388 a rival Lord murdered him by chopped off one of his feet and his tongue. He was transported to the Maison de l'Étoile, where he died.
The bronze statue of 't Serclaes by Julien Dillens is located in the tiny arcade under Grand Place 8 (The Star).
Local superstition says, the statue brings good luck and grant long-forgotten wishes of all who touch it, especially his arm and the dog's nose. Be that as it may, it certainly keeps the statue shiny.

The Star formerly housed a pub where the Belgian Socialist Party was founded. Now it is home to the stylish La Maison du Cygne restaurant.

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We had 5 days in Brussels and intended to take day trips to Brugge and Aachen. With time in Brussels being short and so much to see we decided to take the Hop On Hop Off bus. Tickets were Euro 18 for a 24 hour pass and very good value.

First departure is 10am at Central Station with the trip taking 90 minutes should you decide not to hop off. Last departure is 4pm and 5pm on Friday to Sunday inclusive.

The tour visits the Lower and Upper Town with the majority of time being in the upper town which was ideal for us as we had accommodation close to Grand Place in the Lower Town. We found the tour to be excellent and next day went back to the sights which we wished to see in detail.

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On the way from Central Railway Station to the Grand-Place near the Cathedral St. Michel you can reach this large, artificially inner square which is surrounded many beautiful restored hotels, old houses.
There is absolutely no car and that means immediately a lot of plus points for the square.
To my big surprise between two hotels I discovered a fine statue of the famous hungarian composer Bela Bartok.
On the other side of the square stand the statue of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. Beside the placement of these beautiful sculptures, nevertheless it would have been possible to make the square more elaborated.

One of the best things we did in Brussels was simply to explore on foot!

We went to the main tourist office (on the Grande Place) and got a map with some suggested self-guided walking routes, including several fascinating church buildings and, in complete contrast, a listing of the many murals that festoon Brussels' walls. These murals are based on comic books - a hugely important Belgian tradition - and while many of the characters and settings will be unfamiliar to English speakers, the images themselves are spectacular and often very amusing. Our tour took us around the central part of town - essentially we did a huge circuit of the Grande Place - and included the Saint Michael and St Gudula Cathedral, parts of which are almost 800 years old, and the much smaller St Nicholas church, a refuge from the bustle of the crowds near the Grande Place.

Me and my girlfriend took a pretty cool bike tour that lasted about 4 hours. The guys from Brussels Bike Tours showed us pretty much all that we needed to see plus some stuff that was not listed on our Lonely Planet guide. A highlight of the tour was the stop at a local frieterie, a place where they sell the best french fries I've ever had. We took the fries to a nearby bar and we sipped a sublime trappist beer! The tour was really easy, we did not feel tyred after it, a good change from walking the cities we visit. From now on I'll try to take a bike tour every time I go to a new city, it is great for orientation.