Bus to Brussels

After Paris the next stop on my summer trip was Brussels. I used Megabus to get here, paying only £1.50 for the trip (including the 50p booking fee). My bus was timed nicely between hostel check-out and check-in time, so that was cool because I didn't feel like any time was wasted on either end of the journey. You have to book a few weeks or more in advance and be prepared to play around with different dates and times to find the cheapest fares, but I think even paying most of their standard fares makes for a cheap transport option compared to other ways to get around Europe like rail or tour buses. But everyone's travel goals are different. For me this trip was purely about city-hopping and crossing some big cities off my list so cheap buses between each destination worked perfectly. 

Manneken Peace

My Nan has a tiny sculpture of a little boy and you can fill it up with water and make it look like it's peeing in her kitchen sink. As kids my cousins and me thought it was hilarious, but I never knew it had any significance past my Nan's kitchen. So of course I had to go and find the Manneken Pis statue during my stay in Brussels!

Lucky there was a group of tourists around it or I may have walked straight past onto all the waffle shops... the boy himself is actually quite small! From Manneken Pis I headed east to find the huge painting "Manneken Peace" taking up the whole side (and height) of the building.

The tiny pissing boy

Definitely stray away from the crowds and main streets in Brussels because this is where you'll find all their street art and famous cartoons. If you like walking around cities and on a budget like me, you can grab a map that shows where some impressive paintings are and go out hunting for them all.

A cool cartoon in the "windows" of a building

Of course the famous food you have to try in Belgium are the fries! Everyone talks about them. But you have to make sure you go to a good place, not a tourist trap. The locals are helpful at pointing them out. They say good Belgium fries are so good they can be served as their own dish, not as a side.

I also walked past this little ice cream stand. Why would you buy Australian ice cream in Europe? And what is Australian ice cream? They didn't even offer Milo to sprinkle on top so I have no idea what's happening here.

People who haven't tried European gelato?

The secret not-so-secret place to head for a free 360 view of Brussels city is Parking 58. It is literally a commercial car park. You can walk in and take the stairs to the top level and admire all the roofs for as far as you can see. There's not a lot of buildings that stand out in terms of height but it's still nice to see. In the far distance you can spot Atomium, a ridiculously huge atom structure you can visit by the metro.

The view from Parking 58 looking out towards Atomium

If you want to see an atom up close, here it is! It has thousands of little lights that light up at night.

Like my last trip to Belgium I found the people were lovely and super helpful. I've added Bruges to the list of places I want to go, so until then I will eat mediocre fries that aren't properly fluffy!