Amongst Europeans, Brussels is best known as the home of the EU,
which, given recent developments, is something of a poisoned
chalice. But in fact, the EU neither dominates nor defines
Brussels, merely forming one layer of a city that has become, in
postwar years at least, a thriving, cosmopolitan metropolis. It's a
vibrant and fascinating place, with architecture and museums to
rank among the best of Europe's capitals, not to mention a superb
restaurant scene and an energetic nightlife. Moreover, most of the
key attractions are crowded into a centre that is small enough to
be absorbed over a few days, its boundaries largely defined by a
ring of boulevards known as the "petit ring".
All prices are given in euros , the new currency that
replaced the Belgian Franc on January 1, 2002. The exchange rate is
fixed at one Euro to 40.34 Belgian Francs.
The layout of this city centre embodies historic class
divisions. For centuries, the ruling class has lived in the Upper
Town, an area of wide boulevards and grand mansions which looks
down on the maze of tangled streets that characterize the Lower
Town, traditionally home to shopkeepers and workers. This
fundamental class divide has in recent decades been further
complicated by discord between Belgium's two main linguistic
groups, the Walloons (the French-speakers) and the Flemish
(basically Dutch-speakers). As a cumbersome compromise, the city is
Belgium's only officially bilingual region and by law all
road signs, street names and virtually all published information
must be in both languages, even though French-speakers make up
nearly eighty percent of Brussels' population. As if this was not
complex enough, since the 1960s the city has become much more
ethnically diverse, with communities of immigrants from North
Africa, Turkey, the Mediterranean and Belgium's former colonies as
well as European administrators, diplomats and business people, now
comprising a quarter of the population.
Each of these communities leads a very separate, distinct
existence and this is reflected in the number and variety of
affordable ethnic restaurants. But, even without these, Brussels
would still be a wonderful place to eat : its gastronomic
reputation rivals that of Paris and London, and though restaurants
are rarely inexpensive, there is great-value food to be had in many
of the bars . The bars themselves can be sumptuous, basic,
traditional or very fashionable - and one of the city's real
pleasures. Another pleasure is shopping : Belgian chocolates
and lace are de rigueur, but it's also hard to resist the charms of
the city's designer clothes shops and antique markets, not to
mention the numerous specialist shops devoted to anything and
everything from comic books to costume jewellery.
Many of the city's best bars and restaurants are dotted round
the city centre, within the petit ring, and this is where you'll
find the key sights. The Lower Town centres on the
Grand-Place, one of Europe's most magnificent squares, boasting a
superb ensemble of Baroque guildhouses and an imposing Gothic town
hall, while the Upper Town weighs in with a splendid
cathedral and a fine art museum of international standing, the
Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts. Few visitors stray beyond the petit
ring, but there are delights here too, principally in St
Gilles and Ixelles , two communes (or boroughs)
just to the south of the centre, whose streets are studded with
fanciful Art Nouveau residences, including the old home and studio
of Victor Horta, the style's prime exponent.